GEOFF BENNETT: Experts in Britain are warning that a generation of young people may never be able to own their own homes because of a grave housing crisis.

Britain has a shortfall of over four million homes, the worst record in Europe.

And pressure is growing to start building in England's rolling countryside where, for decades, construction has been outlawed.

Special correspondent Malcolm Brabant reports, from East Chiltington in Southern England.

MALCOLM BRABANT: The bells signal that ages-old tranquility is under threat from Britain's housing crisis.

The rustic landscape inherited by this congregation may soon be paved over to accommodate a small new town.

Kelly Penfold, born and raised here, has joined the local resistance movement.

KELLY PENFOLD, Don't Urbanise The Downs: Personally, I'd like more housing, because I'd like more affordable housing, but not at the expense of concreting over all of this.

I think there has to be a compromise somewhere, because, once this is gone, that's it.

We can't get it back.

We can't replace it.

We can't get back all of these trees.

You know, planting a new little sapling isn't going to replace a 200- or 300-year-old oak tree.

MALCOLM BRABANT: The farmland slated for urbanization is on the edge of a national park visited by millions each year.

The proposed town will comprise at least 3,000 new homes.

DAMON TURNER, Partner, Welbeck Land Limited: The idea at the moment is, is that where we stood at now here and where this existing track is, this would probably form the high street and then the -- sort of the center point of the new settlement.

MALCOLM BRABANT: Damon Turner's development company claims to champion the construction of attractive self-sustaining communities, where people's needs are no more than a 15-minute walkaway.

DAMON TURNER: This is roughly where we've identified the secondary school would be located.

But, overall, it's a small market town with food and farming at its heart.

MALCOLM BRABANT: Detailed plans are not yet available, but this similar-sized town is an inspiration for the developers.

It is Poundbury, 125 miles to the west, the pet architectural project of King Charles, an advocate of traditional design.

The land being fought over is owned by Eton, one of Britain's most prestigious boarding schools, with annual fees of $54,000.

Eton prides itself on teaching leadership and numbers 20 British prime ministers among it's alumni.

Eton is a bastion of the British establishment.

Its critics believe this place perpetuates the inequalities of the British class system, because the children of the elite come here and are taught how to exercise and maintain power.

The development in this parish should yield huge profits, infuriating campaign leader Marc Munier.

Eton doesn't pay tax because it's a nonprofit, or charity.

MARC MUNIER, Don't Urbanise The Downs: If they were really a charity, you know what they do?

They'd give it to people.

They'd give it away.

They would reward it for society.

Or even if they had to build on it, give it to people.

How many homes could you just give away?

And it wouldn't cost them a penny because they're a charity, and that's what they're supposed to do.

But they won't do that, because it's not about helping houses.

It's about making money for the people that are already incredibly privileged and wealthy in our society.

MALCOLM BRABANT: Eton says its charitable works include subsidizing pupils from poorer backgrounds and new schools in deprived parts of Britain.

Eton's director of development is Justin Nolan.

JUSTIN NOLAN, Director Of Development, Eton College: I think all responsible charities that have ambitions to do more work need to find sources of funding from a variety of different places.

All that takes money that goes beyond the fees that we charge.

MALCOLM BRABANT: The developers hope this video will help win the approval of the local planning authority.

HARRIET ROSE, Student: I don't think myself or any of my friends or contemporaries expect to be able to buy a property in our lifetimes.

It's pretty impossible to buy on a regular wage.

MALCOLM BRABANT: Besides being expensive, much of Britain's housing stock is old and tired.

Most experts say this overcrowded island needs to build a medium-sized city every year for decades to come.

ANTHONY BREACH, Centre For Cities: We have got to build more homes, not just to alleviate inequality and to address social challenges, but also to get the economy going as well.

MALCOLM BRABANT: Planning expert Anthony Breach warns that an entire British generation may be denied their version of the American dream of a home with a picket fence.

ANTHONY BREACH: That route is now really closed off for pretty much every young member of British society.

So there's millions of young people who are denied the opportunities available to their parents and who aren't able to move onto the next stage of life and enjoy better-quality housing and cheaper housing as they get older.

MALCOLM BRABANT: The housing crisis is becoming Britain's most important domestic issue.

With an election less than 18 months away, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is locking horns with opposition leader Keir Starmer.

RISHI SUNAK, British Prime Minister: So now what we have seen is the highest number of first-time buyers in 20 years, Mr. Speaker.

That is twice the number that the Labor Party ever managed.

KEIR STARMER, Labor Party Leader: He must be the only person in the country who thinks that enough houses have been built in the last 13 years.

And whether it's those dreaming of getting the keys to their first home or those already with mortgages, the ambitions of families across the country have been crushed by his failing Tory government.

MALCOLM BRABANT: If elected, Labor says it will lift a longstanding ban on construction on the Green Belt, a ring of countryside around London.

Centre for Cities has identified enough Green Belt sites close to railway stations where a million new homes could be built, including Hildenborough 30 miles from the capital.

ANTHONY BREACH: We think that's a crucial starting point where the infrastructure is lined up.

Environmental benefit's already clear.

The climate benefit's are really obvious.

But releasing land from the Green Belt, kind of breaking big taboo on building the Green Belt is really essential if we want to tackle this.

MALCOLM BRABANT: Kelly Penfold runs her online cake business from a tiny rented apartment.

Home ownership is beyond her means.

KELLY PENFOLD: It's very difficult if you're a young person and you're on a low income to be able to afford to live where possibly you grew up.

My only chance of getting my own home was to go on to the council social housing list.

That took five years.

MALCOLM BRABANT: Kelly Penfold's dog walk takes her past a small social housing project.

She has this question.

How many affordable homes promised by the developers will be in a similar category?

DAMON TURNER: We want to come up with a model that works for local people here, people who are really struggling to get onto the housing ladder or even to be able to rent because of the four million homes that we're short of it in this country.

MALCOLM BRABANT: The future rests with the local planning authority, which has to decide whether the region's historic market towns will share the landscape with a new neighbor.

JUSTIN NOLAN: What we're very committed to is making sure, with a strong design code, that this community actually does fit into the landscape.

It'll undoubtedly be a change to the landscape, but we don't think it will be as destructive as some people fear.

MALCOLM BRABANT: But, first, Eton must overcome the powerful so-called NIMBY lobby, not in my backyard.

Are you a NIMBY?

MARC MUNIER: Oh, absolutely, yes.

And you should be grateful that I'm a NIMBY, because I'm the one that's protecting these green fields for you and your family.

Once this is all bulldozed over, it's gone forever.

And we don't want to turn into L.A., and just a sprawling metropolis in the southeast of England.

MALCOLM BRABANT: This is a battle for the soul of national traditions.

An Englishman's home has always been his castle in a green and pleasant land.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Malcolm Brabant in East Chiltington.