Basingstoke Local Plan
The Borough’s Local Plan currently proposes up to 5,200 homes to be built to the south and west of Basingstoke, completely overwhelming the local infrastructure. There is a risk that this could be increased to 10,300. There’s also a risk that a road will be built, obliterating the Old Down nature reserve. If these possibilities worry you, read on.
The Plan sets the framework for housing and other development for the Borough for the next 15 years. A draft was published last year, which has been amended following representations made by organisations and the public, and the revised version is available for further comment until 13th June.
On 29th April, the South West Action Group, (“SWAG”) comprising residents of Hatch Warren, Beggarwood, Dummer and Kempshott, made a presentation at Hatch Warren Community Centre to over 250 local residents about the Plan.
The purpose of this article is to inform residents of the policies most likely to have an impact on our environment and amenity, and the potential threats posed by representations likely to be made by persons and organisations elsewhere in Basingstoke. This version of the Plan is not final – although some may see the current housing allocations affecting this part of the town as reasonable, or at least acceptable, there may well be significant pressure from others to massively increase the housing in this area.
The existing housing allocations in the Plan affecting us are;
Policy SS3.2, 310 homes at Kennel Farm (over the A30 from Beggarwood), between 2015 and 2020.
Policy SS3.10, 3,400 homes at Manydown, between 2017 and 2029.
Policy SS3.11, 1,000 homes at the Golf Course, between 2020 and 2029.
In addition to these are 60 houses approved for the old Kempshott Park industrial site, and possibly another 100 houses on “Area N”, the field opposite the Beggarwood Co-op.
Running down from the Kennel Farm site to the A30 where it turns right at the traffic lights near Junction 7 is another area, Hounsome Fields. This doesn’t currently feature in the Plan. I return to this later, and to the Old Down nature reserve.
The population of the Borough is expected to grow by 25,000 over the Plan period of 15 years, from 170,000 to 195,000. Those people have got to live somewhere, so a significant number of homes will be built. The three sites detailed above would provide about 4,710. The Plan proposes 1,960 to the north and east of the town, and 270 in Overton and Whitchurch; total 6,940 homes, of which the south and west will take two thirds.
The major development is Manydown. The site stretches from the A339 at Rooksdown in the north, down to the A30 by Junction 7 in the south; from Oakley and Wootton St Lawrence in the west, to Winklebury and Kempshott in the east. The current Plan has the 3,400 homes covering the area from Rooksdown, over Worting, and down to Pack Lane. The direct impact of this on our area would therefore be relatively small, but there are several causes for concern;
1. Although Battledown Farm and its major archaeological sites are shown as protected in the Plan, and the area east of Oakley is a “strategic gap”, the area below Battledown (running south alongside Kempshott and Kennel Farm as far as the A30 by Junction 7) is slated for further housing development of another 400 homes at a future date.
2. Several Councillors from elsewhere in the Borough are seeking to get housing allocations in their areas cancelled, and for practically everything to be lumped on to Manydown. This would mean a much higher number of homes than the total 3,800 currently envisaged, and the housing would stretch right down to junction 7, with a consequent huge impact on the infrastructure – schools, healthcare, transport and sewerage – for us.
3. The other concern about the development is that the Council’s Chief Executive has revealed the Borough “reserves the right” to put an access road from the A30 to Manydown directly across Old Down, completely destroying the nature reserve and open space, even though it is of major scientific and leisure importance. Of course, if the housing allocation at Manydown increased from 3,800 to 8,000, this would significantly increase the risk of them needing an access road at the southern end and putting it across Old Down, as well as substantially reducing the green areas envisaged in the present version of the Plan, around the edges of the housing.
I now turn to Kennel Farm and Hounsome Fields, both on the A30 opposite Beggarwood and the Golf Course. Although a planning Inspector found the site only “marginally sustainable”, Kennel Farm has been approved for 310 homes. Hounsome Fields isn’t in the Plan, but the landowners want to put it in, with 750 to 1,000 homes. Of course, if a vastly extended Manydown ran down to junction 7, an argument could be made that Hounsome Fields would simply be “filling in a gap”.
The Golf Course. Up to 1,000 homes to go here, with road access onto the A30, but also through Beggarwood and Hatch Warren. Although the Plan proposes measures to stop rat-running, when have such measures (even if installed, and not simply “mislaid” between planning and building), ever been effective – anywhere?
Both the Manydown and Golf Course policies include “permanent pitch/plot provision to meet… .accommodation needs of Gypsies, Travellers… in the Borough”. Anybody who remembers the fiasco of the permanent Gypsy site down by junction 7, which remains there, overgrown and abandoned, will realise what an attractive prospect these sites would be.
The Local Plan contains very noble-sounding commitments to making all development in the Borough sustainable in terms of education, healthcare, transport, leisure and sewerage, but none of the housing proposals for this part of Basingstoke would be sustainable to the levels required in the Plan; however, every representation made against a housing proposal anywhere in the Borough under the original draft Plan claimed the proposal failed on the grounds of lack of sustainability!
That is a brief summary of the current proposals of the revised Plan, and the risks perceived from potential representations and intentions of other people.
The full Plan details are available at
http://www.basingstoke.gov.uk/browse/environment-and-planning/planning/emerging-local-plan/local-plan-consultations/localplan11-29.htm.
So, what should you do? If you care about this area, and want to ensure that any housing allocated (and it’s a foregone conclusion there will be some) is as sustainable as possible, and brings with it improvements to the local infrastructure to enable us to cope with the developments, then you need to make representations now. SWAG have put together a simple-to-follow, step-by-step guide to making these representations, at http://southwestactiongroup.wix.com/swag#!the-consultation-and-you/cekf.
