From The EMS 27-4 October 2004
Hampshire
Farm is the land to the north of Westbourne Road between Redlands Lane in
Emsworth and Westbourne up to the back of the properties in Long Copse Lane.
The section proposed for development is the western third, about 8.4 ha bounded
by a strip of newly planted trees. The land belongs to Edward Edgell and the
developer putting forward the proposal is Linden Homes who are already building
other properties in Westbourne. This site was not in the Draft Plan at the time
of the public enquiry having been proposed for building in the past and
rejected by full Council. It is proposed that this site would provide 250
houses, employment uses, doctor’s surgery, pharmacy and possibly a convenience
store.
Instead,
Havant Borough Council (HBC) proposed a reserve site for 250 houses on the land
west of Horndean Road Recreation Ground and your Association put a great deal
of effort into presenting the case against this proposal at the Public Inquiry.
The result of our efforts and those of other objectors has been that the
inspector listed a large number of reasons why HBC should not allow this area
to go forward as a reserve site and rejected the proposal. Instead he agreed
with one of the objectors that the Hampshire Farm site was a suitable
alternative; this is despite its previous rejections.
HBC
has yet to decide whether it accepts all or some of the inspector’s
recommendations, but should it do so there will be a period during which the
public can make comments with regard to its allocation as a reserve housing
site. Later, if this allocation is accepted, there will be a planning
application to which people will be able to object.
The
Emsworth Residents Association (ERA) was able to give strong support to the
campaign against the use of the land west of Horndean Road because of the
strong and sustained opposition of residents. They made their views clear to
the ERA, Councillors, Council Officers and at the Public Inquiry. A similar
concerted action would be required again to actively oppose the re-allocation
of Hampshire Farm if the people of Emsworth want this.
There
are three possibilities:
·
Reject the
proposal outright and campaign vigorously against both the inspector’s
recommendation and any subsequent planning applications. In this case, there
will have to be another site for the 250 homes somewhere in the borough in
order to meet the requirements of the Hampshire County Structure Plan.
·
Accept the
inspector’s recommendation in principle but campaign to reduce the social and
environmental impact when the actual application for development is made.
·
Completely
accept the scheme as proposed by Linden Homes.
Let
us know what you think, either to the Editor of The EMS or to a member of the
ERA committee.