On Tuesday 19th November, the Parish Council hosted a meeting with Cllr Paul Harvey, Leader of the Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council. At the meeting, North Waltham residents raised concerns regarding the recent approval of the Oakdown Warehouses, the Basingstoke Local Plan Update, changes to housing targets in the area and strains on local infrastructure. Key takeaways from the meeting were as follows:
The Oakdown Warehouse application
The warehouse application has been approved. It was acknowledged that this may be against local opinion however is based on the evidence submitted to the planning committee and their votes having considered all information presented.
Some members of the public have questioned if a judicial review could be conducted. This would be a costly process and typically have slim rates of success. It is worth noting that judicial reviews, take into account if the process was lawful not any contention of the planning decision made as such it would need to demonstrate incorrect process was followed.
Moving forward BDBC is committed to ensure the necessary planning conditions on the warehouses are adhered to and that the developers are in full compliance with obligations outlined in the application.
The Basingstoke Local Plan Update
At the end of last year, Basingstoke took its Local Plan Update to Regulation 18 in which it went out to the public for comment. The Update received over 7000 responses many of which came from residents in small parishes including North Waltham. The high level of engagement from the villages gave a much more balanced view on what is important to residents and counterbalanced feedback from developers.
During the Regulation 18 consultation, NWPC encouraged North Waltham residents to push back on the inclusion of Manydown South in this proposal and a large number of North Waltham residents submitted their objections.
Following the feedback from the consultation, Basingstoke and Deane planned to submit a proposal for Reg 19 which: ensured that all planning applications include infrastructure plans, which proposed 693 homes to built per year for the next 5 years and removed the Popham Garden Village proposal but instead increased housing in the town centre. Unfortunately, despite push back from NWPC and North Waltham residents, this proposal still included the Manydown South development.
However the Reg 19 proposal has yet to be submitted as following the consultation, the new government has brought in a policy to increase housing and Basingstoke has been set the target of 1194 new homes per year. Basingstoke along with other District Councils and County Councils and with the support of MP Luke Murphy are contesting the new housing numbers. Instead Basingstoke and Deane are lobbying to be allowed to go ahead with the proposed Local Plan Update as proposed. If unsuccessful, BDBC would need to go back to call for sites for 5500 new house, the Local Plan Update would need to start again from the beginning and in the interim the borough would be at risk of speculative development. As such BDBC are encouraging residents to show support for the proposed Basingstoke Local Plan Update.
Whilst NWPC continues to push back on development in close vicinity to the village on Manydown South, given the possible need for BDBC to provide another 5500 houses, we are not hopeful on the success on this. Manydown South is a prime site which is likely to been identified as a good location to focus more housing in to make up numbers, should the new government housing targets be enforced.
New Towns
There has been recent news article suggesting that BDBC are in support of a New Town at Popham. This is incorrect. BDBC instead have shown support for New Towns in relation to the Manydown development site. This support has been given on the basis that New Town could receive additional funding for infrastructure under new government policies.
North Waltham’s Strategic gap
The Parish Council and residents expressed the need for North Waltham to maintain a significant strategic gap around the village. Cllr Harvey has agreed to open dialogues with the Parish Council on this.
Thank you to all who attended the meeting and put forward questions to Cllr Harvey. North Waltham Parish Council continues to lobby on behalf of the village and will aim to provide additional opportunities for North Waltham to have its voice heard as more information on the housing policies develop.
