AN updated plan detailing where new homes should be built in Oakley and Deane has been approved by the parish council.

Oakley and Deane’s Neighbourhood Plan went out for the first stage of public consultation in March, after which concerns were raised by Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, because it did not conform with a wider housing scheme for Basingstoke.

A report, discussed by the Manydown Overview Committee in May, said that the council was concerned that a number of policies in the draft plan had been “prepared without reference to either the Manydown landowners or to the emerging Local Plan strategic policies”.

As a result, both the borough council and Hampshire County Council (HCC), as joint landowners of Manydown, had “significant concerns as to the deliverability”.

The report stated that Neighbourhood Plans should support the Local Plan, which details the number and location of houses to be built in the borough.

It added that both HCC and the borough council were concerned that Oakley’s plan would “constrain the delivery of the Manydown project”.

The borough council’s Local Plan includes an area of land within Oakley and Deane which has been earmarked for around 3,400 homes, schools, local centres and open space, up to 2029.

The report stated that various policies within Oakley’s plan did not support this, including the allocation of affordable housing, the mix of dwellings and play areas. However, the plan has now been revised and submitted to the borough council with the hope of being approved.

John Glasscock, chairman of Oakley and Deane Neighbourhood Planning Group, said: “We have given very careful consideration to all of the comments made and we have made a significant number of improvements to the plan as a result.

“On Thursday, July 9 the parish council approved the updated plan which has now been formally passed to Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council.”

The borough council will now commission a health check from the National Planning Independent Referral Service, which will check the robustness of the plan, before it is formally published and open for comments for eight weeks from next month.

Mr Glasscock said the plan will help the village defend an appeal lodged by Gleeson Developments, against the refusal of its plan to build more than 100 homes on land west of Beech Tree Close.

It is anticipated that the plan will be formally examined in October or November and, if successful, a referendum will be organised by the borough council in January next year. It will be adopted if more than 50 per cent of voters support it.