Councillor calls for car parks to be protected
4:20pm Friday 10th October 2008
A PROMINENT councillor has called for three Basingstoke town centre car parks to be protected from development after they were identified as possible sites for house-building.
Labour group leader Councillor Laura James spotted the inclusion of the Castons, Brinkletts and Central car parks in a consultation document about where houses should be built in the borough up to 2026.
Having identified the threat she raised her concerns with council chiefs.
She told Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council’s Cabinet: “It amounts to 230 parking spaces that are possibly going to be lost.”
And the figure could reach 600 if the Vyne Meadows car park also vanished, she said. The car park could be built on under the council’s tentative plans for regenerating South View – but a replacement has also been suggested.
Cllr James, who voiced her fears during a debate on the council’s strategic approach to parking, said the car parking provided vital short-stay spaces for people using town centre shops and banks.
Council leader Cllr Andrew Finney replied: “There are no firm proposals to remove any surface car parking.”
Cllr Phil Heath was worried the parking strategy consultation had not received sufficient responses from urban areas of the borough, but Cllr Finney said any future projects that came from the strategy would be subject to further consultation.
The Cabinet adopted the strategy as a framework for future council decisions and policy development about car parking in the borough.
Your Say YourGazette
JacquesMeahof, Hampshire says...
10:01am Sat 11 Oct 08
There's plenty of unused farmland sitting there doing nothing.
If the population of the town is allowed to rise then the town must expand outwards.
I couldn't agree less.
In a few years time you will be moaning about the high prices of food, complaining that it is all flown into the UK, rather than grown locally!
Farmland should remain just that - land for farming!
Why should the town keep growing?
I don't know if you live or work locally but I do - and it is chaos trying to get anywhere around this town without being sat in some traffic queue or waiting for transport to get somewhere.
If you follow your argument to it's logical conclusion then the whole of the UK would be covered in concrete - and you would be complaining that there are no open spaces anymore.
There's plenty of land, empty houses, space to build up north - build the houses up there.
This country already has an uneven population distribution between north and south - why contribute to the problem.
Again I ask - why does the town need to grow?
Carlos Tilbury, Overton says...
3:30pm Sat 11 Oct 08
The unused farmland Bonzo refers to is Manydown which is own by the Council, and will be built on sooner than later.
If you dont want more housing inj this area then stop this current administration promoting BAsingstoke as a place to work, ask yourself where they are going to live?
Or do they expect them to commute in and clog up the already busy roads.
Carlos Tilbury, Overton says...
3:39pm Sat 11 Oct 08
We may be over 200 dwellings over the required government total, but way short of what we need and dont think a Tory government would do anything different, I have a mail from the Tory housing spokesman Shapps or what ever hes call, and he states we need to build lots of council houses, like the one the tories sold off in the mid 80's.
JacquesMeahof, Hampshire says...
6:59pm Sat 11 Oct 08
The developers aren't buildig - they having been laying builders off for the last 12 months.
What is your vision for Basingstoke, Bracknell v2.0 , or worse still Harlow v2.0?
You could drop someone in the centre of Basingstoke nowadays and they would have no clue if they were in Reading, Southampton or any other corporate faceless soulless town centre. The new estates are exactly the same all over the south.
Why don't people fight for some independent original thinking regarding development?
You still haven't answered the question of why the town needs to expand though.
As regards promoting the town as somewhere to work - what a joke. ?have you tried to get into Basingstoke to work recently? BasingJoke more like.
Move your company to Basingstoke - Your staff will love having to sit for 20 minutes to exit the M3, then sit for another 10 minutes queueing for the Black Dam roundabout lights. Then they can admire the slowly deaying buildings in Basing View as they wait for the lights at Eastrop Roundabout. That will ensure they arrive at work full of energy ready to do a days work!
JacquesMeahof, Hampshire says...
6:59pm Sat 11 Oct 08
The developers aren't buildig - they having been laying builders off for the last 12 months.
What is your vision for Basingstoke, Bracknell v2.0 , or worse still Harlow v2.0?
You could drop someone in the centre of Basingstoke nowadays and they would have no clue if they were in Reading, Southampton or any other corporate faceless soulless town centre. The new estates are exactly the same all over the south.
Why don't people fight for some independent original thinking regarding development?
You still haven't answered the question of why the town needs to expand though.
As regards promoting the town as somewhere to work - what a joke. ?have you tried to get into Basingstoke to work recently? BasingJoke more like.
Move your company to Basingstoke - Your staff will love having to sit for 20 minutes to exit the M3, then sit for another 10 minutes queueing for the Black Dam roundabout lights. Then they can admire the slowly deaying buildings in Basing View as they wait for the lights at Eastrop Roundabout. That will ensure they arrive at work full of energy ready to do a days work!
Jo Walke, says...
9:35pm Sat 11 Oct 08
Maybe the Tories have realised their sell-off mistake Carlos?
If social house building does manage to take off then lets ensure its of the 3 bedroom variety and remove the need for people to keep moving or being stuck indefinately on a waiting list!!
Bonzo_Dog, Bonzo Dog says...
8:58am Mon 13 Oct 08
I'm not for expanding Basingstoke but I'm against the arrival of so many arrivals hoping for work in the area but not finding houses to match their low incomes. No fibbing on the application forms anymore, well not until the crisis is over anyway!
Building affordable houses has stagnated at the moment due to the world crisis, (thanx america) which stops any development in other areas too.
I don't want building on farmland but I want food to be grown there at prices we can afford. Sadly there must be compromises as central government insists we build houses even if the work is unavailable to the right people.
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Bonzo_Dog, Bonzo Dog says...
7:52am Sat 11 Oct 08
Short term parking is a major problem in the town centre.
There's plenty of unused farmland sitting there doing nothing.
If the population of the town is allowed to rise then the town must expand outwards.