THE Cabinet planning chief at the borough council says Overton people have been misled by their parish councillors about the threat of development.

Councillor Horace Mitchell claims Overton will see nowhere near the 880 houses that ward members Cllr Paula Baker and Cllr Ian Tilbury have been issuing warnings about.

Cllr Mitchell was due to face Overton residents and parish councillors at last night’s Annual Parish Meeting.

Speaking before the meeting, he said: “I’m a bit disappointed with Cllrs Tilbury and Baker over what seems like apparent misleading of parishioners, particularly Cllr Baker who is group leader of the Lib Dems.

“The process which they refer to is what has always happened, where landowners nominate land in the hope that at some future date it will be allocated for development. The figure of 880 is clearly lunacy.”

Cllr Mitchell, Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council Cabinet member for planning and infrastructure, claimed that Cllr Baker had sought to stir up local concern by leaking unpublished information to The Gazette.

“If and when any idiot actually comes forward with proposals for 880 additional houses in and around Overton, I will be happy to join the protest march,” he added.

He said that in all likelihood there would be about 150 homes built outside Basingstoke by 2026.

The issue concerns the inclusion of Overton in the borough council’s draft Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA).

Initially, landowners in the village put forward three sites in the village where 550 homes could be built. Last month, Cllr Baker told The Gazette a further two sites for 330 potential homes – a total of 880 – had been added to the SHLAA.

The document was drawn up to accommodate the Government’s target of an average of 945 houses to be built in the borough each year by 2026.

Cllr Baker said: “We certainly have not been misleading parishioners. We have always told them the sites in Overton that have been put forward in the SHLAA are just plots of land that are available and won’t all necessarily be developed on.”

Cllr Tilbury said: “The confusion is entirely with the borough council. If they run around saying they can meet their housing plans by building 550 houses in Overton then unsurprisingly that’s what people will think.”