Homes hit-list's new additions (From Basingstoke Gazette)

Homes hit-list's new additions

6:25pm Monday 7th June 2010 in News

SEVERAL more locations have been added to a hit-list of potential house-building sites in the borough.

A new version of the blueprint published in advance of this month’s deadline for consultation, adds six sites. Three require further investigation and three are deemed to show development potential. The latter three are: * land off Pond Close, Overton, which could accommodate 200 homes * the British Legion Club in Bramley, where 22 homes could be built * land north of Court Farm, Overton, with space for 80 homes.

Although the new version drops 13 of the original 61 sites, it also retains many of the controversial places. These include three stretches of countryside which are each thought capable of accommodating well over 1,000 homes – Manydown on Basingstoke’s western fringe and Lodge Farm and Poors Farm on its eastern boundary.

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council has now launched a public consultation on the latest draft of the hit-list – the Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA) - which is part of the process of agreeing a Local Development Framework for development to 2026.

Councillor Rob Golding, Cabinet member for planning and infrastructure, said: “The SHLAA does not recommend sites for development. It is a list of sites that might be developed.”

He added: “I’m keen that residents get involved in deciding which ones should be selected for development.”

Copies of the SHLAA are available in libraries and online at basingstoke.gov.uk/go/SHLAA.

Developers and landowners have also been invited to display information about proposals for their sites at two exhibitions.

The first, featuring possible sites around Basingstoke, Ashford Hill, Baughurst, Bramley, Cliddesden, Kingsclere, Oakley, Sherborne St John, Sherfield-on-Loddon, Tadley and Woolton Hill will be on display at Basingstoke College of Technology, in Worting Road, Basingstoke, tomorrow, between 2pm and 8pm, and on Saturday, between 10.30am and 4.30pm.

Potential sites around Dummer, Overton, North Waltham, Upton Grey and Whitchurch will be on display at Overton Community Centre, in Winchester Street, Overton, on June 12, from 10am to 5pm.

The consultation closes on June 21.