Pleas to protect Loddon valley (From Basingstoke Gazette)

Pleas to protect Loddon valley

1:20pm Friday 30th July 2010 in

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SPEAKERS at the meeting made a succession of points against development – with the exception of a man from Hampshire County Council.

Representatives of campaigning group SOLVE (Save Our Loddon Valley and Environment) and conservation group Country Watch pointed to the unusual and vulnerable eco-system around the River Loddon, a rare chalk-stream.

SOLVE members also handed in a petition with 2,100 names against development and prior to the meeting, organised a good-natured demonstration outside the Civic Offices.

Councillor Sven Godesen, from Basing ward, not a member of the planning and infrastructure committee, said the Environment Agency and Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust had come out against development of the three sites in the valley because of their importance for biodiversity.

He told the committee: “As borough councillors, we have a responsibility to pass this borough on to future generations in the best possible condition.”

Country Watch spokesman Alan Read said building in the highly-sensitive Loddon valley would be particularly damaging and had previously been ruled out by a planning inspector. He added: “It would also swamp the historic village of Old Basing and Pyotts Hill.”

He said it would be less damaging to rare flora and fauna to build on the Manydown site to the west of Basingstoke.

But Shaun Pettitt, from Hampshire County Council’s estates department, said the borough should approve development of the land east of Chineham, which is owned by the county council and earmarked for 900 homes.

He said: “The county council has sought to make clear its land could be built on as an extension to Chineham.”

Mr Pettitt’s intervention prompted questioning of the committee chairman Stephen Reid about his “double-hatting” as a county as well as borough councillor, and whether he should be involved in the decisions on developing county council land.

Cllr Reid, who helped lead successful opposition to the Manydown scheme for 8,000 homes in the last Local Plan, said he would take legal advice, but could not foresee any difficulty.

Barbara Lewis and Chris Flemming were among a group of residents from the Berg estate who joined ward councillors to speak against the Down Grange proposal. Mr Flemming said: “You have to take into account the expanding leisure demands. Thirty years ago there was very little.”

Cllr Hayley Eachus, from Kempshott ward, said: “This has been open space for years and development would be a huge erosion of that.”