CAMPAIGNERS are urging residents to join them to stop a proposed development on the Old Common.


As previously reported in The Gazette, a petition signed by more than 500 people was sent to Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council objecting to plans to build a new £10million stadium for Basingstoke Town Football Club, on land off Old Common Road, in Eastrop. 


The borough council is set to make a decision on whether the open space at the Old Common is suitable for development at the cabinet meeting on January 26. 


A group of campaigners are set to hold a protest ahead of this meeting, urging the council to keep the site as a green space. 


Members of the Basingstoke Heritage Society will join ward councillors Gavin James and Stuart Parker in a bid to raise awareness of the importance of keeping the site undeveloped.

 
Secretary of the Basingstoke Heritage Society, Debbie Reavell, said the group has argued their point to the council on several occasions that the land should not be omitted from its parks and open spaces protected sites. 


She said: “The Old Common is just that, the last piece of undeveloped land remaining from Basingstoke’s historic common. 


“In 1979, when the council disposed of Old Common land to the Hilton hotel, they took a decision that this last remaining piece should remain ‘open and undeveloped.’ Yet we are told that the cabinet today are not bound by the earlier decision and indeed neither acknowledged it.”


Cllr James, group leader of the Liberal Democrats in Basingstoke, who has organised the meet-up said: “The Old Common is a popular site for dog walkers, joggers and is frequently used to provide extra parking for some of the town’s major events, such as Basingstoke Live and the half marathon.”


He said an alternative option for the football club would be to develop its existing site or find a new location on a commercial basis. 


However, he added: “The decision to look at whether the Old Common was feasible was taken in 2012, however the cabinet agreed to review their options in March 2015 in the hope there would be a council owned site that carried cross-party support. That review is complete with no options coming forward.”


The Heritage Society is fearful that the loss of this last piece of green space will take away the areas historical value from when soldiers camped on the common on their way to battle at the Crimean, Boer and First World War. 


“We urge the cabinet to think again and to give this site the protection it ought to have,” added Debbie. The group is urging residents to join them this Saturday at 11am, opposite the Riverdeane Pub, in Windrush Close to show their support in saving the common.