4:50pm Sunday 14th March 2010
By Chief reporter David Connop Price
THE developer seeking to build hundreds of new homes, a hotel, offices and shops in Basingstoke has appealed after planners rejected the scheme.
Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council’s development control committee rejected Lemon Land’s original £300million plans for the Eli Lilly and Victoria sites, in Kingsclere Road, Houndmills, last August.
The company has now submitted an appeal to The Planning Inspectorate, but has also submitted different plans for the site to the borough council.
The original plans, which are the subject of the appeal, prompted five petitions – signed by 563 people – and 311 public comments, including 290 against and four in favour.
Councillor Paul Harvey, one of the Norden ward councillors who led opposition to the scheme, called the appeal “disgraceful”.
He said: “It’s almost as if they are bulldozing their way through the local planning process without listening to the local community.”
Councillors rejected the original plans, saying: * The level of housing proposed would result in cramped development.
* Insufficient evidence had been submitted to show that changing the land from industrial use would not harm the economy.
* There was not enough open space.
These points will form the basis of the council’s defence of its decision.
In lodging its appeal, Lemon Land stated its proposed homes would provide “a good level of amenity”, its open areas and wide boulevards meant the development was not cramped and the borough had no set standard by which to judge open spaces.
Nicky Linihan, the borough’s head of planning and transport, said once the Planning Inspectorate had agreed an appeal timetable, those who commented on the original application would be informed. She added: “Those who commented can make further representations to the Planning Inspectorate if they wish.”
The developer’s new set of plans have cut the proposed homes on the 26-acre site from 489 to 472.
And if Basingstoke College of Technology (BCOT) is unable to move to from its current Worting Road base, the new plan allows for construction of offices instead. BCOT looks set to be stuck where it is because the Learning and Skills Council has run out of money.
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