A BID to debate the issue of affordable housing allocation on a major Basingstoke development has been blocked by Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council.

As reported in last week’s edition of The Gazette, the row over the level of affordable housing that should be built on Manydown continues to rumble on after members of the borough council’s Manydown executive committee decided to shun pleas from borough councillors to ensure that 40 per cent affordable housing was provided on the development.

A call-in application to debate the decision, which was made at a meeting of the committee on Febru-ary 13, was signed by 21 Labour, Liberal Democrats and Independent councillors and submitted to the borough council.

The application pointed to the reasons that the borough council, along with Hampshire County Council, bought the land in 1996, including to achieve a “properly planned, comprehensive development of the area” and to “secure land for low cost housing” in accordance with council policies.

It went on to say: “The signatories feel that the decision takers have not taken into account the original objectives for purchasing the site in terms of affordable housing and by not considering these original objectives fully may expose the council to challenge.”

But Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council has refused to accept the application to discuss the issue again.

Councillor Paul Harvey, deputy leader of the borough’s Labour group, slammed the decision telling The Gazette: “The call-in has been rejected and we are deeply disappointed that the debate has been shot down and we will do everything we can to keep it alive.

“Comment after comment is coming back to us with people saying the issue of affordable housing is one of the town’s priorities and if the council can’t commit to delivering affordable housing on Manydown, and if we can’t do the very best possible development on that site for the benefit of the town, it is bad.”

Head of commissioning and governance at the borough council, Lisa Kirkman, said: “Call-in is a power that councillors can use when they believe a decision taken by the Cabinet needs to be reviewed. A call-in request needs to be made in accordance with the grounds laid out in the constitution, a document that lays out the rules behind how the council works.

“As monitoring officer I have carefully considered the call-in application and the grounds on which it has been made. I have determined that the grounds put forward by the signatories in this case are not valid.”

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