A PARISH council has been accused of ignoring residents’ views and concerns over plans to build six new homes and a new village hall.

Councillor David Snook, from Pamber Parish Council, has applied to Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council for permission to build four houses, two bungalows and a new village hall at Berry Court Farm, in New Road, Little London.

The new village hall would replace St Stephen’s Hall, in Silchester Road, which is described as having “outlived its usefulness”.

Cllr Snook has said that he would gift the new hall to the parish council, if approved.

But a number of villagers have raised concerns that their voice has not been heard and have urged the borough council to reject the application.

They claim a new hall is not needed as most people go to community facilities in Bramley, Sherborne St John and Pamber Heath. Villagers also raised concerns over safety as the village has no footpaths to ensure a safe journey on foot to the site.

The parish council held a fivehour public consultation on the plan to build a new village hall, village green, play area and car park on July 20.

Of the 167 people that responded to a comment form, 121 people said there was no need for a new hall, 128 people felt the new dwellings would have a visual impact on their properties and 109 people said they were against the application.

An amended application was submitted to the borough council in September which included a reduction in car spaces from 40 to seven, the repositioning of of the hall.

Father-of-three Carl Hughes, of Silchester Road, told The Gazette: “The key planning issue with the proposal rests on the need for the facility.

“At the July parish meeting the councillors agreed to consult with the residents. A consultation was held but the results were ignored by the councillors at the September meeting when they agreed to make no objection to the proposal.”

Roger and Doreen Quilter, who have lived in the village for 18 years, added: “We were all in shock and felt the council knew the results and it didn’t reflect them in the decision. The existing village hall, we know has only one weekly booking which generates £5 per week on a Tuesday morning, it is used as a polling station and for parish meetings. Why on earth are they building another one?”

Mother-of-two and veterinary surgeon Clare Lissmann, also of Silchester Road, added: “Robert (her husband) and myself should be the perfect users with our young children and the thought of a new playground should be filling us with delight but being realistic, it is dangerous to walk even from here.”

Six parish councillors have been referred to the borough council’s standards committee, which deals with complaints against councillors, following the September meeting.

But chairman of Pamber Parish Council Chris Goss told The Gazette that the council did take into account the results of the public consultation.

He said: “The amended application appeared to satisfy several councillors as to some of the objections raised by parishioners and the council voted and debated the amended application having had the residents’ thoughts for a week.

“I would stress as a parish council, I can’t speak for individual councillors, but we are charged with looking at the whole of the parish and some of the comments received, I have to say, bore no relationship to planning.”