PLANS to plant a 4.5-hectare habitat on the proposed Manydown development site have been submitted, to lessen the impact on the environment of building 3,200 homes.

An application has been sent to Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council asking for permission to plant the trees and hedges in advance of the Manydown plans being approved, to “provide ecological and landscape mitigation”.

The Manydown plans submitted in March 2017 include building 3,200 homes along with two primary schools, land for one secondary school, open spaces including a country park, allotments, indoor sports facilities and five permanent gypsy and traveller pitches.

The applicant has now submitted separate plans to bring forward the creation of a new habitat on the land, to lessen the impact the development would have on the environment, and with the hope of supporting “early delivery” of the project.

The habitat would be created on land between the B3400 and Wootton St Lawrence, and would include a six metre corridor of grassland and scrub, to provide a “buffer” to the existing hedgerow along the road, and a 20 metre corridor of woodland, hedgerow and scrub, to provide a “habitat connectivity for dormice and bats”.

Trees would include silver birch, sweet chestnut, wild cherry, English oak, hazel, honeysuckle and crab apple.

The application states: “The scale and nature of the proposed development is such that the increased uptake of carbon dioxide as the new habitat planting matures will provide a small beneficial effect.”

The site includes areas of “ecological value” for a range of species, with a movement corridor known as the Green Lane Site of Importance for Nature Conservation used by bats, dormice and other species.

As part of the Manydown development plans, this corridor is set to be “severed”.

The application states that this needs to be “re-provided and enhanced through mitigation in key locations to allow for a future connection to be made across the site”.

Other habitats within the Manydown application site will also be improved as part of the main plans, so that there is “no net reduction of biodiversity” as a result of the development.