A ONE-OFF meeting of the council’s development control committee will convene at the end of next month to decide on a planning application for more than 3,000 homes in Basingstoke.

As previously reported in the Gazette, Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council and Hampshire County Council jointly submitted an application for a new settlement on land near to Worting in 2017.

Now, a date has been set for the outline planning application to be considered.

Councillors on the development control committee will meet for a one-off discussion on the plans on Tuesday, March 24, at 6.30pm. The meeting is scheduled for the same date and time as the council’s scrutiny committee.

The new development, which has been highly controversial, could see up to 3,520 new homes, as well as businesses, shops, community facilities, schools and a 250-acre country park.

Chair of the borough council’s Development Control Committee, Councillor Paul Miller said: “Manydown is the largest site allocated for housing in the Basingstoke and Deane Local Plan.

“Given the size and complexity of the development and the amount of information councillors will need to consider, an additional meeting has been arranged to focus on the outline planning application.”

The outline planning application only seeks permission for the principle of a settlement at Manydown; if approved, more documents would be submitted outlining the key features of the plans, and residents would have more time to have their say.

This will be the fourth time the committee has met since the new make-up was set in January.

Development Control Committee:

Conservatives (6): P Miller, D Leeks, N Robinson, D George, S Godesen, A Court

Labour (3): R Cooper, S Grant, A McCormick

Lib Dems (1): M Bound

Independents (2): D Potter, C Tomblin