LAND owned by the borough council will be given to Hampshire County Council for free to build a road that accesses Rafi Razzak's proposed housing developments.

The so-called Camrose link road, which received the go-ahead earlier this summer despite objections from Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council and Sport England, will provide access to a care home and housing estate that the former club chairman is planning.

As previously reported, Basron, owned by Razzak, is planning on building a 70-bed care home and 89 apartments on the stadium site, which BDBC are recommending councillors approve at a meeting on Wednesday.

Both developments, which are covered by two separate but linked planning applications, are served only by the controversial road, with no other vehicular access.

It has started speculation among fans that the road is primarily to serve the Razzak developments.

Additionally, Cllr Ian Tilbury, a fan of the club and group leader on BDBC of the Basingstoke and Deane Independents, accused the authority of "creating this mess", and of losing the land value of their portion of the Camrose.

The council's cabinet agreed last year to hand over their portion of the land, roughly a third of the site, to HCC for free in order for a road to be built.

"We were working with them to build a new stadium on the common before we were chased off by the dog walkers," Cllr Tilbury told a community, environment and partnerships committee meeting last week, referring to the plans to build a stadium near War Memorial Park before they were abandoned.

"We were going to make money from that. We own a third of [The Camrose] land and we've lost all the value because they're going to turn it into a road that we'll give away for free to access Mr Razzak's development.

"This is a problem that this council has created. We have allowed the landowner to take over the club and run it into the ground.

"The only reason the land is worth multi-millions of pounds is because we've allowed him to do it.

"We created this mess, we facilitated the attempts to move them off the site. We've ended up penniless and lost all our land value, and at the same time the club have lost their home."

The county council claim that the road is part of improvement works to Brighton Hill roundabout, but councillors in adjacent wards have questioned whether it will be effective.

Documents from the authority acknowledge that the access to the developments would come from the link road, which has been objected to by South Ham ward councillors.

Cllr Gary Watts, one of those who has raised concerns about the road, previously told this newspaper: "The presumption that the Camrose link road will improve the traffic flow through South Ham has not been proven.

"We believe that this will cause 'rat running' through other areas of South Ham. This is the first time that we have seen a change of priority for entering this link road.

"It also states in the HCC consultation that the link road will support the proposed housing development for the Camrose site. Our views have been consistently against the over development of the site (flatted accommodation).

"Personally, I have objected to the two outline planning applications for this site and my views have not changed."

Another argument is over whether the closure of Western Way is really necessary.

Currently, the exit of the road onto Brighton Hill roundabout is deemed dangerous, hence HCC want to close it when they revamp the roundabout.

But with traffic lights being installed on the roundabout also as part of the plans, ward councillors from Brighton Hill and South Ham have questioned whether that is a necessary closure.

Additionally, residents on Mansfield Road, which is directly behind The Camrose have hit out at the plans. One resident told The Gazette that it would render her garden "unusable" because of noise, light and air pollution.

One of the conditions of granting planning permission means that work on the link road cannot be started until after the mitigation for the loss of the football stadium is agreed and work has started.