Basingstoke council has revoked its planning consent for an Amazon warehouse, it has been announced tonight.

In April, the borough council approved a planning application to build a 630,000 sq ft warehouse at Oakdown Farm near junction 7 of the M3 which would create 1,400 new jobs for the area.

The decision sparked controversy with a legal threat from Dummer Parish Council and calls for the Secretary of State to call-in the application.

Tonight, the borough council has announced it will effectively be cancelling out its previous decision and the application will go back to the development control committee later this year.

The borough council’s Chief Executive Russell O’Keefe said: “It is important that we are robust and transparent in our decision making. The council has carefully considered Dummer Parish Council’s letter challenging the decision on the application and taken legal advice.

"We have decided that the best way forward is to take the application back to the Development Control Committee. This is possible as a way of resolving this, as the decision notice has not yet been issued owing to the Secretary of State considering a call-in request.” 

This means that, unless the council receives notification from the Secretary of State that he is to determine the planning application, it will be re-determined by the Development Control Committee meeting later this year. The date of the committee will be announced once it has been set.

In April, the committee voted to approve the application but planning permission has not been granted as the government’s Planning Case Work Unit is still considering a request to the Secretary of State to call-in the application. While this is under consideration a decision notice cannot be issued.

Dummer Parish Council wrote to the borough council back in April challenging the legality of the decision, based on what it considers to be an error in the information given to the committee about how visible the development would be from the village. 

The Secretary of State, Dummer Parish Council and the applicant have all been informed of the decision.