THE DEVELOPER behind a massive warehouse scheme on the edge of Basingstoke has appealed against the council's decision to throw out the plans.

Newlands had planned to build four warehouses near Junction 7 of the M3, but outline plans were rejected by councillors in April.

They had considered it would be detrimental to the character and visual amenity of the landscape, would fail to mitigate those impacts appropriately and would fail to have particular regard to the setting of the settlement.

The developer has now submitted an appeal against the decision to refuse the outline application, claiming "the application is sound".

As well as the refusal of the outline planning application, councillors on the Development Control committee had approved a separate, full application for one of the units, which is believed to be the future home of Amazon.

But the decision will be re-examined next week after Dummer Parish Council challenged 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.

A spokesperson for the council said: "We are aware that Newlands Developments has submitted an appeal about the outline scheme for four industrial units at Oakdown Farm that was refused by our Development Control Committee in April.

"The applicant is seeking to have the appeal heard as a public inquiry with a planning inspector. We have not yet been informed of the date for this.

"The committee voted to refuse this outline application for four industrial units on the grounds that the proposed development would be detrimental to the character and visual amenity of the landscape, would fail to mitigate those impacts appropriately and would fail to have particular regard to the setting of the settlement, including important views to, across, within and out of settlements and would not successfully mitigate the landscape impact by allowing sufficient space for landscaping or green infrastructure.

"This was one of two planning applications for land at Oakdown Farm on the A30 at Dummer that were considered by the Development Control Committee on Wednesday 7 April. The other, a full application for one storage and distribution warehouse on the land at Oakdown Farm, is going back to the Development Control Committee on Wednesday 27 October."

This comes just days after campaigners presented a petition signed by more than 102,000 people calling for the council to stop the destruction of 70 mature trees on the site.

A spokesperson for Newlands said: "Newlands Developments has and continue to work collaboratively with Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council and will continue to do so to bring jobs and economic benefits to Basingstoke. While one of our two applications was approved, the outline application was refused. It is standard practice to appeal a refusal if and when a developer believes the application is sound, which we do. So we have submitted an appeal and – at the same time – continue to work positively with the council on our Basingstoke Gateway logistics hub proposals."