THE leader of Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council has branded the news that permission has been granted for a care home and flats on the Camrose football ground as ‘a tragedy’.

As previously reported, permission has been granted for 85 dwellings and a 70-bedroom care home on the former home of Basingstoke Town Community Football Club after an inspector approved the developer's appeals.

Reacting to the news, BDBC leader, Cllr Simon Bound, said: “I think, if the planning inspector has allowed the planning applications, that’s a tragedy for the town. And it’s a tragedy for democracy, when it comes to the development control committee doing the right thing.”

READ MORE: Permission granted for flats and care home on Camrose ground after inspector APPROVES developer appeals

He continued: “I think what we will all need to do is read why the planning inspector’s made that decision. I have always forecast that what needed to happen was to go through the process. To go through the planning process and to go through the asset of community value process, because it’s those processes that give clarity around what the situation is.

“There’s something for me about working for the future, with what Sports England say is satisfactory mitigation. We will only ever consider what statutory consultees say is acceptable, we’re not experts on sports facilities.

“So the reality is that’s the mitigation that they have said is acceptable, the inspector has disagreed with the development control committee, and we will all now have to look at what that means for the future and work with the football club to say, actually, what’s the best way of supporting you for the future. Whether that means making sure that their long-term home is at Winklebury football complex, or somewhere else.”

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