"Major flaws" in housing plans (From Hampshire Chronicle)

Botley action group highlight problems with 6,000 home scheme

3:50pm Sunday 17th January 2010 in News

CAMPAIGNERS fighting to stop 6,000 homes being built on their doorstep have produced a 63-page study, highlighting what they describe as “major flaws” in the scheme.

Botley Parish Action Group says the new-town proposal on the outskirts of Hedge End are unviable and must be stopped before it is destroys communities, devastates the environment and brings roads to a halt.

The scheme forms part of the Government’s South- East Plan, which has identified Hedge End as one of two areas to meet housing targets.

The group’s report finds major failings with transport and water infrastructure and claims the scheme would have a damaging effect on wildlife.

The study concludes: “With the vast financial penalty for providing adequate transport links and utilities, the plan cannot possibly be viable.

“With the destruction of so much high-grade farmland and with the damage to the ecology, the plan cannot possibly pass any sustainability test.”

The group is hoping that the study will force members of Eastleigh Borough Council and Winchester City Council to take a closer look at the plans and scrap them.

The Partnership for Urban South Hampshire is currently carrying out its own feasibility study and campaigners want their findings to be included, too.

Stan Holden, vice-chairman of action group, said: “The purpose of the PUSH study is to show how this massive development can be built, rather than whether it should be. BPAG has therefore presented its own study and identified major flaws in many areas.”

BPAG has the support of Eastleigh MP, Chris Huhne, who fears the plans would swallow up smaller villages around Hedge End and Botley and cause traffic chaos.