150 homes scheme revealed for car dealer site (From Hampshire Chronicle)

150 homes scheme revealed for car dealer site

4:47pm Thursday 28th September 2006 in News

RESIDENTS in Chandler's Ford have been able to see draft ideas for a major new housing development for the first time.

Linden Homes held public exhibitions last Thursday and Saturday to give people a first look at its proposals for the Hendy Ford site in Bournemouth Road.

Earlier this year, councillors gave outline permission for 150 homes on the site, and now Linden is working on the details before full plans go to Eastleigh Borough Council.

The exhibition showed sketches of the five-acre site and confirmed that the existing building line at Bournemouth Road would be maintained.

The drafts also showed a landscaped frontage, a central access loop road - moved in from the edge of the site for greater security - and a play space within the road.

Linden is proposing two- storey homes on the boundary with Northdene Road, with two-and-a-half storey buildings backing onto Chalvington Road.

The plans showed three-and-a-half- and four-storey buildings at the front of the site.

Martin Hawthorne, from planning consultant White Young Green, said a full application for the details of the site could go before planners in the New Year, depending on residents' reactions to the ideas.

"We're trying to do a good quality scheme," he said.

"What we're trying to do is hear what people have got to say."

But, at the first exhibition last Thursday, reactions were mixed.

Carole Hodgson, who has lived in Chalvington Road for three years, said she had concerns about the drafts.

"I'm really unhappy because I would never have bought my house - and I love my house," she said.

"It doesn't bother me that Hendy Ford is behind me, because at night time it's dark and peaceful."

She added that it was bound to be noisier with houses on the site.

Neil and Amanda Hebdige, who live opposite the Hendy site in Bournemouth Road, said they had some initial worries too.

Mrs Hebdige said: "We're just concerned we would be overlooked into our bedroom.

"That was our concern, but we have been told they're planting trees so that will obviously help the problem."

Mr Hebdige added that otherwise he thought the plans were "extremely tasteful".

"They have thought about the play area being in the centre, keeping the noise down.

"I'm hoping it will reduce the amount of traffic on the road with Hendy gone," he added.

Hendy Ford plans to relocate its showroom and workshops to the former Manor Bakeries site in Leigh Road, next to the M3, likely to open sometime next year.

It has been selling, servicing and repairing vehicles in Bournemouth Road since the 1930s.