More than 60 objections have been submitted for a major development plan of 309 houses near Romsey.
Developer Barratt David Wilson Homes put in an outline application for an expansion of the existing Kings Chase development.
A total of 67 residents and three parish councils have submitted objections to the proposals. No supporting comments have been made.
The main concerns are around access, potential traffic problems, the environment and its location, outside the settlement boundary.
Romsey Town Council's planning committee discussed the scheme at its meeting on May 11, and decided to object. David Faria and Chris Ling spoke at the meeting.
Mr Faria, of Scoreys Crescent, said: “I overlook the development proposal. The outline application has vehicle access from the north via Ganger Farm Way via Scoreys Crescent.
“I'm concerned that this arrangement would create more traffic, impact highway safety, create noise and disturbance. The 300 homes would create 2,400 more vehicle movements a day.
“The roads are already overloaded. From a highways safety perspective, the access is directly adjacent to both the children's play area and sports pitches. Increased vehicle movements will increase the risk of road traffic incidents.
“In summary, this is a purely speculative application which is inconsistent with both national and local planning policy, and the application’s proposed single access route to a large development, through an existing large development, past sports facilities and a children’s play area, is wholly inappropriate.”
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Mr Ling, of Straight Mile, Ampfield, said: “The development does not fall within the allowable policies for development appropriate in the countryside, nor is it essential for the proposal to be located in the countryside. The existing Kings Chase development was considered at great length and included in the Local Plan. Any further development should also be given the same consideration before inclusion in the next revision of the Local Plan if it is concluded that the development should take place in the countryside.”
Cllr John Parker said: “I suspect we will be in the long haul with this one. I propose we strongly object.”
Cllr Ian Culley said: “The impact on the town in terms of traffic would be detrimental. The environmental factors would also be detrimental.”
Cllr Mark Cooper added that the increased traffic would have a detrimental impact on the residents of the first phase of Kings Chase.
Cllr John Ray said: “Lots of people around the town are concerned about this. The town has had enough, so it's down to us and Test Valley to make sure we stop this.”
The committee agreed to submit an objection.
On the planning statement, it said: “The application site covers an area of approximately 18.8 hectares. It is characterised by open land in agricultural/ horticultural use divided into parcels with vegetated field boundaries comprising hedgerows and mature trees. The northeast of the site is dominated by arable and improved grassland and the south and western areas are largely semi-natural-broadleaved woodland.
“The proposal jointly addresses each strand of sustainable development to provide a wide choice of high-quality homes within a sustainable location. The scheme, as demonstrated, is compliant with national and local planning policy and it is therefore respectfully requested that planning permission is granted.”
To view the full details of the scheme online, search 23/00964/OUTS on Test Valley Borough Council's planning portal.
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