Once again you have an article (Advertiser, April 12) about the brewery site, stagnating, as you say, for 40 years.

This is a story that pops up with depressing regularity and nothing ever seems to be done about it. It seems that the arguments for persuading the owners to do something have no teeth.

So can't we at least try to give the arguments a set of dentures so that our collective complaining might have some effect?

The so-called developer, Stanborough Developments Ltd, is after all composed of human beings. It's not difficult to identify them with an online search. Cannot these people be named and shamed? They could at least explain their position and proposals, if any. This is a huge town centre site, especially for a small town like Romsey. What case did the original applicants for planning consent put forward?

Why did the local planning authority grant whatever permission exists? What case can be made out for revoking the planning consent? What steps can be taken to compulsorily acquire this land? The local planning authority should fully explain its own position and so should the owners. 

If the owners can't afford to develop for much needed housing then it should sell to someone who can. If the owners are simply hanging onto this land, to the detriment of the town, while the value rockets even higher then they should say so. In the absence of an explanation it just looks as though ownership of land in Romsey is just a licence to print money.

Surely there is at least a moral duty to use this land in a way more beneficial to the town rather than as a vacant eyesore.

Peter Stone,
Millstream Rise,
Romsey

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