Gazette News
Plan lodged for 450-home scheme
5:00pm Thursday 9th February 2012
PROPOSALS to build a new 450-home development to the north of Basingstoke – which will include a new primary school and community centre – have been lodged with the borough council.
David Wilson Homes Southern has applied for outline planning permission to build on land to the north of Marnel Park – a 21-hectare greenfield site between Popley and Sherborne St John.
The development is opposed by many local residents, who argued at a public consultation in September that the area has taken its fair share of new homes in recent years.
Popley East borough councillor Andy McCormick helped to organise a petition, which gained more than 700 signatures, against the proposed development.
He told The Gazette: “At the public consultation, it became obvious the developer was going to ignore all that was said by the residents and so it has proved – they have decided to push ahead with it anyway.
“We are completely opposed to this development.
“The residents have had to put up with living on a building site for 10 years now, and they deserve a breather.”
Cllr McCormick is particularly angry that it is a greenfield site that is being developed, which he said will set a “dangerous precedent” for similar sites to be built on.
David Wilson Homes has also lodged an application for full planning permission for the first phase of the development, which comprises 200 homes.
Guiseppe Zanre, planning director at David Wilson Homes, said: “David Wilson Homes Southern is proud of the existing Marnel Park development and we are looking to replicate this success through our latest proposals.
“We have completed extensive consultation and have shaped the development to best suit the needs of the local community as far as possible.”
The land has been included as a site for 450 homes in the pre-submission core strategy – a council planning document that outlines where new homes will be built in the borough.