120 home development targeted for North Wessex Downs AONB site in Kingsclere

Plans are in the offing for a 120-home development on the east side of Kingsclere.

Thakeham Homes is targeting land at Yew Tree Farm along Basingstoke Road for the development, describing it as a “new sustainable neighbourhood”.

The scheme – which is mostly within the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) – is still in the preliminary stages, although the company has met with the parish council and drawn up a document of its ‘vision’.

The proposals are separate from the plans by Vistry Group for 200 homes on Porch Farm on the west side of the village, which recently went to a two-week online public consultation.

An in-person consultation by Vistry Group could be held in the near future.

In Thakeham’s ‘vision’ document for the Yew Tree Farm site, it says 40 per cent of the homes would be affordable, while from 2025 all Thakeham homes will be “net zero in lifetime use and carbon neutral in production”.

A “new open green space” will be on the south side of the site, and will become “an integral part of the physical and mental health wellbeing initiatives incorporated into the development”.

A spokesperson for Thakeham said: “We believe land at Yew Tree Farm offers the best option for new homes in Kingsclere on account of its location as a logical extension of the village, proximity to amenities and the multiple benefits that a sustainable Thakeham scheme would provide for the community.

“Initial conversations we have had reflect this opinion and, in contrast to other sites within the village, the North Wessex Downs AONB board stated when consulted that at least part of the site would be suitable for residential development provided any plans respect the setting of the AONB.”

They added that the company was committed to fully consulting with local residents and community groups.

Despite its eco-friendly claims, the plans have not been welcomed by the parish council, which ruled the site out for housing when it created its Neighbourhood Plan in 2018.

The prerequisite for the plan at the time was that sites were identified for 50 homes – the number which the village had been allocated at the time by the borough council.

The three sites outlined in the Neighbourhood Plan as most suitable for constructing new homes were Fawconer Road, Coppice Road and Strokins Road in order to fill in the gaps in the village.

Yew Tree Farm was rejected due to its location within the AONB.

However, the parish has now been allocated a further 175 homes in the borough council’s rural spatial strategy – part of the update to its Local Plan – and developers are trying to take advantage of the council’s lack of a five-year housing land supply.

Sue Adams, Kingsclere Parish Council’s lead on planning issues, said the schemes from both Thakeham Homes and Vistry were frustrating, adding: “It’s really disheartening for people who worked on the Neighbourhood Plan because it took us five years, it was an awful lot of work, and suddenly you feel it’s not worth it.

“But you keep fighting the good fight.”

She said the parish council was now playing a “waiting game” for a public consultation or planning application from Thakeham Homes.

She continued: “The worst case scenario is that with the proposed 200 houses on Porch Farm and this 120, that’s 320 extra houses.

“That’s over a 20 per cent increase in the size of Kingsclere.

“That’s a big expansion, and there’s the knock-on effect on all the infrastructure – the extra traffic, the clogging up of the village centre, the effect on the school, doctor’s surgery, dentist surgery.

“I know people in Kingsclere who can’t get in the dental practice here, there’s a waiting list because it’s oversubscribed.

“There’s nothing we can do until they do submit a planning application.”