Burghclere villagers petition to oppose tree felling application

Fears move could lead to village development

BURGHCLERE villagers presented a petition to the parish council last week to oppose a planning application to cut down trees that they said could lead to development in the village.

Several villagers were at a Burghclere Parish Council meeting last Monday evening to raise concerns about an application submitted by Colin Fletcher, of Newbury, to cut down eight trees, – seven oaks and one Scots pine – at a strip of land next to The Hythe, Newtown Road.

Villager Andy Stanton, who has owned a property there for 23 years, presented the 67-signature petition. He said it had been signed by everyone living in the area around The Hythe, including those living in the immediate surrounding area.

Council clerk Sarah Bosley told the meeting that the council had obtained a temporary tree preservation order for six months.

One villager voiced concerns that if the tree felling were given the go-ahead and if an access road were installed it could lead to further development of the site.

“That’s why this needs to be jumped on,” he said.

Another resident told the meeting that they had heard rumours that residents of The Hythe had been asked if they wanted to sell their gardens.

A further villager said he feared leafy Burghclere would face a similar fate as neighbouring Woolton Hill, where villagers had endured much construction and development works in recent years.

Parish councillors advised villagers to write individually to Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council and borough councillor John Izett (Con Burghclere, Highclere and St Mary Bourne), said he would raise the issue with the tree officer at the borough council.

After the meeting, Mr Fletcher said that eight trees had already been felled, but not those covered by the preservation order, although he said that at least four of the trees not covered by the tree preservation order were in a bad state.

He said that he hoped to build a bungalow on the land in question but scotched fears that this would open the floodgates to development in Burghclere.

“There’s no way you could develop that land,” he said.

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council confirmed on Tuesday that it had not received any new planning application to build on the site.

The parish council decided to write to the borough council asking for the temporary preservation order to be made permanent and objected to the planning application, pending clarification as to why the trees needed to be felled.