Plans for four homes on site in Tadley criticised by town council

Tadley Town Council has strongly objected to plans to build four new homes on Franklin Avenue.

Matt Taylor of St Edwards Design and Planning has submitted four separate applications of one house each for land behind 16 and 18 Franklin Avenue.

This has been done, the applicant says, as “it is well established in Tadley that applications for single houses do not raise any objection in terms of the AWE inner consultation zone”.

A small access road between 16 and 18 Franklin Avenue would lead to the site, and the houses would all be four-bedroom properties.

In the planning statement for one of the houses, it states: “The site represents a highly sustainable location for new residential development, within the settlement limits of Tadley.

“The site is within walking distance of shops and services, including a Sainsbury’s superstore, Co-op and Budgens convenience stores and a soon to be built Lidl supermarket.

“There is also a host of hot food takeaways and restaurants within proximity.

“The site is also close to bus stops which provides links to nearby railway stations which includes Basingstoke.

“Finally, the site is also within the catchment of a number of local schools and may businesses offering local employment.

“Accordingly, the location is ideally suited for additional housing and incredibly sustainable.”

However, the town council has hit out at the applications and the fact that they’ve been submitted as four separate applications rather than one.

In its comments to the applications, the council said the applications were an “overdevelopment of the site and out of keeping with the existing street scene.”

It continued: “We would have liked to see some affordable housing on this site, preferably retirement bungalows as it is well located for the doctors, chemist, bus stops, supermarket, library and the recreational facilities at Tadley Common.”

It also expressed concern over the access onto Franklin Avenue, and whether there was enough parking on the site for four, four-bedroom houses along with visitor parking, as there’s no parking permitted in Franklin Avenue.

It added: “If these applications are approved then a condition of approval should be that they can’t become a house of multiple occupancy (HMO) in the future.”