Plans submitted for 350-home Wash Water development between Newbury and Hampshire

Controversial plans for 350 homes which would fill a green gap between Newbury and Hampshire have now been submitted.

Housing developer Bewley Homes has submitted an outline planning application for 350 dwellings on Common Farm, Wash Water, at the junction of Andover Road and the A34, just over the border in Basingstoke and Deane.

It has also submitted a full planning application for the first phase of the development on the east side of the site, which will include 90 homes and a public open space.

The plans haven’t yet been validated by Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, meaning they are not yet publicly available.

Bewley Homes says the plans – marketed as Watermill Bridge – will have a number of economic and social benefits, including 140 homes classed as ‘affordable’, 878 direct construction jobs, and it will add a number of “new services” to the area, such as a café/convenience shop near the entrance to the site.

The development also includes proposals for the creation of a dedicated cycle route, extending 1.8km down the A343 from the site into Newbury.

This means the cycle route would stretch from the site to approximately Park House School.

Bewley Homes says “this enhanced infrastructure will enable better access between the site and Newbury, accessible by sustainable modes of transport.”

However, there is no provision for other infrastructure, such as schools, doctor’s surgeries or dentists.

The plans were met with a backlash when they were originally unveiled earlier this year.

An opposition group titled ‘Keep Wash Water Rural’ was subsequently set up and at its first public meeting in August, 100 members of the public attended to voice their concerns to the scheme.

Chris Garrett, who lives on Enborne Row just north of the site, feared his house was at greater risk of flooding as the site is on the Enborne River floodplain, and said he had grave concerns over the increased traffic pouring onto the A343.

He also criticised the lack of infrastructure, and said doctor’s surgeries were already struggling to cope.

At the meeting, Mr Garrett said: “We don’t want to give them any mitigation – we just want to say no.

“Not in any form, it’s not appropriate.

“This is an essential part of the flood plain and it directly protects those upstream and downstream from river flooding.

“There is no provision in this for infrastructure – surgeries are already struggling to cope, and all these people will be going in to Newbury.

“There’s no safe way to walk from the site to Woolton Hill or Burghclere, you’re not going to walk down the A343 to the Chase.”