Proposals to swell size of Highclere village by 20 per cent thrown out

Decision made behind closed doors welcomed by councillors

HIGHCLERE councillors have welcomed a decision made behind closed doors to refuse permission for a housing development that would have increased the size of the village by 20 per cent.

More than 200 villagers packed into Highclere Village Hall in March, when a show of hands revealed an overwhelming majority against proposals by developer JPP Land Ltd to build 50 houses off the A343, on a greenfield site owned by Peter and Joan Fisher, of Steeles Farm, Ashmansworth

This week, following a decision taken by planning officers at Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council (BDBC) on May 27 to throw out the plans, chairwoman of Highclere Parish Council, Sally Izett, said they welcomed the decision to refuse the application to build the houses on land known as Westridge, in an area of outstanding natural beauty (AONB).

She said: “I understand that as the application by JPP Developments was recommended for refusal by officers at BDBC and does not appear to have been challenged by the applicants, it was not necessary for the application to go before BDBC’s development control committee.”

Mrs Izett said the decision to refuse the application was taken after the parish council submitted to BDBC a very detailed response setting out its reasons for objection.

Highclere villager Horace Mitchell, who chaired the public meeting in March and who compiled the parish council’s response said the application had been refused under “delegated powers”.

He said: “When officers recommended refusal, the applicant asked the ward councillors to seek a committee hearing, but this the councillors declined to do – as one would have expected, given the strong community opposition to the development.

“I had always been fairly confident it would be refused, given the location outside the village and on agricultural land in the AONB.”

The application, may have had a better chance of being passed had it been submitted a year earlier, when the borough council’s Local Plan was at a less advanced stage.

However, once the planning inspector had made his decision on the Local Plan, “the fate of the application was sealed”, said Mr Mitchell.

“In my view they [the applicants] were very ill advised to spend so much money on pursuing this.”

There was always chance the developers could appeal against the decision, he said.

However, this move would be “a waste of time, effort and money” as reasons for refusal had been “clear and convincing”.