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Proposed houses in Ashford Hill opposite primary school spark concerns





The chairman of governors of Ashford Hill Primary School and villager Ken Rhatigan wrote to parents about the proposed 19-house development (pictured) inviting them to the meeting last Tuesday to make their viewpoints known and see plans for the site, which is believed to be privately owned by a villager.
School headteacher Helen Borley declined to comment, but Mr Rhatigan said that they were delighted to host something that engaged both the school and community and were pleased to see so many people.
A group of mothers said that parking was one of the biggest issues at the school, and they had hopes that the developer’s contributions would address this problem. However, they were otherwise divided over the development.
One villager, who neighbours the site but did not want to be named, said that generations of his family had attended the school for six decades, and was opposed to the development.
“Instead of deer and pheasants, you would be looking at a housing estate. Lots of people feel that way and have been in tears about it.”
Another villager, Rod Cook, said that his seven-year-old son, who was a pupil, would rather see a field than houses opposite the school.
“Perhaps people should get more views from the children,” said Mr Cook, who also has a three-and-a-half-year-old son.
He pointed out that the school was situated near a road junction, and traffic problems were likely to be exacerbated by the extra houses.
John Young, whose house is located in a Site of Special Scientific Interest in the village, said that he feared that the additional housing would worsen a problem with sewage caused by houses not connected to mains sewage.
Last year he had discovered dead trout in his garden stream, following which oxygen levels were discovered to be raised upstream by the Environment Agency.
Opposition to the plans wasn’t universal, however. Lee Hughes, who has lived in the village for six years and has a four-year-old child at the school and another one aged two, said that he supported the development if it meant that safety measures could be improved along the walk to school.
David Hanning, who spearheaded Ashford Hill’s Village Design statement, said that the houses would lie outside the village settlement policy boundary.
The director of developer’s agents, Vortal Properties Ltd, David Heron, confirmed that the plans, which had not yet been submitted to Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, included eight affordable properties, and had taken into account villagers’ suggestions to use the developer’s contributions for improved school parking, super-fast broadband for the village, drainage improvements, parkland/village green with play equipment, and a coffee shop and drop-in centre.



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