Tadley councillors fear major developments will lead to fatal road crash

Proposals trigger call for police traffic speed survey in the town

TADLEY councillors are calling for a police traffic speed survey in the town, fearing a fatal road crash is only a matter of time.

They are also worried that proposals for two major developments in neighbouring Baughurst will only add to the traffic problems.

The proposed developments, both in Bishopswood Lane on the outskirts of Tadley, include a 120-bedroom care home at Bishopswood Golf Course and a residential development of up to 290 houses.

At a recent Tadley town council meeting, local resident Michael Cassidy, of New Road, raised his concern about the volume and speed of traffic in New Road, which, if the developments planned in Bishopswood Lane were given the go-ahead, would “increase massively”.

Mr Cassidy said he felt it was only a matter of time before there was a fatality and the town council resolved to ask Tadley police to carry out additional speed checks in New Road.

Borough councillor, Michael Bound, (Lib Dem, Baughurst and Tadley North) also expressed his concerns about the developments in a letter read out at a town council highways and planning committee meeting.

Mr Bound said the proposals had transpired because Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council did not yet have a Local Plan in place.

He said: “Developers have a lot of incentive to get their proposals in whilst this state of affairs exists and, as we have found in the Basingstoke town area, these speculative proposals are very hard to resist, even when they are initially turned down by the borough, as they are then passed by the (planning) inspectorate.”

The proposals were likely to be seriously resisted, he said, as the developments would lie within the 3km emergency planning zone surrounding AWE Aldermaston.

This was due to worries about increased population, which could affect evacuation plans in the event of any incident at AWE, which manufactures the country’s nuclear deterrent, Trident.

At the same meeting, town councillors decided to “strongly insist” that an environmental impact assessment be carried out at the greenfield site of the 120-bedroom care home, which they said had been woodland for centuries.

Factors which needed to be taken into consideration included traffic issues on the narrow Bishopswood Lane, while proposed access adjacent to Huntsmoor Road could prove dangerous.

There are also concerns about the impact on local GPs and the ecology of the site, which contains protected species such as slowworms and greater crested newts