Woolton Hill villagers turn out in force to oppose development

More than 100 villagers attended the East Woodhay Village Hall meeting, hosted by the developer Catesby Property Group, about the company’s plans to obtain outline planning permission for housing at Harwood Paddock.
Catesby intends to sell any approved outline planning permission for the eight- acre, greenfield site on to a housing developer, according to the firm’s planning director David Morris.
Mr Morris, who was unable to name the owner of the site, argued there was a chronic housing shortage across the district.
He said: “The general viewpoint is: ‘If it is going to happen, how could it benefit the community and provide a legacy?’”
Catesby is to submit two separate applications for outline planning permission to Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, the first of which is for 70 houses, a mix of two-, three-, four- and five-bedroom properties, 40 per cent of which would be affordable housing.
Catesby said that the density and mix of housing for this option would be consistent with an adjacent development by Linden Homes in Harwood Paddock.
The second option is for 49 houses, a mix of three-, four- and five-bedroom properties, 14 per cent would be affordable housing. Seven of the houses would be for shared ownership.
This option also includes around three -quarters of an acre that would be earmarked for community use, such as a new village hall and re-sited doctors’ surgery, pre- school, or allotments.
Among villagers browsing both sets of plans on display at the meeting was Sue Wren, of Harwood Rise, who said: “I think the land offered to the parish is a miserly portion.”
Nicky Boys, of Fairacre, said they were worried about the increased traffic from the development worsening problems for vehicles exiting the village on to the A343 Andover Road.
She said: “It’s dangerous at the best of times.”
Other concerns included as to how the village’s fragile infrastructure, including sewage and drainage, would cope with the extra load. Father-of-three Steve Ray, of Broadlayings, who has lived in the village for 14 years and whose house backs on to the site, said that his biggest concerns were the increased traffic and inadequate parking, and the dangers posed by this to children and parents walking past the development to St Thomas Infant and Woolton Hill Junior schools.
Questionnaires completed by villagers at the meeting will be submitted together with the planning applications to the borough council next month.