Local Conservatives Save Greenfield Sites

Picture: Maria Hutchings, Conservative Party Spokesperson for Eastleigh, with Graham Hunter, a local campaigner, at Woodhouse Lane, which was earmarked for development by Eastleigh Borough Council.

Maria Hutchings, Conservative Parliamentary Spokesperson for Eastleigh, and the local Conservative team recognise the need for more affordable and sustainable housing to serve the Eastleigh constituency. However, for several years Eastleigh Conservatives have also been fighting to ensure that as much new housing as possible is built on brownfield sites, rather than in locations which would destroy our greenfield areas, villages, allotments, leisure spaces and strategic gaps.

Given this strong record of local campaigning, Maria and her team are delighted to announce that they have been advised by Conservative-led Hampshire County Council, that Lib Dem-controlled Eastleigh Borough Council is likely to be revising its Local Plan for 2011 – 2029. Eastleigh Borough Council officers were advised of the full extent of Hampshire County Council landholdings that would be made available for development during the Local Plan period. The Conservative leader of Hampshire County Council has decided that County owned land, west of Woodhouse Lane (currently being farmed) and identified for development in Eastleigh Borough Council’s Local Plan, will not be included in the land to be made available for one-thousand new houses. Furthermore, development on the County Council’s landholding located south of Chestnut Avenue, Eastleigh, would be limited to the building of just three-hundred housing units.

The County Council has also announced that it is willing to release land at Winchester Street, Botley, for up to two-hundred houses, along with room for allotments as well as open spaces. These plans are in line with what Botley residents say the area can sustain in terms of development, supported by the findings of an independent residents’ survey, the results of which were accepted by Botley Parish Council.

Maria and local Conservatives continue to campaign alongside BPAG (Botley Parish Action Group), HEBAG (Hedge End and Bursledon Action Group) and Save Stoneham Park campaigners to fight for a more sustainable local housing policy. Responding to these developments, Maria commented:

“Most of us would agree that we need some housing locally. I have four children and hope that they will settle here. However I believe that Lib. Dem.-controlled Eastleigh Borough Council's Local Plan is ill-thought out and denied residents a full and proper consultation. Evidence of this is provided not least by the voices of local people but also by responses from The Highways Agency and other public bodies to recent premature planning applications at Boorley Green and Pylands Lane. Indeed, The NHS alone projects that the proposed development at Boorley Green (where we would see an 800% increase in houses), would require an extra initial NHS expenditure of £1.3 million.

Now that Conservative-led Hampshire County Council has refused the sale of prime agricultural land at Woodhouse Lane, and allocated only a minimum release of land at Chestnut Avenue, I have been advised that Eastleigh Borough Council will have to go back to the drawing board.

What concerns me most is that Eastleigh Borough Council knew that this land would not be made available for housing in January 2012, so why has the Council put local residents through such concern and desperation?

Not only have we saved these greenfield sites but we have also preserved our strategic gaps. Now I ask Eastleigh Borough Council not to cave in to premature applications for house building from developers and also to make full use of every brownfield site in the constituency. Most importantly, the Council should revisit the figures and ask: are some ten-thousand new houses really necessary for the Eastleigh Constituency?”

The fight goes on to save Stoneham Park.