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ADD UPDATE, 11 December 2017: This evening, 11 December, Eastleigh Borough Council will be asked to vote on its Local Plan to 2036. As our supporters know, the council’s leader, Keith House, is pressing councillors to vote in favour of a Plan that includes 5,200 new houses and an expensive new link road north of Bishopstoke and Fair Oak (its options B and C). The council has two clear alternatives to deliver a major new housing development – what it calls a Strategic Growth Option (SGO). The plan north of Bishopstoke and Fair Oak has always been House’s favourite, though there is little evidence to support his case.

Over the last few years, many myths about Eastleigh’s Local Plan have been planted and allowed to take hold. One of these is that the council’s SGO needs to deliver over 5,000 houses. This was the case but because of recent planning approvals is no longer so. Whilst ADD has been aware of this for a couple of months, buried in the papers for this meeting, the council now concedes the point too. Are all councillors aware of this?

The meeting papers state that within the Plan period, which is to 2036, Eastleigh actually needs to find the means to deliver a further 3,350 houses. Not 5,200 – but 3,350. Indeed, the papers make clear that the 5,200 number is merely an aspirational one to 2046! It’s therefore irrelevant.

Why, therefore, is the council fixated on finding land for 5,200 houses? The reason, of course, is that Cllr House knows that without this number of houses the developer would be unable to meet the cost of the proposed road in options B and C. He needs this excessive number of houses to support his case.

The Plan that councillors are being asked to vote on this evening also includes space for 30,000 square metres of employment-related development to accompany the new houses. But this, too, is development that Eastleigh does not need. The borough already has the potential to deliver much more than this at better locations, at the former railway works and Eastleigh Riverside. We don’t need 30,000 square metres of employment space, and certainly not on green fields to the north of the borough.

Nobody doubts that new development is needed, but Cllr House seems intent on building more than required and locating houses in an area where there is the least likelihood of the developer building the kind of housing the borough most needs – i.e., affordable and social housing. Moreover, other councils seem to be catching on to this idea of spare capacity. We have it on good authority that a letter has been sent to Eastleigh by New Forest Borough Council asking Eastleigh to build extra houses to make up for the New Forest’s shortfall!

Does Eastleigh really want to build more houses to accommodate the needs of others – beyond, of course, what it is already doing? Don’t forget Eastleigh is already helping Southampton. Whilst Cllr House may see this as an opportunity to rake in more council tax revenues, is it really in the best interests of Eastleigh residents?

Several councillors say that options B and C is the only SGO that can deliver the required development. This is simply NOT true – not at 5,200 houses, and certainly not at 3,350 houses! Even with Cllr House’s recent, and rather convenient, stipulation that there must be a 1 kilometre gap between settlements within the alternative SGO, options D and E, Eastleigh has two very clear alternatives which could deliver the balance of housing it requires to 2036.

Should the council ignore this fact, and choose Cllr House’s preferred plan without properly comparing both options B/C and D/E, we have legal opinion to suggest that there is a strong possibility it would ultimately fail the planning inspector’s test. Now that is not a myth.

If you – like thousands of others – want an evidence-based Local Plan for Eastleigh, PLEASE, PLEASE TURN UP TO TONIGHT’S COUNCIL MEETING. BRING YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS TOO: 7PM, TONIGHT, MONDAY 11 DECEMBER, AT THE HILTON AT THE AGEAS BOWL (SO30 3XH). 

There is masses of parking, so don’t let that put you off. If you need a lift, just contact us!

Next year an independent planning inspector will scrutinise Eastleigh’s Local Plan submission. Whilst it will already be clear to the inspector (whoever he or she may be) that the council’s decision-making is totally unsound, we must emphasise this point again on 11 December by showing up in large numbers.

ADD UPDATE, 10 DECEMBER 2017: Hampshire County Council has become the latest authority to tell Eastleigh Borough Council that it lacks sufficient evidence to make a decision on its preferred Local Plan, namely the development of 5,200 new houses and a new link road north of Bishopstoke and Fair Oak (to view an annotated EBC map here). Eastleigh Borough Council is due to vote on its Plan at a key meeting tomorrow evening. 

Writing earlier this month in the County Council’s position as Highway Authority for Eastleigh’s Local Plan, Stuart Jarvis Director of Economy, Transport and Environment, makes clear that he does “not believe that we are yet in a position in terms of the technical work and evidence base, to reach any final conclusions on the transport impacts and therefore final spatial distribution of development, from a transport perspective.”

He concludes: “In the context of the transport technical work and evidence seen to date it is our view that there is insufficient evidence to conclude a proper transport assessment, and therefore to finalise spatial development option decisions in transport terms, at this stage.”

To view the full letter, click here.

If you – like thousands of others – want an evidence-based Local Plan for Eastleigh, PLEASE, PLEASE TURN UP TO THE COUNCIL MEETING AT 7PM ON MONDAY 11 DECEMBER AT THE HILTON AT THE AGEAS BOWL (SO30 3XH).

Next year an independent planning inspector will scrutinise Eastleigh’s Local Plan submission. Whilst it will already be clear to the inspector (whoever he or she may be) that the council’s decision-making is totally unsound, we must emphasise this point again on 11 December by showing up in large numbers.

ADD UPDATE, 10 December 2017: Tomorrow is Eastleigh’s Local Plan D-Day.

At a meeting at 7pm tomorrow, at the Hilton at the Ageas Bowl (SO30 3XH), Eastleigh Borough Council will be making its choice on its Local Plan. In summary, it wishes to bulldoze through a half-baked plan for 5,200 new houses and a new link road north of Bishopstoke and Fair Oak and south of Colden Common, Owslebury and Upham, significantly affecting Allbrook, Boyatt Wood, Chandler’s Ford, Otterbourne, Brambridge, Highbridge, Twyford, Chandler’s Ford and Bishop’s Waltham too (its options B and C – see an annotated EBC map here).

If you wish to STOP the council making a BAD decision for Eastleigh, then…

…WE URGE YOU TO MAKE EVERY EFFORT – WHATEVER THE WEATHER – TO ATTEND THIS MEETING. TOGETHER, WE CAN DEFEAT THIS PLAN BUT A MASSIVE TURN OUT TOMORROW IS ESSENTIAL.

As ADD’s supporters know, we have a large and growing number of organisations that support our cause (see list here), but tomorrow is all about individuals who are against this plan turning up and being counted.

Many volunteers will be speaking out against EBC’s proposals and the more public support these speakers have, the better our chances of making a difference!

SO PLEASE, PLEASE TURN UP TOMORROW. BRING YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS TOO: 7PM AT THE HILTON AT THE AGEAS BOWL, SO30 3XH.

THERE IS MASSES OF PARKING, AND IF YOU NEED A LIFT, JUST CONTACT US!

BE THERE OR BE BULLDOZED… BY THE COUNCIL TOMORROW AND ULTIMATELY THE BULLDOZERS THEMSELVES…

Daily Echo, 8 December 2017: THE Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Eastleigh have quit their party over controversial plans to build thousands of homes near ancient woodland. Cllr Maureen Sollitt and her deputy Chris Thomas (pictured) have both quit the ruling Liberal Democrats group at Eastleigh Borough Council over concerns around the emerging local plan. This comes after councillors Steve Sollitt, Sarah Bain and Mark Balaam quit the party for the same reasons in the past few months. Eastleigh councillors are to discuss the controversial plans to build thousands of homes and a link road near ancient woodland during a full council meeting set to take place at the Ageas Bowl on December 11. Council leader Keith House said these resignations were expected.

PRESS RELEASE: EASTLEIGH INDEPENDENT LIBERAL DEMOCRATS, 8 DECEMBER 2017:

Eastleigh Mayor, Cllr Maureen Sollitt and her Deputy Cllr Chris Thomas, have both quit the ruling Liberal Democrat group on Eastleigh Borough Council over concerns around the emerging Local Plan. Their move means that Eastleigh’s Liberal Democrat Group no longer have any borough councillors in Eastleigh North. Following Cllr Mark Balaam’s resignation from the administration last month, the Independent Liberal Democrat group now have five members and now hold a majority on the Eastleigh Local Area Committee.

The Mayor and Deputy Mayor have resigned from the administration over their proposed plans to build a link road from Fair Oak through to Allbrook, an area both councillors represent. As well as being The Mayor, Cllr Maureen Sollitt is also Chair of Allbrook and North Boyatt Parish Council, which recently voted to formally object to options B and C in the Local Plan. “As Chair of this parish council and a resident of Eastleigh for many years, I share the concerns of local residents over the impact of the plans and the link road which would cut the village of Allbrook in half.”

Like his ward colleague, Cllr Thomas has many concerns about the direction of the Local Plan and its impact. “The height of the railway bridge at Allbrook is a serious obstacle in this plan. It is shocking that the traffic survey for the proposed link road will not be complete in time for Monday’s Full Council vote.” The Mayor and Deputy Mayor, like their colleagues in the Independent Group, remain members of the Liberal Democrats and support the aims and principles of the party nationally but do not share the local Liberal Democrat views on options B and C in the Local Plan.

Cllr Steve Sollitt, Leader of the Independents, welcomed his colleagues in what must have been an incredibly difficult decision in light of their roles as Mayor and Deputy Mayor of the borough of Eastleigh. “Their principled move on this is a sign of the growing unrest amongst Eastleigh residents about the Local Plan.”

Both councillors remain in their roles as Mayor and Deputy Mayor but will now represent their constituents as Independent councillors.

Note to Editor: Cllr Maureen Sollitt, first elected in 1996, has served as Mayor of Eastleigh twice and represents Eastleigh North. Cllr Chris Thomas, first elected in 2002, currently represents Eastleigh North.

For further information contact Cllr Steve Sollitt: [email protected]; 07775 917616

To view a pdf of the press release, click here.

PRESS RELEASE: ST FRANCIS ANIMAL WELFARE, FAIR OAK, 7 DECEMBER 2017: 

St Francis Animal Welfare in Fair Oak has today issued the following statement about concerns over Eastleigh Borough Council’s plans for 5,200 new houses and a new link road north of Bishopstoke and Fair Oak, namely options B and C of its emerging Local Plan:

STARTS  

*Heartless developers ignore Animal shelter concerns* 

Staff and trustees of St Francis Animal Welfare shelter are desperately worried about plans for large new housing developments around Mortimers Lane, which, if permitted, could swallow up their shelter.

Shelter manager Helen Shaw said, “We have a number of concerns.

Drew Smith have actually included our land in their plan without even speaking to us. So we wrote to Phil Farminer at their Head Office about it several times but nobody has had the courtesy to even acknowledge our letters, let alone respond to our concerns. Frankly, we are disgusted. Presumably they have no concern for local people and organisations who will be affected, only for their own profits.

Their plans show high density housing right next door to us. Being an animal shelter, our dogs often bark, including at night – it’s what dogs do! Our cockbirds crow from daybreak onwards. Having animal food around, we are constantly fighting a battle against rats. No-one would want to live next door to all that. Drew Smith clearly don’t care about the Environmental Health issues and what it would be like for people who would actually live in their proposed houses.

The fields near here flood badly in winter. Building houses and roads here would make that many times worse. Increased traffic would be a danger to our dog-walkers, and if we were surrounded by houses, we’d need extra security fencing and floodlighting – money that should be spent on our needy animals.

We have written to our local councillors and hope they will take notice. Our approach to all-comers is simple: we were here first and don’t intend to move. After all, we have been serving the local community since 1953 and we are one of Hampshire’s oldest animal charities – doesn’t that count for something?”

The Eastleigh full council meeting to decide these issues will be on the evening of 11th December at the Ageas Bowl. People are asked to go along and make their feelings heard.

December 2017

ENDS

Contact: Shelter Manager Helen Shaw or Chair of Trustees Annette Lodge – 023 8069 3282

To view a pdf of the press release, click here.

Daily Echo, 6 December 2017: A COUNCILLOR has said Eastleigh Borough Council’s emerging Local Plan will bring “chaos and carnage” to the area. Cllr Richard Izard’s ward of Colden Common and Twyford borders where Eastleigh council wants to build thousands of new homes. The preferred options of the borough council – known as options B and C – would see 5,200 homes and a new road built to the north of Bishopstoke and Fair Oak. But campaigners say this will result in a “massive urban sprawl”, damaging ancient woodland and wildlife as well as increasing traffic. In response, Cllr Keith House, leader of Eastleigh Borough Council, said: “Sadly Richard Izard appears not to have read Eastleigh’s Local Plan documents. His repeated assertions are fake news.”

ADD UPDATE, 6 December 2017: Three MPs, for Winchester, Meon Valley and Eastleigh, have written to the leader and CEO of Eastleigh Borough Council (EBC) to complain about the soundness of the council’s decision-making for its emerging Local Plan. In particular, they question the assumption that two of the council’s development options – D and E – cannot be considered together, but only in the alternative, and conclude by asking EBC to ensure that:

• A combination of D and E is examined with an open mind as an alternative to their preferred options, which are B and C combined; and
• All necessary studies are undertaken to allow a proper evidence-based decision, within the tenets of the National Planning Policy Framework, on which of these two combinations should be included in the draft Local Plan.

To read the letter from Steve Brine, George Hollingbery and Mims Davies (pictured), MPs for Winchester, Meon Valley and Eastleigh respectively, click here.

EBC is due to decide on its Local Plan THIS MONDAY, 11 December. At this meeting, councillors will be asked to rubber stamp their preferred plan, despite the fact that their own officers admit that significant elements of the evidence base have not yet been completed and that these could change the conclusions of their report.

The preferred plan, options B and C, includes 5,200 new houses and a new link road north of Bishopstoke and Fair Oak and south of Colden Common, Owslebury and Upham, significantly affecting Allbrook, Boyatt Wood, Chandler’s Ford, Otterbourne, Brambridge, Highbridge, Twyford, Chandler’s Ford and Bishop’s Waltham too (the council’s options B and C – see an annotated EBC map here). To read all the papers, click here.

In his response to the MPs letter (click here), Keith House, leader of the council, does not respond directly to any of the MPs’ concerns, but claims they are covered in detail in the papers for the 11 December meeting. However, he fails to note that these papers recognise that vital studies have not yet been undertaken and that the evidence in support of options B and C is therefore incomplete. Despite these crucial omissions, he asks the MPs to:

“support the Council’s ambition to meet housing and infrastructure need and to do so through the sound, evidence-led process being promoted by the Council.”

Given the lack of a proper evidence base, it is hard – if not impossible – to see how councillors could justify voting in favour of this plan on 11 December. To do so would be to go against what Keith House claims to be his council’s ambition. Surely, it would be better to wait until all the evidence is available and then decide – as Councillor House and other councillors have committed to do many times before.

If you – like thousands of others – want an evidence-based Local Plan for Eastleigh, PLEASE, PLEASE TURN UP TO THE COUNCIL MEETING AT 7PM ON MONDAY 11 DECEMBER AT THE HILTON AT THE AGEAS BOWL (SO30 3XH).

Next year an independent planning inspector will scrutinise Eastleigh’s Local Plan submission. Whilst it will already be clear to the inspector (whoever he or she may be) that the council’s decision-making is totally unsound, we must emphasise this point again on 11 December by showing up in large numbers.

STATEMENT FROM ACTION AGAINST DESTRUCTIVE DEVELOPMENT (ADD), 4 DECEMBER 2017

The results of a council survey of Eastleigh residents underline the folly of its plans to build more than five thousand homes on the outskirts of Fair Oak and Bishopstoke, ADD said today. The public response shows that people want above all to minimise traffic congestion, preserve strategic gaps between villages, receive good medical services, reduce pollution and noise and protect the natural environment. Options B and C of the emerging Local Plan threaten all these objectives. To view the results, click here.

ADD recognises that new housing in Eastleigh is both necessary and desirable, but believes the council has chosen to locate them in areas that would maximise road usage and damage to the environment.

Eastleigh Borough Council is due to vote on these plans at a meeting at 7pm on Monday 11 December at the Hilton at the Ageas Bowl (SO30 3XH). ADD anticipates councillors will vote in favour of these flawed proposals (despite lacking large amounts of evidence to support the case). View papers for the meeting here.

ADD statement

“The public attitudes revealed by the council survey underline the folly of options B and C of the emerging Eastleigh local plan. Residents want to reduce traffic congestion at the same time as protecting strategic gaps between villages, reducing noise and air pollution and promoting medical services and the natural environment – objectives that we share.

“Yet if these options went ahead they would achieve the very opposite. They would create a massive urban sprawl, maximise car usage and therefore traffic congestion, creating 26,000 additional vehicle movements a day by building homes far away from public transport and motorway access and away from where people want to be. At the same time, the plans involve an ill-considered link road that would actually add to congestion, whilst permanently damaging ancient woodland and the River Itchen and slicing the village of Allbrook in two. Stoke Park Surgery, meanwhile, has warned it would not be able to provide the service needed if options B and C were to go ahead.

“There are better ways to achieve the housing that Eastleigh needs. Eastleigh and the surrounding areas deserve better.” 

Note: ADD is an action group set up to promote a sustainable response to the need for new housing. We are an evidence-based, politically neutral campaign that has the future of Eastleigh, the natural environment, the lives of residents and the surrounding area at heart. We have considerable support from organisations including the Campaign to Protect Rural England, the Woodland Trust, Friends of the Earth, the Campaign for Better Transport, the Angling Trust and many others. 

For further information, contact Mark Baylis of ADD – email: [email protected]; or tel: 02380 651473.

ADD UPDATE, 3 December 2017: On Friday night, Eastleigh Borough Council (EBC) published its proposed Local Plan. As we have long predicted (not least because the council has so clearly signalled), the plan involves building 5,200 new houses and a new link road north of Bishopstoke and Fair Oak and south of Colden Common, Owslebury and Upham, significantly affecting Allbrook, Boyatt Wood, Chandler’s Ford, Otterbourne, Brambridge, Highbridge, Twyford, Chandler’s Ford and Bishop’s Waltham too (the council’s options B and C – see an annotated EBC map above). To read all the papers, click here.

The experienced team at ADD, together with our professional advisers, are currently combing through every detail of the council’s plan. It’s clear the council is still short of much critical evidence and that certain important myths, carefully crafted over the last few years, have taken hold. We will outline our full objections in the next few days.

As we have stated from the beginning, all we want is a fully evidence-based Local Plan for Eastleigh. The council’s plan, by their own admission, is NOT evidence-based and is therefore full of ifs and buts.

For example, paragraph 111 in the Report of the Local Plan Advisor states: “It is important to recognise that there are some specific areas of evidence which are as yet emerging and/or uncompleted. These primarily relate to transport modelling, the Habitat Regulations Assessment and consequent environmental mitigation. Engagement and consultation will continue until the Local Plan is submitted. Therefore the conclusions to date will need to be kept under careful review to identify whether or not they remain valid once the Local Plan evidence is complete.”

As regards transport modelling, paragraph 1.2.2 of the traffic report (appendix 11) by SYSTRA, the international engineering and consulting group, notes that there will be “significant /severe traffic congestion impacts” occurring from the combination of the new road and 5,200 new houses. In following paragraphs, SYSTRA traffic engineers say they are still searching for solutions to the congestion B and C will cause. Their initial suggestions only attempt to address problems within Eastleigh itself. They do not mention the already severe traffic issues of Colden Common, Twyford, Upham and Owslebury.

This is not surprising to us, although it must be a major disappointment to Eastleigh’s leaders who have hailed the new road as providing “a solution to take traffic off Bishopstoke Road”. The traffic engineers’ first report was delivered just before the 20 July full council meeting. After more than four months, and presumably intense pressure to deliver a solution, they have still not come up with a viable and effective set of ‘patches’ for the problem.

Given the only justification for this scheme is this new road, SYSTRA’s findings are a massive hole in the heart of the Local Plan proposals.

Paragraph 130 of the Report of the Local Plan Advisor says: “If the outstanding evidence does not support the approach taken then the final Plan will be changed to reflect this; and if this results in a major change to the Local Plan, it will be brought back to Council for a decision.”

The Local Plan Advisor clearly believes, like the rest of us, that the council is still short of sufficient evidence to decide on its Plan. However, despite previous commitments by Councillor House, leader of the council, and other councillors, that they should wait on making a decision until all the required evidence is available, the council is now being asked to approve a scheme – options B and C – before that evidence is available!

Given this, it is hard – if not impossible – to see how councillors could vote in favour of this “plan” on 11 December. To do so would be folly. Surely, for all our sakes, it would be better to wait until all the evidence is available and then decide – as they themselves have said all along. Indeed, as recently as 16 November, Councillor House said: “Getting it [the Local Plan] right is more important that doing it fast”

Whilst the ADD team works hard to analyse these plans, we ask one thing of the many of you who oppose them.

That is – please – to turn up to the council’s meeting at 7pm on Monday 11 December at the Hilton at the Ageas Bowl (SO30 3XH), at which we anticipate councillors will – unbelievably – vote in favour of this flawed plan (despite the huge outstanding holes).

Next year a planning inspector will have to scrutinise Eastleigh’s Local Plan. Whilst it will already be clear to this inspector (whoever he or she may be) that there is vast opposition, locally and nationally, to the council’s intentions (and the council’s decision-making is totally unsound), it would be excellent to demonstrate our opposition again on 11 December. Please, please do come. And bring all your friends and family with you!

Together we will win this battle – but only if we stick together!