A SCHEME to build 33 homes in a Hampshire village to fund a|proposed countryside park has come under fire.

Wilky Property Developments and Bargate Homes are behind a scheme to build 30 homes at The Orchard and further dwellings at Woodside, both off the A27 at Chilworth.

But the schemes have been criticised by a local council leader.

The proposals also include earmarking 170 acres of land at Hut Wood as part of a new recreational woodland alongside the M27 between Nursling and Rownhams in the west, Chandler’s Ford in the east and Southampton in the south.

This will be known as Forest Park and is part of Test Valley Borough Council’s blueprint to provide recreational facilities in the woodland, including walking, cycling and horse riding.

A feasibility study has already been carried out by the council and the Forestry Commission and landowners in the areas concerned are said to support the idea in principle.

Also included in Wilky’s project is a plan to provide 49 acres of land at Chilworth Common North for public open space.

But Chilworth Parish Council chairman and the village’s borough councillor Alison Finlay said: “The application proposes a major change to the landscape in Chilworth, particularly with respect to The Orchard, a site on the main road through the village. The proposed development there is dense compared with existing areas in Chilworth.”

But she did welcome plans for the recreational facilities.

Wilky company director Jeremy Gardiner said: “The council (borough) is willing to contemplate that there may be exceptional circumstances in which the significance and scale of the community benefits included would justify a departure from normal planning policy.”

He said the majority of the proposed Forest Park at Chilworth is on land forming part of the Willis Fleming Estate.