DEVELOPERS have launched an appeal after controversial plans to build hundreds of homes were refused.

The plans would have seen 200 homes built in fields and farmland off Bubb Lane in West End – countryside which residents say is the last gap separating Hedge End from West End.

But the council refused Gladman Developments permission to build on the site close to Wessex Vale Crematorium.

Residents and councillors raised concerns about traffic, road safety on Bubb Lane, air pollution, pressure on schools, the impact on wildlife and that it could join the communities together.

As reported by the Daily Echo, Hedge End Town Council and West End Parish Council both objected to the plans.

The councils said they felt the plans would “significantly diminish and urbanise the narrow and sensitive area of designated countryside and strategic gap between Hedge End and West End and erode the separate identities of these settlements” and expressed concern for the strain on infrastructure the development would cause.

They also said the proposals would have an “adverse impact on the intrinsic character of the landscape and the area.”

Now the developers have urged the councils to reconsider its plans.

It comes just two months after the Planning Inspectorate dismissed a previous appeal by Gladman Developments against the council’s refusal of a previous planning application on the same site.

The previous plans, which were refused last year, could have seen 328 homes and a doctors’ surgery built on the same area of countryside which is designed to prevent the borough communities merging with Southampton.

A public consultation on the larger scheme came to an end in May, but a decision on the appeal has not yet been made.

Writing to residents, Eastleigh Borough Council said: “The appeal will be determined on the basis of a public inquiry and you will be notified in due course. We will forward all the representations made to us on the application to the Planning Inspectorate and the appellant. These will be considered by the inspector when determining the appeal.”

Hedge End Town councillor Cynthia Garton said: “I’m not surprised they’re appealing but the only thing that has changed is that they are proposing less houses.That field has become an island and it is the only thing separating West End and Hedge End, it’s just not a sustainable idea to build there and I am sure residents will be out once again to object the appeal like they did the last time.”

Gladman Developments refused to comment.

Cllr Anne Mortimer, former chair of West End Parish Council, has said there are numerous developments proposed or approved in the area that would in effect surround West End, with traffic a real concern.

She previously told the Daily Echo: “We have already voiced concerns over the infrastructure within West End not being sufficient to take all these developments that are planned.”

  • Anyone can comment at acp.planninginspectorate.gov.uk or write to The Planning Inspectorate, Temple Quay House, 2 The Square, Bristol BS1 6PN quoting reference APP/W1715/W/16/3153928. People must enclose three copies of their letter and they must be received before September 9.