A HAMPSHIRE MP wants the Government to intervene to try to hold the development of hundreds of houses set to be built on farmland.

Eastleigh MP Mims Davies asked the Secretary of State, Sajid Javid, to look at the decision to build 250 houses at Pembers Hill Farm, Mortimers Lane, near Fair Oak.

Eastleigh Borough Council’s planning committee gave the green light to the outline planning permission to build new homes, pedestrian and cycle links and open space.

The plan was put forward by the Drew Smith Group and approved by Bishopstoke, Fair Oak & Horton Heath Local Area Committee last week.

The proposals were part of a wider development plan which includes the expansion of Fair Oak and Bishopstoke, called option B, and the expansion of Fair Oak to east and north, called option C.

But Miss Davies said the plans should be looked at further by the Secretary of State – a process called ‘calling in’ and said: “Planning is purely down to Eastleigh Borough Council to administer, however on this occasion I was able to use this call in process and it will be down to the Department for Communities and Local Government.”

Ms Davies took this decision after campaign groups lobbied her over the impact that the plan could have on the countryside, ancient woodland and the nearby Stoke Park Woods.

Ms Davies said: “Campaigners believe this decision will bring forward in the area the wholesale development of pristine countryside and Ancient Woodland and its potential significant impact on the nearby Stoke Park Woods, in through the back door, because of hostile applications such as these and the ongoing saga of the missing and much needed Local Plan. This is an ongoing nightmare for residents as building continues across Eastleigh in a hostile, piecemeal and unplanned way which makes the planning process adversarial and residents are disappointed that the extra homes we need are in the wrong places.”

But a spoke person from the Eastleigh Borough Council said that the Council has a legal requirement to consider all planning applications submitted to it and added: “Bishopstoke, Fair Oak & Horton Heath Local Area Committee taking a decision to permit the application at Pembers Hill, Fair Oak does not in any way commit the Council to options B and C in the draft local plan. The recommendation from Council planners to permit the development was based on national and local planning policy considerations.”

Cllr Anne Winstanley, deputy leader for the Liberal Democrat party stressed the need of building to provide residents with new homes and said: “ The government has already said that they are not interested in calling the application in. Councillors have decided that the site is suitable for putting houses on. We do need to provide houses for our population and we will have to look at green fields but this is what has been happening for years and years. Everyone lives in a house that was a green field. We cannot not to build on green fields.”

The Drew Smith Group will now bring forward a detailed plan and work along with authorities and public to outline the details of the proposal.