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Barton Farm back in the firing line
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| PAST PROTEST: Barton Farm demonstrators on the steps of Winchester Guildhall |
IT IS a never-ending battle between developers, planners and campaigners - and one of the most difficult issues facing Hampshire's community leaders.
Where can they put the thousands of homes the Government demands each council build over the coming decades?
In the next few weeks the row is set to re-erupt around Winchester. City chiefs have even said they fear some of their proposals could cause a riot.
Activists fighting proposals for thousands of homes at Barton Farm on the northern edge of Winchester have been surprised by the opening of a new frontline.
For years the city council has stood shoulder-to-shoulder with environmentalists to fight off CALA Homes which wants to build at Barton Farm.
Campaigners
Campaigners had been catching their breath after several years of campaigning resulted in the farmland being spared.
Now the city council has produced a masterplan that includes the area as one of four options for major development.
It leaves Barton Farm exposed as the other three are new and would be hugely controversial.
One site is the Teg Down where The Royal Winchester Golf Club has suggested three parts of its estate as having potential for housing.
Another is Pitt Down, currently arable farmland on the south-western edge of the city.
The fourth is the Bushfield Camp and Compton Down. The camp is an Army barracks disused since the 1970s which its landowner, the Church Commissioners, has long promoted as a site for housing or retail development.
Compton Down is arable and dairy farmland and also considered vital to preserve the gap between Winchester and the upmarket village of Compton.
Campaigners fear that the three new sites are so controversial that Barton Farm begins to look like the least worst option.
Gavin Blackman, chairman of the Save Barton Farm pressure group, said: "It looks like Barton Farm is back in the firing line. We need to make everyone aware of what is again happening."
The city council has gone from being a protector of Barton Farm to becoming a potential promoter of development there. Mr Blackman said: "If that does prove to be the case then we would be both surprised and disappointed."
City council leader George Beckett said the council had no option but to consider the sites. He acknowledged that many were highly contentious. "Some of them are most unpalatable and some will cause a riot, but if we don't put them in then the proposals would be sent back because we have not put forward every option."
Andrew Buck, club manager at the Royal Winchester Golf Club, revealed that the club had suggested it had land that might be suitable for development. They are along Sarum Road, behind the Sarum Road Hospital and off Hampton Lane.
Urgent need
Mr Buck told the Daily Echo: "We have submitted areas of our land for consideration. There is urgent need for housing in Winchester and the golf club owns land that theoretically is surplus to requirements."
But Mr Buck stressed: "There is no commitment by the club at this stage. The committee has submitted three areas for potential development. If the council says yes, we would have to get approval from the club's 675 members."
Other potential flashpoints are in the district's towns: At Alresford the areas for housing are farmland east of Sun Lane and at Arlebury Park; at Bishops Waltham, the three sites are: between Winters Hill and Winchester Road; off Tangier Lane; and south of Coppice Hill; at Wickham, the areas are off Tanfield Lane and north of the village primary school; at Whiteley, the three areas are east of Whiteley Lane; and two sites north of Whiteley Way.
Winchester district has to absorb 12,240 homes between 2006-2026, with 6,740 earmarked for the southern parishes, the part of the district south of Colden Common.
Eagle Star Estates has proposed building 12,500 homes at Micheldever Station but it has been rejected by the city council and the regional planning authorities.
The council says the proposed new town would be larger than the district whole housing requirements until 2026.
3:27pm Tuesday 4th December 2007
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CommentPosted by: mr philip smith, weeke on 8:25pm Fri 8 Feb 08
It would be interesting to know how much money the Government has` or will put up for this little venture!! or will it be funded purely by the local council & the private sector, they keep putting up our council tax. What do we get out of it? absolutely nothing. Expensive & badly run bus service, bad roads, nothing for the kids. Winchester needs a better structure before we can expect to cater for an extra 2000 homes. the idea is stupid.
It would be interesting to know how much money the Government has` or will put up for this little venture!! or will it be funded purely by the local council & the private sector, they keep putting up our council tax. What do we get out of it? absolutely nothing. Expensive & badly run bus service, bad roads, nothing for the kids. Winchester needs a better structure before we can expect to cater for an extra 2000 homes. the idea is stupid.
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