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Barton Farm and eco-town alternative suggested
A FARMER is proposing an alternative to two contentious development plans for Winchester district.
Bruce Faulds says a huge patch of land at Drayton Down, Barton Stacey, could be used for a large-scale development in preference to Barton Farm in Winchester and the proposed "eco-town" at Micheldever - both of which have caused uproar.
However, the Barton Stacey site falls mostly into the borough of Test Valley and this week Winchester City Council confirmed that any development there almost certainly would not count towards the 12,000 homes it has to build in the district by 2026.
But Mr Faulds, of Meonstoke, maintains that all parties should consider the site as a serious alternative.
He owns 30 hectares of land at Lodge Farm, Drayton Down, north of the A303.
The Ministry of Defence owns adjoining land of 100 hectares, the former Drayton Camp, which is now used for training.
Mr Faulds says the disused land represents an opportunity to boost housing numbers on what is effectively a brownfield site.
He said: "They keep talking about Micheldever and Barton Farm and around Andover and Basingstoke and it's all greenfield sites.
"It seems ridiculous to keep talking about greenfield sites when this is here."
The farmer said the land - much of which is a former World War Two accommodation camp - had been overlooked.
He said it boasted a sound infrastructure, including good transport links - he calculated an eight-minute trip to Micheldever station - and scope for employment, community, retail and education facilities.
Mr Faulds said the road system could cope and the site had the basis of a large-scale utility structure, including sewage treatment facilities and a major gas pipeline.
He said those in the corridors of power needed to know about the possibility.
"I think they should at least consider it. Someone should go to visit the site to see what they think," said Mr Faulds.
The Barton Farm scheme could see 2,000 homes built and the Micheldever plan envisages some 12,500.
A Test Valley Borough Council spokeswoman said the site was not part of its Draft Core Strategy, due to be considered by its members today (January 10), but the site could be proposed as part of a forthcoming public consultation, if the draft gets the allclear.
Test Valley has been tasked with building 8,000 homes in its district by 2026.
Despite the authority boundary issue, Mr Faulds said the site provided "great scope" for joint working.
"You would have thought that with a bit of national co-operation, common sense would prevail on something like this," he added.
An MOD spokesman said developing the land for housing would not be something that it would actively pursue, but that, if the "greater need" would be served, it was possible that the current training operations carried out there could be relocated.
"It's not something that we're promoting; it's something that we're aware of and we're not going to object to it," he said.
Gavin Blackman, chairman of the Save Barton Farm group, added: "I think there's a need, rather than just trying to build on the nearest piece of greenfield land to Winchester, i.e. Barton Farm, to do a full-scale exercise to see whether there are viable options that will please everyone."
11:38am Thursday 10th January 2008
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