Plan for West Meon home sparks strong opposition

Myles Hutchings and Hannah Nettle want to build a three-bedroom home on part of a back garden, at Bankhouse, High Street, West Meon.

But the application has sparked strong opposition.

Richard Lowe, agent for the applicant, told the planning committee that Hannah Nettle had grown up in the village and now wished to settle there. The applicants had addressed valid objections and revamped the scheme, said Mr Lowe.

The proposal has sparked hostility, "with a raft of Nimby objections: loss of a view, loss of rental income, false claims of overlooking and loss of light, industrial warehouse architecture. The two or three objections that may have been grounded in policy have been fully addressed.

"The objection have at times been vituperative, abusive, personal and defamatory. Members of the applicants family have been accosted in the street.”

Neil March, of Southern Planning Practice, speaking on behalf of neighbours, spoke of the impact on the wildlife with otters and water voles recently returning to the area.

In total there have been 15 objections.

Cllr Hugh Lumby, the local ward councillor, said he had received an email from one neighbour which said: “The whole process has had a detrimental impact on us all. The worry, the loss of privacy and dramatic loss of value to my own and neighbours’ houses.”

The committee voted by six to two to visit the site to get a better understanding of the issues.