News: CDC discusses CCLT and public meeting

Chilbolton’s Community Development Committee focussed on two matters: the ongoing discussions with Chilbolton Community Land Trust about how they work together, and the upcoming Village meeting on Saturday 27 Jun 2026.

The meeting welcomed Terry Gilmour as the latest member of CDC. He has worked in local government and engineering. He also has experience of sewage and sewerage.

Relationship between CCLT and CDC

The meeting pack included the latest version of the schematic diagram previously discussed at the CCLT Board meeting in June.

Maureen Treadwell MBE, CCLT Board member, thanked CDC members who had worked on the new draft. She pointed out that it mentioned the “transfer of a build-ready site”, but that CCLT needed transfer of ownership of the land too. Cllr David Hall agreed that ownership had to be with CCLT.

Cllr Hall said that he wasn’t sure that “infrastructure” was CDC’s responsibility. Mrs Treadwell suggested that infrastructure “to the boundary of the site” was CDC’s responsibility, but infrastructure from the boundary to individual homes was CCLT’s.

Cllr Neil Connor said “we’re getting into detail which we cannot predict.”

Cllr Hall said that CDC and CCLT could agree the principles, as they had done so far, but “we should wait before we move to a [memorandum of understanding] or [terms of reference].”

The meeting agreed that the next step would be for the Chair of CCLT, Martin Gossling, to provide his feedback on the current version of the schematic.

Public meeting on 27 Jun 2026

Cllr Martin Watson said that slides had been prepared for the public meeting on Saturday 27 Jun 2026 between 10:00am and 12:00pm at the Village Hall.

It would begin with a summary of the five options for community-led development in Chilbolton.

The presentation would then focus on the two primary options: the 20 to 25 home development at Drove Road, which was the subject of the Parish Council’s planning pre-application to TVBC in 2025; and a community-led development at Gravel Hill of some 20 homes.

Following this, the meeting would be opened to the floor, allowing questions and comment from residents.

A member of the public asked that the meeting should begin with an explanation of who is involved in the proposals, particularly the use of acronyms such as CPC, CDC and CCLT. She asked for a description of how the different proposals had arisen.

Cllr Hall said that the aim was to “unpeel it like an onion, layer by layer”. He emphasised that it should avoid using jargon.

Another member of the public suggested a brief handout at the beginning of the meeting to explain the jargon.

Cllr Watson said that the meeting was a pre-cursor to some form of ballot or vote, adding “we have to gauge Village opinion.”