News: Parish Council proposes 150 new homes for Chilbolton

Chilbolton Parish Council (CPC) have put forward a plan to build 150 new homes in the village. An initial phase of this development comprising ten affordable homes, ten “downsizing” homes and five self-build homes, near Eastman’s Field could begin occupation as early as 2028.

At the keenly-awaited meeting in the Village Hall, Parish Council Chair Tony Ewer revealed that further phases of development would see building extend down the land between Drove Road and Cart Lane over a period of 50 to 75 years, “as needed”.

The meeting had been widely advertised around the village, but the leaking of a draft of the plans the previous week, meant that it was standing room only in the Village Hall.

Mr Ewer ruefully regretted that the leak had created “misinformation”. He also dismissed the figure of 300 homes built within 10 years on the same site, quoted in documents lodged with Test Valley Borough Council by the landowner, as “absolute nonsense”.

Most of the presentation dwelt on the first phase of 25 homes and the work of CPC’s subcommittee, the Strategy Working Group (SWG), in putting the plan together.

The means of development would be through a Community Land Trust (CLT), described as “a not-for-profit corporation that holds land and community assets, that acts as the long-term steward for affordable housing on behalf of the community”. Mr Ewer suggested that the CLT could be set up within “three to six months”, when the trustees would take over the role of driving the project forward.

The main benefits would be that the CLT would allow Chilbolton residents to stay in the village during their retirement and also allow children who grew up in the village to continue living there through affordable rents.

Test Valley Borough Council (TVBC) already has a list of applicants for affordable housing in the village and Tony Ewer, CPC Chairman invited village residents to contact the Parish Clerk if they wanted to join the list for a downsizing home. The self-build houses would be for Chilbolton residents registered with TVBC, with the land being sold by the landowner, the Painter family, at open market values.

The presentation team referred several times to the targets for house building that are being imposed by national government on TVBC: 900 houses to be built each year for the next five years - an increase of 75%. The implication they made was that by undertaking the proposed 25-home development, Chilbolton would have contributed enough to meeting TVBC’s target to avoid large developments in the village done for profit.

Having opened to questions from the audience it was clear that many people felt the amount of work done on the plan had been significant, and that building affordable and downsizing homes was a good thing. Issues were raised in a number of areas, including:

• Concern over exactly how many new homes were being planned in total in all phases: 300 in TVBC’s assessment of the proposed plot, 170 mentioned in the leaked documents or 150 being alluded to by the presentation team
• Which alternative sites had been considered and why were they considered unsuitable
• Utilities infrastructure in Chilbolton is already stretched and even 25 more homes would require significant investment in that infrastructure
• Scepticism over the plan, mentioned in the leaked documents, to move the centre of the village to the site of the new development
• During development, how suitable the route for construction traffic to reach the site - along Upper Drove Road - would be
• Conjecture that the proposed scheme, rather than being a means of avoiding unwanted larger development, might actually enable it
• The future relationship between the Community Land Trust and the Parish Council - would CPC be adequately able to scrutinise CLT proposals in the interests of the village
• Concern over a perceived lack of transparency in the way in which the SWG had gone about formulating their plans

Copies of the presentation and summaries of responses to questions asked at the meeting have been promised by the SWG.