News: 64-home development revealed in SWG documents from 2024

A recently-found SWG document suggests that a plan for a 64-home development near Eastman’s Field existed as early as August 2024, and that some Parish Council members discussed it with Test Valley Borough Council planners.

At last night’s Parish Council meeting, during questions from the public, it was revealed that the document was found, by chance, during a review being made by the Community Development Committee.

Peter Collis, Secretary to the CDC, said that it was a communication from James Painter to Parish Councillors, outlining a plan for 64 houses. In it, Mr Painter called it “your suggested plan”, and referred to a meeting that “will follow”.

Mr Collis asked “Did the whole Parish Council know about this?”

Cllr Sue Larcombe replied “It was a completely informal meeting with Simon Finch [of TVBC Planning] and members of his team, to ask whether this site would be possible. Would this have legs?”.

She added that it got a favourable reception from the planners, and this was brought back to the SWG.

On whether the discussion included numbers of houses, she said “Hand on my heart, there were no numbers discussed. That’s the truth”.

Peter Collis said “I will check. I will submit a [Freedom of Information request]”.

Cllr David Hall said “It was sent to three Parish Councillors. I was not aware of this until three weeks ago. It is for 64 houses and contains a build schedule which exactly matches TVBC’s draft Local Plan build schedule. This meeting was held in October 2024. [TVBC] will be able to provide minutes, because they keep notes.”

Cllr David Griffiths said “We should make enquiries”.

Meetings with James Painter

Alisdair Campbell, member of CDC and former member of SWG, asked whether any Parish Councillor had meetings, of any description, with James Painter, or his consultants, since the submission of the pre-application on 7 Apr 2025.

Cllr Julian Hudson explained that the pre-app response from TVBC initially went first to Mr Painter’s consultants, who passed it to Mr Painter who then passed it to Cllr Hudson.

Cllr Hudson said “I did meet him and discussed [the pre-app response] and what he was going to do”.

Mr Campbell asked “Where was that meeting recorded?”

Cllr Hudson replied “It wasn’t. I met him by myself”, he then added “I will take the Clerk with me in future”

Cllr Sue Larcombe pointed out that the pre-app included a requirement to complete an archaeological survey. Those works had gone ahead during the three weeks before the pre-app response reached the Parish Council

Gravel Hill review document

Earlier in the meeting, Councillors agreed to remove a document from the Parish Council meeting of 7 Jul 2025. It included a review of the Gravel Hill site, alongside previous SWG reviews of other sites. At that meeting a former member of the SWG had described it as a falsification.

Summary

The worry for the Parish Council now must be that more evidence will emerge exposing divisions within the SWG and, worse, serious questions over Parish Council governance.