News: CPC shares Observatory's concerns

Chilbolton Parish Council has alerted TVBC to its concerns, shared with Chilbolton Observatory, over the effect of the planned 75-home development.

In a letter to Test Valley Borough Council’s Chief Executive, Andy Ferrier, and its Director of Planning and Development, Simon Finch, Chair of the Parish Council Cllr David Hall sets out CPC’s stance on the Science and Technology Facilities Council’s objection:

STFC and [the National Space Operations Centre] have now outlined their assessment of further impacts for their ongoing and future operations, technical capability and even national security. The implications go well beyond Test Valley and have national and international impact. We assume you are seeking the appropriate advice from experts and wider Government departments to guide your officers and any recommendation to the NAPC. We are certainly seeking to do this and are keen to work with you as the statutory planning authority, particularly as we are now operating much more in the public gaze following the Daily Mail’s article on May 11th (Leading British observatory hits out at plans to build 75 houses nearby amid claims it would make hi-tech equipment ‘inoperable’ | Daily Mail Online). We have been contacted by wider media now for comment as I am sure you have been.

He also:

  • Asks what the impact of the Observatory objection will be on the timescale for determining the planning application
  • Suggests that STFC should be made a formal consultee to the application rather than just a neighbour to the development site, and are allowed to speak for an appropriate amount of time at the Northern Area Planning Committee meeting
  • Draws a parallel with the Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire, which is automatically included as a consultee for any application within a six-mile radius
  • Urges that TVBC refuse the application unless “the applicant can demonstrate, through independent technical evidence accepted by STFC/NSpOC, that the development would not degrade the Observatory’s current or future operational capability”

Cllr Hall reiterates the Parish Council’s opposition to not only the 75-home development, but ALSO TVBC’s allocation of 65 homes to Chilbolton in their draft Local Plan. He states that CPC supports some 20 houses in line with its own development plan, and makes it clear that other potential sites within Chilbolton, “which are genuinely community-led”, should be included in the Local Plan.