News: Parish Council divided over proposed 25-home development

The Chilbolton Parish Council meeting last night was a tense affair marked by disagreements between councillors, a vote, and sharp exchanges between the Chair and villagers who had attended the meeting. At the heart of the disagreements was the governance of its plans to build 25 new homes in the village.

The first sign of trouble was when councillors were unable to agree an amendment to the previous minutes put forward by Cllr Ewer saying that he had apologized to the Council over how the pre-application had been submitted to TVBC. Cllrs couldn’t agree on what this amendment meant, and had to defer the matter.

Matters escalated as they discussed how the planning pre-application, which has been paused with TVBC should be rewritten. Cllrs Hall and Collis observed that Cllrs Larcombe and Hudson had declared interests in properties in the development and therefore should recuse themselves from the rewrite. It was eventually agreed that the SWG would undertake revision of the pre-app, which would then be presented to the Parish Council for approval and would become “a public document”. It will cover only 25 properties, based at the southern end of the field.

Turning to the new subcommittee which will oversee the 15 properties outside CCLT, Cllr Ewer said that he would write the Terms of Reference for it. Cllr Hall objected that this would be inappropriate. After some discussion and a vote, the Council tasked Cllr Hall with the job.

During TVBC Councillor Drew’s report, a member of the public, who is also on the SWG, asked whether he thought that the three councillors who had declared interests in the self-build and downsize properties should recuse themselves from involvement in it. Cllr Drew declined to answer, but advised asking TVBC’s Monitoring Officer for guidance.

Questions from the public

When the meeting was opened to questions from villagers, it was clear that they had come well-prepared.

Layout Drawing

The first questioner had made an analysis of the plot sizes and road layout of the picture shown at the village meeting on 5 Dec 2025.

He had concluded that the houses and roads would take up three times the space indicated by it. Cllr Ewer replied that it had only been an initial concept drawing and it would be sorted out in the revised pre-app.

House sizes and location

A questioner pointed out that given the planned size of the proposed houses and where they would be located meant that the Parish Council was doing exactly what they were trying to prevent commercial developers doing - building executive homes outside the settlement boundary.

Another questioner added that the Neighbourhood Development Plan, section 7.12 specified that new homes should be built within the settlement boundary. Cllr Ewer denied this.

Declarations of interest

A questioner asked how the three members of the Council who had declared an interest could continue in the work that potentially would deliver them a pecuniary reward. She added “It’s all very smelly”.

After some heated discussion, Cllr Larcombe said “I will send a letter to TVBC and take my name off the list tomorrow, if that allows me to get on and do things”.

The questioner then asked of Cllr Ewer - “And you Tony?”. He replied “I’ve been on that list for seven years”.

Referendum

Several people pressed Cllr Ewer as to when there would be a referendum on the proposals. They observed that in previous meetings he had said there “might” be one. Why wouldn’t he say now that there would be a referendum? He replied that he didn’t feel that one was necessary. Cllr Hall responded to him, saying that “the terms of reference for the SWG commit us to a referendum”.

Bridge near the Mayfly

The last questioner asked what could be done to make the bridge between West Down and the Mayfly Pub safer for walkers. “It is only a matter of time,” he said “before someone gets killed. Maybe a family”. He then added a personal note, saying that in a former role he had to attend such accidents and then inform the bereaved relatives of their loss.

Cllr Ewer said “Well it’s not our jurisdiction, but of course we care because villagers use that bridge”. He then related how the councils responsible for the land in the area had come together and produced a viable plan for building a bridge. This had failed when they put the plan to the owner of the pub, who declined because the bridge would remove two tables. Cllr Ewer said they would, however, follow up again on the matter.

The meeting ended on this sombre note. After the meeting though, chilbolton.news spoke to a former Parish Councillor who observed that it had been the angriest, most divided Council meeting they had ever attended.