News: TVBC consults on 65 new homes in Chilbolton

At an Extraordinary Council meeting on Wednesday, Test Valley Borough councillors approved a draft consultation plan that lists 65 new homes to be built in Chilbolton. The plan says “A community led housing allocation of approximately 65 dwellings is proposed at land to the north east of Drove Road, Chilbolton.”

The national government has published plans to build 1.5 million new homes over a five year period. As part of that, Test Valley will have to plan for the building of 934 new homes per year - a mandatory increase of 78%.

The document TVBC councillors were considering is a draft public consultation. It describes how they will seek to meet the increased requirement by allocating new sites for housing development.

The land they have identified is approximately 2.3 hectares (5.7 acres) and includes the same plot for which Chilbolton Parish Councillors have lodged a planning pre-application for 25 homes.

The TVBC consultation document states that “development will be permitted”, provided three requirements are met:

• Access to the development is provided via Drove Road
• Trees and hedgerows along the eastern boundary are retained
• A Heritage Statement incorporating an archaeological assessment is submitted

TVBC’s description of the proposal says:

This site of approximately 2.3 hectares is within the village of Chilbolton. The site is surrounded by existing residential development and the village hall to the west and comprises mainly agricultural and grazing land.

Chilbolton Parish Council are seeking to deliver a housing scheme on this site, through establishing a Community Land Trust, to enable delivery of affordable and ‘downsize’ homes to meet local needs, as well as market housing. Multiple sites in and around the village were considered by the Parish Council, and this site was selected as the preferred option. The Local Plan supports the delivery of housing on this site, through a community led development.

Access to the site shall be via Drove Road. Chilbolton is also covered by a Made neighbourhood development plan, the policies within the [Neighbourhood Development Plan] will need to be complied with as part of any future planning application.

Due to the possible presence of an Iron Age or Roman settlement on part of the site, a Heritage Statement is required, supported by an archaeological assessment to address archaeological matters, including the nature of the archaeology, the impact of development and an appropriate mitigation strategy.

This part of the village is elevated, as the land rises up from the River Test. Development should respond to the local landscape, taking into account views into the site. There is an established hedgerow along the eastern boundary that provides a landscape feature and should be retained to provide natural screening to the site.

A Public Right of Way runs along the eastern boundary and consideration should be given to its setting.

Across the whole of Test Valley, the consultation document identifies 35 locations for over 11,000 new homes. This would be enough for 12 years of TVBC’s required building rate, without taking account of other developments that are already underway or are approved.

Three members of the Chilbolton Parish Council’s Community Development Committee attended the meeting - Fiona Barrie, Cllr David Hall and Cllr Sue Larcombe. They have asked for the consultation process to be on CPC’s agenda for Monday 7 Jul 2025.

This same topic may well be discussed sooner, at the CDC’s inaugural meeting on Tuesday 24 Jun 2025 at 7:30pm in the Village Hall.