Elvetham Chase, Pale Lane - Appeal victory 

​Wates wanted to build 700 new dwellings on the greenfields just to the west of Elvetham Heath.  Hart DC rejected the application but the developer appealed. Hart won the day and both a planning inspector and secretary of state dismissed Wates appeal. Despite the Conservatives trying to take credit (they did nothing to help), this is how the appeal was really won.

17.11.16 Wates submitted their planning application to build 700 homes either side of Pale Lane.

24.11.16 A few residents on EH received a ‘Neighbour Letter’ giving  people just 4 weeks, in the busy run up to Christmas, to make formal representation.

24.11.16 Sam (Kentish) Kemp alerted Katie Davies, Sara Goodman and Angela Delaney of this application and Stop Elvetham Chase Development (SECD) was formed. SECD printed & delivered to every house on Elvetham Heath, and, started a Facebook campaign to alert residents outside of EH but who may also be affected. 

SECD submitted a detailed letter of their objections to every HDC Councillor highlighting the fact that such an important application should not be allowed to go through unchallenged. We had acknowledgment responses from CCH and Lib Dem’s but not a single Conservative. 

We were told we needed over 100 objections by the deadline, over 600 were secured.
SECD contacted and were interviewed by Eagle Radio, BBC News and ITV Meridian News.
SECD lobbied HDC’s (Conservative Administration) over their failure to have an up to date Local Plan in place and allowing Developers to decide where new homes went in Hart.
SECD worked with CCH, the only party interested in stopping this development and progressing a Local Plan.

(Additional relevant information: Cllrs Richard Woods and Sara Kinnell left the Hart Conservative Councillors Group in the Summer of 2016. They joined CCH, enabling them to take control of the Council away from the Conservatives, with help from the Lib Dem’s, in May 2017.

Cllr Kinnell says “The Conservatives focus was on delaying the publication of the Local Plan to ensure that urban extensions by stealth in Fleet and Hook, rendered the need for a new settlement at Winchfield unnecessary. This was the reason for our departure from the Group. Our integrity as Councillors, with Fleet West as our priority, was being compromised by the rest of the Conservative Group locally. We left so we could fully represent the residents of Fleet West in the way they would want to be represented).

04.01.18 the Local Plan, which would allow HDC to control of where development went and not, as had been the case for over a decade, the developers, was presented to Full Council and was voted on: 27 for, 5 against and 1 absent.

All CCH Councillors voted ‘for’.
All Lib Dem Councillors voted ‘for’

Cllr Forster, a Conservative, claims to have been an avid objector to the Elvetham Chase development and instrumental in its rejection....but, in reality, he never officially objected to it and he has been vehemently vocal against a new settlement. Indeed he caveatted his ‘for’ vote on the Local Plan with words along the line of ‘I am against inclusion of the area of search for the new settlement in this Local Plan’..... In real terms this means, he would rather continue the devastating urban extensions to Fleet, Hook and Yateley, on top of the previous urban extensions, to protect Winchfield at the expense of his own Fleet West Ward.

29.01.18 The Planning application, submitted by Wates, to build 700 houses at Pale Lane was finally refused by delegated powers due to the volume of objections secured by SECD and the work CCH & Lib Dem’s did on the Local Plan, in just 7 months.

Given the vote on the LP, it was apparent that the Conservatives had no intention of honouring the Local Plan should they win seats at the election in May 2018. 

SECD’s founding member: Angela Delaney stood as a CCH candidate for Fleet West in an attempt to stop this.

Wates appealed the refusal and this was, subsequently, called in by the Secretary of State, meaning the Conservative SoS for Housing would decide once the Planning Inspectorate had completed the appeal hearing and submitted his report. Bizarrely, the 700 new homes planned for Owen’s Farm near Hook, also went to appeal, but was not called in by SoS..... 🤔 The developer for Owens Farm withdrew their appeal on the considerable merit of the emerging Local Plan.

The appeal hearing for PL took place in January 2019 over a period of two weeks.

During this time, public representations against the development were made by Katie Davies (SECD) Marilyn Robson, Tony Gower-Jones and Christopher Riley, following weeks of preparation. (Thank you, you were amazing!)

Support for these representations and, throughout the hearing, was ‘only’ made CCH councillors, in particular Clarke, Delaney and Kinnell whose wards would be most affected. 

In 2019, the risk of the conservatives taking control of the Council and ditching the LP remained. SECD’s founding member, Katie Davies, stood for CCH in Fleet Central.

(Aside.....Thank you to everyone who had faith in Katie, Ange and CCH, we will continue our promise and endeavours to protect Hart from further poor quality urban extensions)

Once the Planning Inspector had heard all the evidence, for and against, he submitted his report to the Secretary of State.

HDC were told, by the Planning Inspectorate, on 07.05.19, that the PI had submitted his report to the SoS and that HDC would know the SoS decision on or before 06.08.19, then on or before 12.09.19, then on or before 18.10.19..... all dates unmet (It should be noted that the PI recommended dismissal to the SoS in his report in May 2019).

Finally......HDC received the decision on 04.11.19, confirming that Wates appeal was dismissed.

6 months after the Planning Inspector had submitted his report to the SoS, 10 months since the appeal hearing and 3 years since SECD started the campaign to Stop Elvetham Chase Development.

CCH have said, from the start, they would do all they could to stop this development and, that they would get a local plan in place to stop any further suffocating urban extensions and they have. They said they will ensure that any further houses mandated to built, will be designed to enhance existing settlements and we will. 

Our vision is to build new homes, mandated by the Government, as self-sustainable as possible and to mitigate detriment on existing settlements, as best we can.

CCH would be as happy as anyone if the government said we didn’t need to build any more new homes but, until that day, we will continue with our vision to properly plan where new homes go, ensuring they have supporting infrastructure needed to sustain them, and ensuring they enhance the district of Hart.

CCH would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone at HDC who has been instrumental in the Elvetham Chase outcome, with very special mention, in particular, to:
 ⁃ Daryl Phillips
 ⁃ Emma Whittaker
 ⁃ Daniel Hawes
 ⁃ Andrew Ratcliffe
 ⁃ Peter Lee
 ⁃ Dr Nigel Barker-Mills
and not forgetting, our QC, Tim Leader

SECD were supported by other groups facing similar challenges at Grove Farm, Watery Lane and Owens Farm and, Marilyn Robson and Chris Riley. We, especially Katie & Ange, would like to thank them for all their help, time, support and wisdom.

THANK YOU ALL!


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10 of your CCH Hart District Councillors, and County Councillor John Bennison. Left to right: Peter, Tony, Sara, James, Ange, Alan, Gill, Chris, Wendy, Simon & John. We are now also joined by Katie Davies and due a new group photo!