Hodds Farm

Among other options Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council is strongly considering building 800 new homes on the eastern edge of Old Basing between the very busy main A30 road opposite Conkers Garden Centre and the Basingstoke to London railway line. Possibly as soon as within the next five years, in the village the new houses would start appearing behind the Scout Hut next to the narrow Milkingpen Lane railway bridge, and stretch all the way east across to Ashmoor Lane, including Hodd’s Farm and all the woodland and fields in between that form part of our countryside. This would be just one third of a huge future housing development that will dwarf the village if it is permitted. Planning to provide land to meet the need for housing is an ever-growing problem for the whole Borough which must at all times be able to show how and where it will build in the future, always with a five-year supply of land identified.  This is a continuous process, but within the Borough the village is allowed and encouraged to express its own opinion, taking care to base that opinion on evidence. Several areas around Basingstoke are much better suited than others for large scale new developments, and by objective comparison the historic village of Old Basing is not one. The evidence presented to the Borough so far implies that the whole area would suffer more from the Hodds Farm development than elsewhere because:

• • The ancient village roads cannot cope with a further expansion of traffic;

• • The resulting noise levels would exceed permitted limits;
  • The vital biodiversity of the area would be badly impacted;

• • The existing trees and hedgerows, and the ancient woodland Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINCs) would be lost;

• • The sensitive landscape would be adversely impacted;

• • The unique Heritage & Conservation Area would be impacted;
    
    
  • There is insufficient scope for adequate education provision in the village;

• • And a further threat would be presented to the globally important chalk stream that is the River Loddon.

The only very significant point in favour of the Borough choosing this space for development is that the land has been offered by its owner to developers who are keen to promote its use, thereby ignoring each of the objective reasons against doing so.

 

 

Hodds Farm

Lodge Farm

Land East of Basingstoke

River Loddon

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