Romsey’s county councillor, Mark Cooper, issued the warning in response to Test Valley Borough Council’s latest planning document – Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment, which looks at potential development sites..
The Broadlands Estate, which owns the allotments site in Southampton Road, has indicated to TVBC that it’s prepared to let the land go for housing – causing outrage amongst the plot holders.
“The inclusion of Romsey’s allotments as potential housing land is causing concern amongst allotment holders and quite rightly so,” said Mr Cooper. “Allotment holders will also be aware that if the land at Whitenap, which lies to the south and southeast of Romsey’s allotments, becomes housing land, the present allotments will become an ‘island site’ and therefore subject to even greater development pressure in the future.”
He warned: “Whitenap includes 43 acres of high-quality farmland. If the Prince’s Foundation (behind plans to build 1,600 homes in the area) can envisage using this kind of land for mass housing development, there’s no way the allotments can be defended.
“It is clear from the discussions I’ve had, that if Whitenap is developed, a large superstore on the bypass site becomes commercially justifiable. That really would pile on development pressure at the allotments.”
John Blackmore, chairman of Romsey Allotment Holders Association, said his members were surprised by the inclusion of their plots in the SHLAA. He said he’d been pleased by the support they had received from the public in their campaign to protect the land.
“As the allotment site only provides 150 of these homes (less than two per cent of the total), there was no real need to include it as plenty of alternatives exist,” he said.
Romsey Town Council is being urged to put pressure on TVBC to safeguard the allotments. Councillors Karen Dunleavey and Dorothy Baverstock have asked for the matter to be debated at the next meeting on November 17.
http://www.romseyadvertiser.co.uk/news/news/4723792.Warning_of_development_pressure_on_allotment_site/