Last month the Council’s Development Control Committee rejected an application for a giant distribution warehouse depot at Oakdown Farm, by Junction 7 of the M3. The developer, Newlands, has now asked for this decision to be overturned despite the site potentially jeopardising the preferred site for a new Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital. Maria Miller MP supported by other Hampshire MPs has asked for this planning decision to be ‘called in’ by Government because of the National Infrastructure implications.
Basingstoke MP, Maria Miller said: “This application has to be ‘called in’ straight away and must not be given the opportunity of an appeal. It has twice been rejected by the Council, and if an appeal is allowed, there is risk of undermining the preferred site for a new Hospital in Basingstoke, which is at the heart of a crucial Government National Infrastructure Project. The proposed warehouses are immediately adjacent to the preferred site for a new hospital for Basingstoke. This is a key priority for the town, and I welcomed that the Council Development Control Committee put the health needs of our community ahead of speculative commercial development.
“Now that the developer has appealed, I have written to the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, urging that he promptly make a Recovered Appeal of this application – whereby a final decision is made by the Minister, not the Planning Inspectorate. The consideration of this should take precedent over the appeal; rejecting an unwanted and unneeded development, and one that would not be in the best interests of Basingstoke, as well as undermining the Government’s core priorities.”