APPENDIX 7

HOUSING PROVISION IN CENTRAL HAMPSHIRE AND NEW FOREST

Overall house building target set by SEERA for this sub-area is 800 new homes per year 2006-2026 - ie 16,000 new homes in total 2006-2026. On the basis of this new housebuilding and the predicted fall in the average size of households, it is forecast that total population of Central Hampshire and New Forest in 2026 will be around the same as now.

Consultation Options

Of the 16,000 target, 14,000 were expected to be built on sites already earmarked for housing or on other sites within towns. The consultation options for accommodating the remaining 2,000 were:

· All at Winchester (Barton Farm)

· All at Andover

· All at Whitehill/Bordon (on land currently occupied by the MoD)

· Some at Andover and some at Whitehill/Bordon

· Shared amongst all the Districts

Stakeholders' Preferences

Locating all 2,000 at Whitehill/Bordon is the most popular option with Parish/Town Councils and environmental/amenity/social groups. Sharing the development amongst all the Districts is their second preference; it is the development interests' first choice. Detailed figures are overleaf.

Residents' Preferences

Locating all the development at Whitehill/Bordon is the most popular option with residents of Central Hampshire and New Forest and also with residents countywide. Sharing the development amongst all the Districts is the second choice of both. Detailed figures are overleaf.

Borough/District Councils' Preferences

All Borough/District Councils except East Hampshire support or would be content with sharing the development amongst all Districts. East Hampshire District Council does not object to that concept, but is concerned that its figure within that option is too high. Winchester City Council opposes all 2,000 being allocated to Winchester. Test Valley Borough Council would accept around 1,000 being allocated to Andover. New Forest District Council would be content with any of the five options; Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council calls for the figure for its small area to be 30 dwellings per annum.

East Hampshire District Council calls for development at Whitehill/Bordon (which could be substantially more than 2,000 dwellings) to be treated as a special case outside the current discussions. If land becomes available at Whitehill/Bordon, they argue this should be treated as additional to the current overall total for Central Hampshire and New Forest. A decision on whether the MoD will release land at Whitehill/Bordon will not be made before summer 2006.

Key Agencies' Preferences

The Environment Agency has some concerns about developing all 2,000 new homes at Winchester in terms of water availability and the potential impact on water quality in the River Itchen which is a SSSI and a Special Area of Conservation. The latter concern is shared by English Nature, who also make the same point in relation to the Winchester component of the option of sharing the development amongst the Districts.

The Environment Agency has some concerns that developing all 2,000 new homes at Andover could impact on rover water quality in that area. Thames Water advises that 400 new homes at Whitehill/Bordon could be accommodated by the existing sewage treatment works and thus expresses a preference for the other options which do not involve development at Whitehill/Bordon above that level.

English Nature is concerned about the possible impact of development at Whitehill/Bordon on the adjacent Special Protection Area and Special Areas of Conservation, does not support substantial development there until there is certainty about whether the MoD land will be released. For similar reasons, it also has concerns about the option which splits the housing between Andover and Whitehill/Bordon.

The Highways Agency and health bodies make general comments but do not express any preferences between the three consultation options.

Main Findings of the Sustainability Appraisal

Those options that include development at Whitehill/Bordon perform less well in respect of the appraisal criteria than the other options. Although the development at Whitehill/Bordon is likely to be on brownfield land which scores positively in the appraisal, there are possible conflicts with the Special Protection Area adjacent to the town and other Natura 2000 sites while its location means there is a greater likelihood of travel by car. The remaining options perform relatively similarly, with each option having slightly different strengths and weaknesses.

It was more difficult to assess the option of sharing the development around the Districts because unlike the other options, the locations for additional development were not specified in the consultation document. However for the purposes of the appraisal, it was assumed that the locations chosen could result in more car based journeys, they may not be as accessible to services and facilities and could have an impact on biodiversity. On that basis, the options of locating all the 2,000 new homes at Winchester or Andover performed slightly better than the option of sharing the development around the Districts.

Preferred Option

The following is suggested as a preferred, hybrid option: sharing the development amongst all Districts, but with an increased amount of house building at Andover and correspondingly less in East Hampshire District. If land becomes available at Whitehill/Bordon, this would be advanced as an addition to Central Hampshire and New Forest's current total of 800 dwellings per annum. This approach would be in line with the preferences expressed by stakeholders, residents and the Borough/District Councils. It was endorsed by a joint meeting of Executive Members of the County and Borough/District Councils held on 11 November 2005.

In addition, it is necessary to allow for the implementation of existing planning permissions and other infilling within settlements in the Odiham/North Warnborough area which was transferred to Central Hampshire and New Forest from the Western Corridor and Blackwater Valley Sub-Region after the consultation options were drawn up.

On the above basis, the 2,000 dwellings would be shared as follows:

Basingstoke and Deane (part) 100

East Hampshire (part) 200

Hart (Part) 100

New Forest (part) 100

Test Valley (part) 1,000

Winchester 500

The preferred option is a modified version of the consultation option of sharing the 2,000 amongst all Districts, but in relation to the sustainability appraisal, is likely to perform better than the unmodified option. This is because there will be more housing in Andover which is a relatively sustainable location for development and less in East Hampshire where there is more likely to be conflicts with areas of nature conservation importance or the proposed South Downs National Park.

Subsequent to the joint Member meeting referred to above, updated information has become available on the supply of land already earmarked for housebuilding. This erodes the 2,000 dwellings for which it was thought that new greenfield sites would be needed; the revised figure is 700. The updated figures show an increase in land supply in most Districts; a distribution which is in line with the preferred option above.

The updated figures mean that nearly all the new housing required by the preferred option could be accommodated on sites already allocated for development in adopted/draft Local Plans or within the estimates of urban capacity. The preferred option would require two Boroughs - Basingstoke and Deane and Test Valley - to identify additional greenfield land for development when they prepare their Local Development Frameworks. (See table at the end of this appendix). In the other Districts, new greenfield sites would only needed if the estimates for urban capacity turn out to have been over-optimistic.

SEERA requires that the figures for each District are submitted to it as housebuilding provision per annum. Translating the figures above into that format means the following dwellings per annum:

Basingstoke and Deane (part) 30

East Hampshire (part) 200

Hart (part) 5

New Forest (part) 130

Test Valley (part) 250

Winchester 185

Total 800

Central Hampshire and New Forest: Public Consultation Results

Stakeholders' Preferences

Residents' Preferences

Land supply to meet the preferred option

(Totals for 20 years 2006 - 2026)

NB: All figures have been rounded to the nearest 100