Respond to Local Plan!

This post gives guidance on how to respond to the Hart Draft Local Plan (Regulation 18) Consultation. The consultation is open until 5pm on Friday 9th June 2017.  With just two days to go, it is important to send your views in now.

Option 1:  You can find the full version of our suggested response to the consultation here: WVPS responses to Hart Local Plan consultation. Please download the document, edit it into your own words and send to [email protected] before the deadline.

Option 2:  Alternatively, you may wish to comment using the online form. However please note you will only have 45 minutes and your changes cannot be saved and returned to later.

The draft Local Plan has been heavily criticised by the Campaign to Protect Rural England, We Heart Hart, as well as the Whitewater Valley Preservation Society.

The key points cover the following main areas:

1. The very high 10,185 housing target, which adds 2,000 houses over the over-inflated 8,022 target outlined in the Strategic Housing Market Assessment (oppose Draft Local Plan paragraphs 77.1, 99-101 and policy SS1)
2. It is wrong to protect derelict vacant offices from redevelopment (oppose Draft Local Plan paragraphs  125, 126 and policy SS1)
3. The missed opportunity to regenerate our urban areas, most notably Fleet (oppose Draft Local plan paragraphs 131, 133, 134)
4. The unnecessary allocation of green field sites to the plan, in particular Murrell Green (oppose Draft Local Plan policies SS1, SC2)
5. The need to support the policy for Local Gaps (support Draft Local Plan page 48, policy MG6, paragraph 158, particularly those in the Whitewater Valley: x Murrell Green to Hook, xii North Warnborough to Greywell and xiii Odiham to North Warnborough).

You may also challenge the sustainability assessment that ranks Winchfield as the next best green field option (comment on the Sustainability Appraisal page 27 section 8.2).