New agricultural access to land to north west of Pembers Farm Avenue.
This refers to an application made on behalf of the owner of the land surrounding the Pembers Hill Park development.
On the face of it, this application looks a relatively harmless request to move a gate already situated on the boundary between the development and the applicants land to a new location. However as is often the case with these applications there is more to this than meets the eye, I will explain more below.
This image submitted with the application shows the access points the applicant feels are relevant to his application, however our eagle eyed residents have noted here that there are several other points of access apparently not mentioned in this application. I couldn’t possibly imagine why.
There is an access point from Mortimers Lane shown on the drawing which was created as a result of an approved application made in January 2019 on the basis that access via the land sold for development was no longer accessible. No resident objections were made to this proposal however Hampshire Highways were concerned with its design and added some requirements.
So you can see there had already been a provision made for access to this parcel of land following the sale of the land now occupied by the Pembers Hill Park development. It is clear to see that this land is far from isolated or inaccessible, so why the need for a further access?
This is where it gets a bit spicy!!
It was announced recently that in July 2023 Croudace Homes has secured options on 192 acres of land for approximately 1,500 homes to be developed. When we take a closer look at this proposal all becomes clear, there is a key part of the new plan which incorporates an existing access from Mortimers Lane (see above) and a new access from Pembers Farm Avenue, circled below.
The second twist to this tale is that, in parallel, Application 23/96078 has been submitted by Pembers LLP to facilitate the entrance. Please follow the link to read our feedback on that.
If you intend to oppose this application, and I urge you to do so, then you must object constructively and on the merits of the application, that is to say whilst we know this application is almost certainly to facilitate the future residential development, the planning committee will not take this in to account when deciding whether to permit, or not. That said, it will do no harm to mention in your objection that you are aware of the wider ambition.
We are aware that the Fair Oak Parish Council has lodged an objection.
If you raise an objection and subsequently something else comes to mind please do send another update to the Case Officer.
Objections can be made by email to the Planning Case Officer –
Dawn Errington – dawn.errington@eastleigh.gov.uk
Planning Dept. – planning@eastleigh.gov.uk
A guide and model letter for commenting on planning applications can be found here.
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