Four Marks and Medstead have long battled with several large housing developments being built on “green field” sites around the two villages. These sites have increased our housing by substantial numbers. See graph below (courtesy of our sister group in Medstead, SMASH).
Now however, this cycle is happening all over again. The reason behind most of these is that right now, East Hampshire District Council (EHDC) have a shortfall in its “5-year Land Supply” a key figure about housing sites being available for building, without which UK planning law tips the balance in favour of so-called “speculative” Planning Applications where any developer/ landowner can take a punt with a Proposal and is more likely to get it through and allow them to build lots of houses, of the wrong type for our community, truth be told, and of course lots of profit for them. Hence, right now Four Marks and Medstead are facing the following “speculative” Planning Applications (either submitted and awaiting decision or about to be submitted):
Description |
Number of houses |
Objections received |
Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mount Royal, 46 Lymington Bottom, Four Marks, Alton, GU34 5AH | 60 | 431 | Awaiting Decision at EHDC |
| Land between Conway
& Millfield, Alton Lane, Four Marks, Alton |
3 (but clearly a “Trojan Horse” allowing access to all of the land between Blackberry and Alton Lanes). | 118 | Awaiting Decision at EHDC |
| Land to the west of,
Longbourn Way, Medstead, Alton |
95 (was 112) | 168 | Awaiting Decision at EHDC |
| Land east of Lanark
Cottage, Alton Lane, Four Marks, Alton |
10 | ** | At EHDC: Comments due by Oct 2nd 2023 |
| Land at 87 Lymington
Bottom |
100? | ** | Owner/developer asking for public consultation, not formally submitted to EHDC yet |
| Barn Lane | 120 | ** | Imminent application? |
TOTAL (SEP 23) |
388 |
Most, if not all of these Applications are unwanted by residents, and with the support of Fight4FourMarks (F4FM) many residents submitted objections to EHDC based on the flaws in the sites in key “planning issues”, like sustainability, flooding, traffic, housing density/character etc. F4FM will continue to keep you informed on all of these sites on its website and Facebook pages. If you are minded to look and want to comment, we tell you how to find this information on EHDC and how to submit any comment that you might have. Please sign up to join us and be able to monitor anything new coming up.
Please note that these speculative Applications will run in parallel with the development by EHDC of its Local Plan. This is a sperate process that will also likely bring houses to our area over time. In order to inform residents of these issues, F4FM and SMASH are holding a meeting where you can come and listen to the sometimes complex situations and be better able to participate in having your say. Details below:-
Community Meeting, organised jointly by SMASH and Fight4FourMarks (F4FM).
There will be a Village Meeting to inform residents about Local Planning issues.
Sunday October 8th, Four Marks Village Hall, 5-6:30 pm
Agenda:
1) Intro to SMASH and F4FM
2) Information for residents on upcoming Local Plan Part2 Consultation
3) What is happening so far and Why
4) Potential Local Large sites for housing in the Local Plan
5) How can residents respond to EHDC Planners
6) Residents’ Q&A
This document was prepared by Fight4Four Marks and kindly edited by Simon Thomas.
Fight4FourMarks is a local group aiming to inform local residents on all matters on planning and development. WE ARE A GROUP OF RESIDENTS CONCERNED ABOUT OVER-DEVELOPMENT IN FOUR MARKS. WE’VE NEVER BEEN ANTI-DEVELOPMENT, ONLY ANTI-INAPPROPRIATE DEVELOPMENT