Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council is restarting its Local Plan process, meaning the proposal for around 350 homes at Mortimer West End will need to be considered afresh if it is brought forward again, including its scale, deliverability and how it compares with alternative sites.
The authority’s Cabinet considered the next steps for the Local Plan on 8 September as it prepares to move towards the Government’s new plan-making system.
The previous draft plan proposed land at West End Farm, Mortimer West End, for around 350 homes. The site lies in Hampshire but immediately adjoins Mortimer in West Berkshire and has attracted substantial concern locally over infrastructure, traffic and other cross-boundary impacts.
Around 5,000 representations were made to Basingstoke & Deane during its Regulation 18 consultation, which closed in January. The council published a summary of the issues raised in August.
Speaking at the Cabinet meeting, West Berkshire councillor Nick Carter, a ward member for Burghfield & Mortimer, asked that the reset should provide a genuine opportunity to look again at West End Farm and the proposed scale of development rather than simply carrying the previous allocation forward.
He highlighted three issues arising from a motion unanimously agreed by West Berkshire Council in July: the need for site-specific evidence on cross-boundary impacts; consistent assessment of West End Farm against alternative sites; and evidence that any mitigation needed within West Berkshire could be delivered, funded and secured.
Responding, Basingstoke & Deane Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning and Infrastructure Cllr Andy Konieczko said that although the Regulation 18 representations would not formally carry across into the new plan-making process, the comments already received had been reviewed and would be taken into account.
He also said the council expected a new call for sites and confirmed that it would be looking again at its spatial strategy as work on the new plan progresses.
The changes do not mean that West End Farm cannot return as a development proposal. But if it is brought forward again, the new process provides an opportunity for the site, its proposed scale and deliverability to be considered afresh alongside alternative sites and updated evidence.
West Berkshire Council’s July motion called for proper assessment of transport, healthcare, wastewater, environmental capacity and other effects falling across the council boundary, and said that development adjoining West Berkshire should not proceed unless necessary mitigation is proportionate, deliverable and secured.
Further details of Basingstoke & Deane’s new Local Plan timetable and the expected call for sites are due as the revised process develops.
Watch: Basingstoke & Deane Cabinet’s Local Plan discussion, including the Mortimer West End contribution and response:https://youtu.be/3c-6BiMVEOU?t=1514