SHL 167 former landfill site Beggars Corner, Winchfield, Hart District, Hampshire
One of the sites proposed for the Winchfield new town is a former landfill site. There are 772 new houses proposed for site SHL 167, also known as Beggars Corner. However, a solar farm was recently turned down at this site and the environmental report shows that much of the site was once landfill, with unknown contents.
SHL167 SHLAA Map – Beggars Corner, Winchfield, Hart District, Hampshire
SHL 167 Landfill details Beggars Corner, Winchfield, Hart District, Hampshire
Interestingly, Hart Council’s decision to refuse the solar farm application (ref: 15/01614/FUL) had nothing to do with the landfill issues, but was because the proposed site was:
“within the zone of theoretical visibility and the Odiham Conservation Area. The proposed development would seriously detract from the amenity and consequent recreational value of the nearby public right of ways”.
We find it difficult to believe that a former landfill site is a suitable location for the 772 new houses proposed in the same location. And it is also hard to see how a planning application won’t face the same difficulties as the solar farm application, further undermining the questionable viability of the proposed Hartley Winchook new town.
If you would like to make your voice heard, we urge you to respond to the Hart District Council consultation about the Local Plan and ask them to think again. We have created a dedicated consultation page and two guides to responding to the consultation that are available on the downloads below. The comments are designed to be cut and pasted into the boxes provided. It will be very powerful if you could edit the comments into your own words. Please do find time to respond to the consultation and play your part in saving our countryside.
Full version:
2 Minute version:
More info at http://www.trimmersfarm.co.uk/site.htm
Kate – this is the map:
I saw signs for a solar farm near on the road just passed the railway bridge on the way to HW. Are we talking about there? Sorry being a bit thick.
Whitewater in flood:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10202414380653801&set=a.4285259842684.168038.1022023943&type=3&theater
David, I hope you had your wellies on. I assume you’ve seen my photos taken from three observation points around Odiham. I made the point in my submissions that even if you could see it at a distance, being blue it would look like water. You can’t see it from any part of Odiham town. I’ve taken photos from many different viewpoints and all you can see is the 40 metre high pylon in the centre of the plot.
Also – and very important – you can’t appreciate it from the footpaths but the whole area of both fields is a sink that retains a lot of water in wet weather. All the land around the central drain and south to Paynes Cottage will be absolutely sodden today as will the east side of the brook. I’ve spent a lot of time studying the drainage and concluded that floodng of the Whitewater would be significantly increased if the drainage was interfered with. It’s all in my flood reports includng photos of the Whitewater in flood during the storms of Christmas/New Year 2013/14. You couldn’t put in foundations for houses and roads without affecting the Whitewater flood plain and possibly Poland Mill. Our east to west cable trenching and planting would further improve retention as would the frame piling.
Then there’s the big pylon and the electronically protected underground high pressure national grid gas main that supplies Hook. Not nice.
On the other hand there are three good roads into the site and Old Potbridge Road runs almost directly to Winchfield Station. There’s actually very little in practice that would prevent Totters Lane being converted to a dual carriageway. ;-[
I had my waterproof hiking boots on. But I did find out the hard way just quite how much water that land holds! 😉
Rob Titherley I walked the footpaths through and around the solar farm site this morning (in the rain, I got soaked). Two things struck me:
1) If that site can be seen from Odiham, then I’m a banana
2) If that is a good housing site, I am an orange.
And if solar panels can be seen from Odiham, houses will be more visible, because they are taller – and indeed some of them may even have solar panels on their roofs.
It is a little bizarre, the councillor who keeps posting his arguments on We Heart Hart FB posts is always banging on about the burgeoning employment prospects of the area – you would think they would be all for a business like this. As usual, rats are there to be smelt…
Then there’s the Potbridge Brook and the Whitewater which according to our surveys are virtually sterile north of the motorway.15 years ago there were native crayfish in the river now, as far as we can tell there is nothing. It may be bettter upstream. I would be interested to see a survey south of Poland Mill. There are deer west of the Whitwater and raptors including a couple of red kites. There are also a few skylarks nesting up near Beggars Corner. Our reptile survey turned up one grass snake and three slow worms which was very poor.
One of the advantages of living near greenfields, woodland and hedgerows is the wildlife I see and hear; badgers, deer, stoats, weasels, kingfishers, various birds of prey and foxes. The beauty of a solar farm, as well as the obvious benefits, is that the wildlife can survive alongside it.
Good luck with the appeal. I believe however that many Hart cllrs will block anything that interferes with their vision of a concrete Hart.
Thanks David, we do our best.
Very professional website Rob.
You have my best wishes Rob Titherley – we need more of this sort of ‘development’ – the sort that benefits everyone in every way.
Thanks Lesley, it’s nice to receive a bit of support. The Parish Councils have been very supportive as have one or two locals. It’s very much appreciated.
David – the landowner who is a friend is not the developer. We, the solar development company of which I am one of the Directors, are leasing the land off the landowner for 25 years contingent upon planning permission being granted. If we lose the appeal the deal falls through which opens it up for housing. I am an Electrical Engineer/Conservationist, not a housing developer. I have lived in Fleet for 27 years. Al the local residents have my telephone number which is on the website along with my address. One of the principles is to invest some of the revenue from electricity generation, in conjunction with the Soil Association, back into the soil which over 25 years would become truly organic as we will be planting but we won’t be using fertiliser. I don’t know how many people have bothered to look at the website which is intended to be an information resource but it’s all there. There are also 100 documents on the Hart Planning Portal dealing with visibility, contamination, drainage, ecology (three surveys) etc. also accessible thorugh our website directly off our server.
What I can’t understand is how the land owner can be simultaneously appealing the solar farm decision and offering the land for housing.
Something doesn’t add up
Oh the irony. I can’t help but laugh. I submitted an appeal to the Planning Inspectorate before Christmas and the appeal document which pulls no punches is on the Hart Planning Portal. I did point out to the good people of Potbridge two years ago that a solar farm you can’t actually see from anywhere locally would block housing development for 25 years but they took no notice and opposed me anyway. Be careful what you wish for!
The intention was to generate clean electricity to meet the demand indirectly for the new generation of electric vehicles that will eventually populate the M3 thus reducing pollution levels through Hart but my naive idealism appears to have fallen on stony ground. Anyway 2½ years work and £150,000 later – who cares – except me. The Trimmers Solar Farm website is online at http://www.trimmersfarm.co.uk
I see that Paul at Trimmers Farm has just applied for permission to build a manege next to the farmyard and has been immediately hit with opposition from the neighbours which is ridiculous – it’s a working farm and he’s just trying to make a living – the land is useless economically which is why we chose the site for solar.
We really have got to stop this mindless destructive nimbyism which is particularly selfish and does nobody any good. If this was China we would have had the solar farm generating electricty 2 years ago to the direct benefit of 3,000 households and the indirect benefit of a lot of people who are already experiencing the destructive effects of climate change.
Makes you wonder if Hart Planners already had ‘housing development’ in mind when they turned down the solar farm application. Or am I just too suspicious or any of their intentions?
I expect it’ll be lovely living on top of a landfill site sandwiched between the motorway and the railway.
Classy!