Shapley Heath Baseline Studies Fall Short of Cabinet Claims

Posted on August 20, 2022August 16, 2023

In their defence of the Shapley Heath project debacle, Hart Cabinet have made a great deal of noise about the Baseline Studies produced by the developers as part of the project. The purpose of this post is to analyse the conclusions of those reports and come to a conclusion about their value.

The first point to note is that those reports have now been removed from Hart’s website. However, we did download them when they were available. Together they take up hundreds of MB of disk space. We have made them available here, on our Google drive for those who may wish to view them.

Summary of Results of the Shapley Heath Baseline Studies

Geo-Enviro Study

Low risk from past use, but calls for more detailed work. Glosses over landfill at Scotland Farm and Beggars Corner.

Transport

Proposes an impractical technocratic nirvana of bicycles, cargo-bikes and e-scooters with convoluted car journeys; Council should only consider “increases in highway capacity as a last resort”. Great way to wriggle out of infrastructure spending.

Landscape

Hundreds of pages of bumph, many simply repeating earlier studies in a massive appendix, resulting in no conclusions except for a call for further work to “consider landscape value, sensitivity and capacity”. In effect, totally useless.

Agricultural Land Classification

No specific report produced. One chart in the Landscape report. Was supposed to be extended into a detailed study, but apparently not produced.

Archaeological and Heritage

Concedes there would be harm to heritage assets, but claims “informed masterplanning” would avoid or reduce harm. More detailed work required.

Flooding and Drainage

Study concludes that there is a risk of fluvial (river), surface, reservoir and groundwater flooding across parts of the Area of Search. Recommends further work, particularly groundwater monitoring. Some pieces of evidence contradictory. Recommends areas prone to flood as “dry routes” out of the site.

Water Cycle/Management

No report produced.

Utilities

No report produced. It seems they’re ignoring the high pressure gas main and the high-voltage power lines.

Air Quality

Study admits the M3 is the biggest air quality constraint and that nearby SSSIs could be at risk. Apparently, air quality issues during the 16-year build phase are only temporary, so we don’t need to worry about them. Thankfully, they appear to have dropped the idea of building a tree-burning power plant.

Noise

Flawed study didn’t take account of increased traffic levels arising from the development. Admitted to needing an 80m buffer zone either side of the M3 and 20m from the A30 London Road. Concludes that “there are no planning or technical reasons with regard to noise to refuse the promotion of this site as a residential development”.

Contamination

No specific report produced

Ecology & Biodiversity Net Gain

Fairly useless report that documents the different habitat groups in the Area of Search and attributes biodiversity points to each one. Concludes with a statement of the bleeding obvious that to achieve a biodiversity net gain, there needs to be an increase in biodiversity. However, replacing any of the cropland or grassland with urban areas will automatically reduce biodiversity.

Ancient Woodland, Ancient and Veteran Trees

Useful report detailing all of the areas of ancient woodland and a schedule of 37 veteran trees. The report points out that development that might damage these areas be refused. It recommends buffer zones around the veteran trees of around 5m from the edge of the canopy and 15m from the ancient woodland.

Overall Status of Shapley Heath Baseline Studies

The Opportunity Board that took place in March 2021 promised no less than 14 Baseline Studies and showed the status of each at that time.

Status of Shapley Heath Baseline Studies as of March 2021

Despite claims by Cabinet that 10 studies have been produced, only 9 were published. However, one of them covered both Flood Risk and Drainage, so maybe we can say 10 of the promised subject areas were covered. It remains to be seen what happened to the other four.

Status of Shapley Heath Baseline Studies Falls Short of Expectations

Interestingly, Community Campaign Hart have gone on record saying the have not read the documents. So, obviously they are total experts on the content of the reports and are well placed to judge their value 😉.

Questions about Shapley Heath Baseline Studies to CCH

Answers about Shapley Heath Baseline Studies from CCH.

Now let’s go through the details of each report.

Topographical and Ground Survey aka Geo-Enviro Desk Study

This was published as the Geo-Enviro desk study. The document was produced by Wardell Armstrong and is dated January 2021, despite the March status report showing no work had started. Note this is a desk based study; no actual field work has been carried out.

Geo-Enviro Study Objectives.

They conclude that “site is considered to present an overall low risk from past use” and “the site is suitable for the proposed end use of residential and or commercial development with associated infrastructure”.

Geo-Enviro Study Low Risk from Past Use

However, they go on to caveat their conclusions by stating that more detailed geotechnical work is required about the appropriate foundation solution for parts of the site.

Geo-Enviro Study Potential contamination Geotechnical Assessment

In the body of the paper they do note that Beggars Corner and Scotland Farm are former landfill sites, but gloss over the implications of this.

Geo-Enviro Study Potential Historic Landfill Beggars Corner Scotland Farm

They also go on to note in their terms and conditions that they offer no guarantee or warranty on their findings.

Geo-Enviro Study Potential No Guarantee or Warranty

Shapley Heath Baseline Studies – Transport

Summary

The Transport Studies consist on seven “Topic Papers” delivered via email from the Steer Group. They are a triumph of technocratic idealism over common sense.

In their nirvana, everyone will ride bicycles or e-scooters so there’s no need to make a significant investment in roads. The Council should abandon the philosophy of “Predict and Provide” and in favour of “Decide and Provide”, or rather don’t provide. They elaborate on this saying “user hierarchy putting pedestrians and cyclists first and motor traffic last, and design features including limited and well-placed car parking”.

This means that the Council should:

Simply “decide” the “preferred future” and provide for that future instead. SO, they can decide not to provide proper road infrastructure.
Actively seek to add “convoluted car journeys”.
Not try to predict the future traffic flows arising from 5-10,000 additional houses.
Only be “considering increases in highway capacity as a last resort”.
Include only limited parking facilities.
Assume everyone is going to cycle or take their lives in their hands on an e-scooter, instead of driving to do their big shop at the supermarket.
Not bother working out the costs of transport improvements.

In other words, they have decided that they will aim for an impractical technocratic nirvana so there’s no need to cost out a practical solution.

More Walking and Cycling Routes Plus Cargo Cycles

The aims of providing more walking and cycling routes are laudable. The roads around the proposed site notably lack pavements in most places and there are almost no dedicated cycle paths. However, there are some completely ridiculous ideas such as “freight to be transported by cargo cycles”. I don’t think any new supermarket would be happy to be restocked by a fleet of “cargo cycles”.

Shapley Heath Transport Study e-cargo bikes

Convoluted Car Journeys

They also propose to “create more convoluted journeys for private vehicles thereby reducing propensity for short distance car trips”. In other words design the environment so it is difficult for cars to get in, through and out of the new development. This is a recipe for more congestion and poor quality of life. It is fundamental to economic efficiency and vibrant social life that it is easy for people to go where they want, when they want. The thing about private cars is that they promote freedom of movement and convenience. They seem to want to “Decide” that new residents should live the lives of Trappist Monks, never leaving the new town and not having visitors.

Shapley Heath Transport Study e-scooters and convoluted car journeys

Better Public Transport

They also call for more busses. However, if the No. 7 bus service that already goes through Hartley Wintney is any guide, there is precious little demand for this mode of transport. By observation, these busses often have no passengers at all, and never more than a handful. It is difficult to see how this will change even with 5-10,000 extra houses.

The papers also call for more train journeys. However, they acknowledge that pre-pandemic the line was operating at maximum capacity. They outline a series of improvements that are planned for the Wessex line. However, it isn’t clear whether any of them will improve capacity or enhance services from Winchfield.

Ignoring EVs Eliminate Tail Pipe Emissions

Part of their rationale for strongly discouraging car use is to cut tail-pipe emissions. They fail to understand that by 2030 all new cars sold will be EVs, with no tailpipe emissions. Even now, hybrids are taking an ever increasing share of the market, so CO2 emissions are already falling in urban areas. It can be seen that their rationale for reducing car usage completely falls away.

No Costing

None of the Topic Papers addresses the costs of even providing footpaths and cycle paths. Of course they don’t address the cost of road improvements because they should only be “considering increases in highway capacity as a last resort”. In other words, they have decided that they will aim for an impractical technocratic nirvana so there’s no need to cost out a practical solution.

Landscape Character Assessment

The Environmental Dimension Partnership (EDP) have produced hundreds of pages of bumph resulting in no conclusions. Much of the report is a massive appendix of earlier work carried out for the Council. They conclude by calling for further work to “consider landscape value, sensitivity and capacity”. In effect, totally useless. The work is nowhere near as good as the work carried out by Michelle Bolger on behalf of Winchfield Parish Council.

Shapley Heath Landscape Study Further work required

Archaeological and Heritage Study

This is an 87-page report produced again by EDP. The report concedes that heritage assets would suffer “harm” as a result of such a significant development. However, they contend that with “informed masterplanning, it may be possible to avoid or reduce harmful effects”. Note the “may”.

Shapley Heath Archaeological and Heritage Study – Harm to heritage assets

Of course, they say more work is required, including actually visiting the site! Got to keep those consultancy fees rolling in.

Shapley Heath Baseline Studies – Flooding and Drainage

The Flooding and Drainage studies were produced as one document by Wardell-Armstrong who also produced the ge0-enviro desk study. This is an 68-page document plus three appendices. One plus point is that the various flood events documented on this website are incorporated into the evidence base.

The main document shows that there is a risk of fluvial (river), reservoir, surface water and groundwater flooding across large parts of the site. It recommends further work to better quantify the risks and work out the mitigation.

Shapley Heath Flood Risk Study Additional Work Programme

In particular, a 12-month borehole study is recommended.

Shapley Heath Flood Risk Study 12 month borehole study required

Given the project has been cancelled and no budget is currently allocated, it isn’t clear when or if this work will take place.

It is worth noting that significant parts of the evidence base are self-contradictory.

Surface Water Contradictions

The first point to note is that they provide a very low quality image of the parts of the Area of Search that are subject to surface water risk.

Shapley Heath Flood Risk Study Figure 10 Surface Water

At first glance, it looks like pretty much the whole site is clear of surface water flood risk.

However, if you superimpose the Area of Search on Hart’s own map of surface water flood risk, a very different picture emerges.

Shapley Heath Surface Water Flood Risk from Hart Council Maps

Large swathes of the Area of Search is subject to surface water flood risk. An addendum to Hart’s own Strategic Flood Risk Assessment states that their various models of surface water flood risk underestimate the extent of flooding.

Models Underestimate Surface Water Flood Risk

Clearly, more work is required on this subject.

Groundwater Contradictions

They use two different charts to illustrate the risk of groundwater flooding. The first shows high risk to the North East of the site and negligible risk across the central belt.

Shapley Heath Flood Risk Study Figure 11 Groundwater Flood Risk

The second map shows high risk to the south, medium risk in the north east and low (note not negligible) across most of the rest of the site.

Shapley Heath Flood Risk Study Figure 12 Groundwater Flood Risk

No wonder they called for the 12 month borehole study to work out what the real risks are.

Exit Route contradictions

As part of their mitigation strategy, they identify a number of “dry routes” out of the site. These include Taplins Farm Lane, Station Road, Bagwell Lane and Totters Lane. The very roads that we have documented flood frequently and often to such an extent that they are impassable. They even reproduced the graphic below in their own document.

Shapley Heath Flood Risk Study Allegedly Dry Routes

Winchfield, Hook, Crookham Village Floods 3 January 2016

Clearly, they need to think again.

Shapley Heath Baseline Studies – Air Quality

Wardell-Armstrong have produced another 15-page report. However, the report is next to useless because there are no monitoring stations within the boundary of the Area of Search.

They do have a section on potential air quality impacts. They dismiss concerns about any impacts during construction as only “temporary.

Shapley Heath Air Quality Study Temporary Impacts during 16 year construction phase

However, the bid documentation suggested a building trajectory of 16 years. This hardly fits most people’s definition of temporary.

Shapley Heath Housing Trajectory Sept 2020

They then move on to the “operation” phase, by which they mean the impact on air quality having built 5-10,000 extra houses.

They concede that there could be potential damage to nearby SSSI’s, although they do not mention the many SINCs within the Area of Search.

Shapley Heath Air Quality Study Potential Damage to SSSIs during operation

They also admit that the M3 is “the most notable constraint” regarding air quality.

Shapley Heath Air Quality – M3 Is A Significant Constraint

Thankfully, they have given up on the idea of a ~~tree-burning~~ biomass power plant or CHP as they euphemistically call it. In a previous Sustainability Appraisal they used the potential of such a plant to rank Shapley Heath above other options. Heaven knows why, burning wood to produce power generates more CO2 and noxious particulate emissions than burning coal.

Shapley Heath Air Quality – Given up on idea of a Power Plant

Of course they need to do further more detailed work.

Shapley Heath Baseline Studies – Noise

Our friends at Wardell Armstrong have been busy again, this time on a 39-page Noise Assessment report. However, we believe this assessment to contain a very significant flaws:

Study Timing.
No account was taken of the extra traffic generated by the development.
They assumed the development would be residential only.

Study Timing

First, the study was carried out in mid-June 2021. They assumed traffic levels were back to normal levels. However, some Covid restrictions were still in place up to mid-July 2021.

Shapley Heath Noise Study – Study period 9-14 June 2021

In addition, the study period was 9-14th June 2021. The 12th of June was a Saturday and the 13th was a Sunday. Weekends generally have lower traffic levels, so some of the readings they took will understate the mid-week noise levels.

Extra Traffic Ignored

The extra traffic that will be generated by the development was not considered in their work. They justify this by saying traffic volumes would have to double to generate a 3dB increase in noise levels.

Shapley Heath Noise Study – Will Not Consider Impact of Proposed Development

For a road like the M3, that is justifiable. For the A30 London Road, that assumption is at least debatable as it is likely to be one of the major access points should the development go ahead. Therefore, traffic volumes will likely rise significantly. However, for the more minor roads such as the B3016, Station Road, Bagwell Lane and Taplins Farm Lane, this assumption is demonstrably false. There’s currently only a couple of hundred dwellings in Winchfield. Increasing that by 5-10,000 would likely increase traffic on these minor roads by at least an order of magnitude, far more than double. Yet, they have chosen to ignore this obvious fact, despite designing the place to have “convoluted” car journeys adding to congestion and noise.

Assumed Residential Only

Moreover, they also assume that the development would be residential only. However, Hart’s own Project Overview document made it clear that the development would be mixed use, with various employment sites, supermarkets/retail and schools. These types of development will add further to the noise problem.

Shapley Heath Project Overview – Mixed Use Community with Employment and Retail premises

Noise Mitigation Strategy

To mitigate the impact they recommend buffer zones around various roads and the railway. These include 80m from the M3, 20m from the A30 and 30m from the railway. We suspect the 10m buffer recommended around the B3016 will prove to be inadequate because traffic levels will rise very significantly.

Shapley Heath Noise Study – Road and Rail Buffer Zones

However, as highlighted above, they have assumed zero extra traffic impact on Station Road, Bagwell Lane and Taplins Farm Lane. Therefore additional buffer zones maybe required. Such a buffer zone would reduce the land available for building, particularly on the parcel of land bounded by the B3016, the M3, Taplins Farm Lane and the railway.

They also recommend various other mitigation strategies such as 2m high fences, special glass in some windows near the major noise sources and “acoustic ventilation” so there’s no need to open windows.

The report concludes that if appropriate mitigation measures are put in place, “there are no planning or technical
reasons with regard to noise to refuse the promotion of this site as a residential development”. Of course, more detailed acoustic design will be required, to generate even more fees.

Shapley Heath Baseline Studies – Ecology and Biodiversity Net Gain

This is a 15-page report plus a 12-page appendix consisting mostly of maps. It was produced by a Ethos Environmental Planning. Overall it’s a chocolate teapot of a report because it concludes that in order to increase biodiversity, the number of biodiversity points need to increase, but it doesn’t say how.

Methodology

It starts by classifying different parts of the Area of Search into Habitat Groups

Shapley Heath Ecology and Biodiversity Habitat Groups

It then goes on to award “Biodiversity Units” to each group.

Shapley Heath Ecology and Biodiversity Units

Biodiversity units are calculated using the Biodiversity Metric 2.0. The metric subjects the area of the habitats to a selection of multipliers which determine an areas biodiversity value. The multipliers are the condition of the habitat, its distinctiveness, its connectivity and its strategic significance. However, the report doesn’t explain how they assigned values to the various multipliers. They do caveat their results by making clear that the Biodiversity Metric 2.0 they used is a beta-test trial and the results maybe subject to change.

They go on to say that to enhance or maintain biodiversity, they need to retain high value areas and poorer areas “be targeted for removal”.

Shapley Heath Ecology and Biodiversity target areas for removal

So, if you already live in the Area of Search, they’re going to target your house for removal.

Conclusions

They conclude with a statement of the obvious. To increase biodiversity points, you have to increase biodiversity points. However, they offer no advice on how to do that. By combining their tables we have been able to demonstrate that replacing any of the grassland or cropland with urban development, biodiversity will be reduced. This is because the average biodiversity units per hectare are lowest for urban areas.

Shapley Heath Ecology and Biodiversity Points per Hectare

This is contrary to the expectations set in the Project Overview:

Shapley Heath Project Overview BioDiversity Net Gain

The Shapley Heath survey last year even suggested that “green spaces within garden communities are also opportunities to enhance biodiversity and the natural environment”. It isn’t clear how they came to that conclusion on the basis of their own survey.

Ancient Woodland, Ancient and Veteran Trees

This is a 39-page report with an 8-page appendix again produced by EDP. Overall, this is a useful report detailing all of the areas of ancient woodland and a schedule of 37 veteran trees. The report points out that the NPPF says that development which might damage these areas be refused, unless there are exceptional circumstances. It recommends buffer zones around the veteran trees of around 5m from the edge of the canopy and 15m from the ancient woodland. Note the results of the survey expire two years after it was conducted. This means that the survey will be useless after December 2022.

Virtue Signalling Council Refuses Help for Hard Pressed Families

Posted on February 26, 2022August 16, 2023

At Council last week, we asked a number of questions to challenge the budget for next year. One of those questions asked what specific deliverables would be produced from the £250K they have set aside to “tackle climate change”. The answer revealed that they didn’t have the faintest clue what they were going to spend it on or what they were going to deliver with the money. The supplementary question asked if they wouldn’t be better to keep the money in reserves to balance future budgets or offer a rebate on council tax to help families struggling with the cost of living rather than signalling their virtue with other people’s money.

The full exchange can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/sa2I5KxdmsM?t=3809

This accusation caused offence to the Leader of the Council. We’re sorry if the truth hurts. Remember, climate change is supposed to be their “top priority”, but they have no plan. During the debate about the budget many of the Councillors got up to ~~virtue signal~~ express their outrage at such a suggestion. As they expelled lots of hot air containing 40,000ppm CO2, not one of them came up with a single idea to reduce emissions or improve the environment. The Conservatives proposed a motion to remove that item from the budget and instead offer a council tax rebate to the poorest households in the district. This amendment was rejected.

Among the critics of the amendment was ~~Saint~~ Councillor Peter Wildsmith, who asked for the £250K annual budget to be extended indefinitely to tackle the problem. Again, he didn’t come up with a single idea on how to use the money effectively. Now he has taken to social media to describe as a “disgrace” anyone who has the temerity to disagree with him.

The budget was eventually passed with a small amendment to offer a welcome £10,000 grant to Fleet Food Bank.

6 Ideas to Improve Hart’s Environment

We are very concerned about waste at Hart Council. Over £700K has been splurged on the doomed Shapley Heath project since FY19/20 and nothing of substance has been produced. They squandered ~£140K on planters and signs for the disastrous Fleet pedestrianisation project. Now it appears they want to create a permanent £250K/yr climate slush fund to parade their virtue and produce nothing but CO2-laden hot air.

We think if we criticise the Council we should offer some alternative ideas.

The Council has substantial capital reserves. They should invest some of this to insulate better the social housing in the district. This would reduce emissions and reduce residents’ soaring energy bills.
They have been talking about the “green grid” for a long time now and delivered nothing. They should accelerate this project to encourage and enable more walking and cycling.
The Council offices are far bigger than they need. They should move to smaller, better insulated premises and reduce their own energy consumption.
Apply for one or more of these grants to support planting trees in the District.
End support for their disastrous plan to build 5-10,000 unnecessary houses at Shapley Heath. Construction alone would emit 1m tonnes of CO2 and destroy valuable habitat and carbon sinks.
Extend the range of items that can be recycled in the blue bins.

Readers should also note that earlier iterations of Shapley Heath pushed the idea of a locally-sourced biomass energy plant. This is essentially chopping down the wonderful trees in the district to produce electricity. Burning wood produces more CO2 per unit of electricity generated than burning coal. At Drax, it also produces more particulate emissions than burning coal.

The Council declared a Climate Emergency last year. Since then the committee has met several times and produced nothing but hot air. None of the ideas above would require a single penny of the £250K they have allocated to be spent, but would help Hart residents directly and improve the environment. It’s time for the Council to stop the hot air and start acting.

Shapley Heath Endangers Red List Birds

Posted on June 23, 2021August 16, 2023

This article builds on our earlier post setting out the green case against Shapley Heath. We have been inspired by new research that shows the red list species that are found in Winchfield. New analysis shows that 26 of the 67 bird species on the RSPB Red List have been spotted in Winchfield parish.

Clearly building 5-10,000 houses in the Shapley Heath area will endanger these important species. Hart Council’s survey about Shapley Heath focuses on biodiversity as a key issue. It is mentioned in questions 19, 20 and 21. However, they fail to mention the damage that a new community will do to the existing ecosystems and the threatened species found there.

This seems odd given that Hart has its own Biodiversity Action Plan. But it seems they haven’t kept up to date with their promised monitoring reports. The Council even has a page dedicated to biodiversity that promises to

[Set] targets for biodiversity achievement in planning, site management and monitoring and education and awareness

Having read the rest of this article, you might like to respond to the Shapley Heath survey. This is your chance to make known your concerns about the proposals. We have produced a handy guide with suggestions as to how you might choose to answer the freeform questions. The guide can be found on the download below. The full survey can be found here. The survey closes on 5 July.

Shapley Heath Survey with Suggested Responses

Download Now!732 Downloads

Winchfield Notable and Protected Bird Species

The current Winchfield Neighbourhood Plan (WNP) shows on p47 the notable and protected species identified by the Hampshire Biodiversity Information Centre (HBIC).

Winchfield Notable and Protected Bird Species

This shows a total of 64 different species.

RSPB Red List

The RSPB helpfully produce a red list of UK birds. This contains 67 separate species. To place a bird species on the Red List, the RSPB apply a set of strict criteria:

RSPB Red List Criteria

The criteria include population decline and contraction in breeding range. Clearly, building all over the Area of Search will contract the available space and may well kill-off the local population of these birds. The red list contains 67 different species.

Shapley Heath Endangers Red List Birds

By cross-referencing these lists, you can see the red list birds that make their home in Winchfield.

Red List Bird Species in Winchfield Neighbourhood Plan

This list contains 26 different species. So, nearly 39% of the species on the red list have been found in Winchfield parish. It would be an act of pure malice to destroy the habitat of these important birds.

Mammals Need Protecting Too

The WNP (p44) also says that Winchfield is home to five species of bats. All species of bats are protected in the UK.

Pipistrelle Bat found in Winchfield

Winchfield is also home to brown hares.

Brown Hare Found in Winchfield

Hares are protected in the UK under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, 1981. They are also a Priority Species under the UK Post-2010 Biodiversity Framework. Surely a council committed to biodiversity wold not put these important creatures at risk.

The Green Case Against Shapley Heath: Regeneration is the Solution

Posted on June 12, 2021June 12, 2021

The Green Case Against Shapley Heath: Regeneration is the Solution

The purpose of this post is to illustrate the green case against Shapley Heath. We will:

Examine Hart’s environmental and climate change commitments.
Show how Shapley Heath will deliver excess housing and up to 1m tonnes of excess CO2 emissions just from building it.
Demonstrate how concreting over 505 acres to deliver 5,300 houses will destroy habitat and damage biodiversity.
Look at how the talk of “renewable energy” might put our forests at risk and produce more CO2 and particulates then burning coal.
Show how urban regeneration would produce lower CO2 per capita and keep our vital green spaces.

If Hart Council want to save the planet, they should cancel Shapley Heath and focus on urban regeneration.

Having read the article, you might like to respond to the Shapley Heath survey and make known your concerns about the environment. We have produced a handy guide with suggestions as to how you might choose to answer the freeform questions. The guide can be found on the download below. The full survey can be found here.

Shapley Heath Survey with Suggested Responses

Download Now!732 Downloads

Hart Council’s environmental and climate change commitments

In April 2021, Hart Council joined many other public bodies in declaring a Climate Emergency. They unanimously agreed (our emphasis):

“Following the successful adoption of Hart’s Climate Change Action Plan, this Council now wishes to declare a climate emergency, which commits us to putting the reduction of CO2 in the atmosphere at the front and centre of all policies and formal decision making, particularly Planning.

They even proclaimed that climate change is their top priority on the front page of the latest edition of Hart News.

Hart News Climate Change Top Priority June 2021

However, on the same page they talk about the new Shapley Heath survey, cunningly avoiding any discussion about the environmental impact.

Excess House Building Leads to Excess CO2 Emissions

The Local Plan was agreed at a build rate of 423 dwellings per annum (dpa). However, the latest Government target is 286dpa. The 286 represents Hart’s share of the Government’s overall 300,000 dpa target. According to ONS figures, this national target is far in excess of what is required to meet demographic changes.

Hart refuse to conduct an early review of the Local Plan to take advantage of this reduction. Moreover, their original bid for Shapley Heath funding committed to deliver the new town in addition to the Local Plan requirements.

Shapley Heath in addition to Local Plan

So, Hart are proposing to continue building at a rate far higher than the Government target, which in itself is far more than required and to deliver Shapley Heath on top. We can pretty safely say that any houses delivered by Shapley Heath will be far in excess of requirements. So any CO2 emissions arising from construction will also be entirely unnecessary.

We calculated that a new town of 10,000 houses would emit around 1m tonnes of CO2. A new town of 5,000 would be half that amount.

The Green Case Against Shapley Heath: Up to 1m tonnes of CO2

We find it difficult to understand how building more houses than we need and emitting more CO2 than we need to is consistent with putting the reduction of CO2 in the atmosphere at the front and centre of all policies.

Green Case Against Shapley Heath: Biodiversity Impact

There’s plenty of academic evidence that urbanisation causes irreparable damage to biodiversity and habitat loss.

For example here,

The Green Case Against Shapley Heath: Urbanisation Habitat Loss and Biodiversity Decline

and here:

The Green Case Against Shapley Heath: Impacts of Urbanisation on Biodiversity

The issues include replacement of species, habitat loss and biodiversity decline. The Shapley Heath survey emphasises the importance of green spaces, wildlife habitat and woodland. Yet, they somehow fail to mention that the Viability Study accompanying their bid for Government funding proposed concreting over 505 acres of the 1,047 acres of land under consideration.

Shapley Heath Development Acreage

The damage to the local eco-systems will be incalculable. And all for a development that isn’t required and is in addition to the Local Plan requirement.

The Renewable Energy Trap

The new Shapley Heath survey does ask for opinion about renewable energy. Initially, this sounds quite green and cuddly. Until you look at what they meant by renewable energy in prior studies into the Winchfield new town. The Sustainability Appraisal (p74) said:

It is fair to assume that a scheme of this scale (c.3,000 homes) [Ed: How times have changed, now 5-10,000] could enable combined heat and power generation (potentially even fuelled by biomass, which might even be locally sourced).

What they mean by biomass is explained in the North Hampshire Renewable Energy Opportunities Plan.

North Hampshire Biomass from Forest Management

What they mean is chopping down trees in Bramshill Forest to fuel a wood-burning power plant. Burning wood produces more CO2 per unit of electricity produced than coal. And if Drax is anything to go by, more than twice the amount of noxious particulates.

In summary, they are considering building a wood-fired power station, using locally sourced timber that will produce more CO2 and more particulates than burning coal. This will destroy our local forest in addition to concreting over 505 acres of land, all in the name of environmentalism.

Green Case Against Shapley Heath: Regeneration is the Solution

There is a simple alternative to Shapley Heath. It’s Urban Regeneration. The benefits of this approach would be:

Control the build rate to match the actual requirement
Reduce delivery risk by having a range of projects instead of relying on just one big development
Protect our green fields and ancient woodland to maintain habitats and biodiversity
Keep vital green infrastructure to enhance our quality of life, wellbeing and mental health
Maintain our agricultural capacity to produce food
Produce less CO2 per capita

There’s plenty of evidence that shows that gentle densification produces communities that are more sustainable from a CO2 emissions point of view.

CO2 emission per capita vs Population density

CO2 emissions per capita vs Population density

The reason for this is that more people can walk to work, walk to the station and walk to leisure facilities. They need fewer cars and do fewer journeys. And slightly denser building means that occupants need less heating.

So, if we want to save the planet, urban regeneration is the answer. Cancel Shapley Heath.

#StormDennis dissolves daft Shapley Heath idea

Posted on February 16, 2020February 16, 2020

#StormDennis has taken its toll on Hart District. As far as we can tell, the worst hit area is around the mooted Shapley Heath/ Winchfield new town. Here we have evidence of yet another of these supposed 1 in 30 year events. We drove around there this morning and found:

The river Whitewater had flooded by the A30 opposite the Crooked Billet. This is the area that is supposed to be Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspace (SANG). The sort of area earmarked for country rambles and dog-walking. Definitely not water-skiing.

Totters Lane flooded at the top for quite a distance
Bagwell Lane in Winchfield flooded
Station Road flooded
Pilcot Road in Dogmersfield flooded
Hitches Lane in Crookham Village flooded near the new roundabout for the Grove Farm development. Who knows how the new residents are supposed to get out of their new houses.
Taplins Farm Lane flooded again. We didn’t even attempt to drive through in a 4×4.

Taplins Farm Lane Flood

#StormDennis also flooded Pale Lane and the fields either side. The west side is also supposed to be SANG for the proposed Shapley Heath development.

This latest flood comes in addition to the other floods we have recorded in the area. We have recorded flood events on 15 January 2020 (#StormBrendan), 20 December 2019, 4 February 2019, in April 2018 and three times in 2016 alone. Evidence documenting the 2016 flood events can be found here (4 Jan) , here (7 Jan), here (9 March on Station Road) and here (28 March due to #StormKatie).

The Whitewater Valley Society have also reported that North Warnborough has been badly hit.

The actual weather has once again refused to comply with the flood assessment carried out for Hart Council as part of its evidence base for the Local Plan. The sustainability assessment claimed:

There was some evidence of wet ground at the far east of SHL183, but “no other obvious evidence of current or past flooding”.

The detailed assessment also said there’s only a one in 30 year chance of surface water flooding.

As far as we can tell, the road through the proposed development area and all roads out of the area were affected by the floods. Both SANG areas were also flooded. When will Hart District Council see sense and abandon this daft project?

Whitewater Valley Flood, Hook, Hampshire
Whitewater Valley Flood, Hook, Hampshire. #StormDennis.
Totters Lane Flood
Totters Lane Flood
Bagwell Lane Flood
Station Road Flood.
Taplins Farm Lane Flood
Pilcot Road Flood
Hitches Lane Flood
Pale Lane fields looking east flood
Pale Lane flood
Pale Lane Flood, Fields looking west

Shapley Heath Climate Change Impact

Posted on November 20, 2019November 19, 2019

Shapley Heath Climate Change Impact

In the light of the focus on the environment in the General Election campaign, we thought it would be a good idea to look at the Shapley Heath Climate Change impact.

Shapley Heath Climate Change Impact: Summary

1,000,000 tonnes of CO2 emitted from construction
312,000 tonnes of CO2 per annum from the occupants
Loss of pasture carbon sink
Damage to SSSIs, Ancient Woodland and heritage

Yet, Hart has agreed the “serious impact of climate change globally” and recognises “the need for urgent action”. Councillor Graham Cockarill is standing in the General Election as a Liberal Democrat candidate. They say “the UK should be leading the world on tackling the environment crisis”.

Why are they pursuing an unnecessary new town that goes against their own climate change policies?

Shapley Heath Climate Change Impact: CO2 emissions

According to this article in the Guardian, construction of an average 2-bed cottage emits around 80 tonnes of CO2. The average size of Shapley Heath dwellings is likely to be larger, so let’s assume 100 tonnes of CO2 per dwelling. The vision and bid documents both suggested the eventual size of Shapley Heath will be 10,000 houses. So, building 10,000 houses will emit around 1,000,000 tonnes of CO2. There will of course be additional emissions from building new roads, supermarkets and office blocks.

These 10,000 houses will house around 24,000 people, and each of them will emit on average ~13 tonnes of CO2 per annum each. So, there will be 312,000 tonnes of CO2 emitted by the occupants of the houses.

Moreover, the existing pasture acts as a carbon sink, so this benefit will be lost too.

Remember, the Hart Local Plan, the Inspector’s report and even the bid document said that Shapley Heath isn’t required to meet our housing targets, so all of these emissions are entirely avoidable.

Shapley Heath Climate Change Impact: Damage to Nature

The area of search contains or borders many important natural sites. These include:

Odiham Common SSSI
Basingstoke Canal SSSI
Numerous ancient woodland sites that are also Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation

Shapley Heath Climate Change Impact – Damage to nature

Hart District Council and Lib Dem Climate Change Policies

Back in September, Hart Cabinet decided the following in respect of climate change (our emphasis):

Recognises the serious impact of climate change globally and agrees that there is a need for urgent action; and
Agrees that a cross party Climate Change Member Working Group be established and that the Terms of Reference for that Group as set out in Appendix 1 be agreed in principle; and
That a Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan led by the Member Working Group be prepared by January 2020 based on Hart District Council becoming a net zero carbon emitter by 2040 at the latest.

Councillor Graham Cockarill is standing in the General Election as a Liberal Democrat candidate. They say:

The UK should be leading the world on tackling the environment crisis. Our planet is on the brink of being irreparably damaged and we are responsible for that damage.

Why are they pursuing an unnecessary new town that goes against their own climate change policies?

CPRE Hampshire host event on protecting Hart countryside

Posted on October 16, 2018October 14, 2018

CPRE Hampshire event on protecting the countryside

CPRE Hampshire are hosting an event about protecting the countryside in Hart and Rushmoor.

The event is free and everybody is welcome, so please do attend if you can. However, you need to book in advance so they can organise catering.

The event is taking place at the Church on the Heath, Elvetham Heath, Fleet GU51 1HA at 7pm on 24th October 2018.

You can book by following the link to www.cprehampshire.org.uk or phoning them on 01962 841897.

The full leaflet can be downloaded here.

Please oppose the consultation about the Rye Common new village development

Posted on October 16, 2016November 26, 2016

Rye Common new village proposal, Odiham, Hart District, Hampshire

Rye Common new village proposal near Odiham and Crondall in Hart District Hampshire

Bell Cornwell have launched a consultation on proposals to build a 1,600-1,900 new houses on around 140 hectares to form the so-called Rye Common New Village to the south of the A287 between Odiham and Crondall. We urge all We Heart Hart supporters to oppose the proposals by responding to the consultation that can be found here, on the grounds that it is not needed as there are plenty of brownfield sites available and Hart’s declared strategy is to prioritise brownfield development ahead of green field development.

More details about the plans can be found in Bell Cornwell’s consultation microsite, leaflet and vision document.

We suggest you utilise some of the following arguments in your answer to the first question:

This development is not required as there are plenty of brownfield sites available, as can be seen here:

https://wehearthart.co.uk/2015/11/there-is-a-brownfield-solution-to-harts-housing-needs/

There are at most 2,350 more homes to be granted permission in the plan period (and according to a recent press release from Hart DC this may be further reduced by 1,500), and close to 4,000 dwellings that could be built on brownfield sites.

Hart’s declared strategy is to prioritise brownfield development before green field development as can be seen on page 2 of the recent Refined Housing Options paper.

Thank you for your help.

Greens set out their position on Winchfield, Pyestock and housing policy

Posted on May 4, 2016May 5, 2016

The local Green Party have been in touch, setting out their position on the key planning issues impacting the Hart Local Plan and some ideas on broader housing policy. In short, all of the candidates oppose Winchfield New Town and support redeveloping the brownfield site at Pyestock (aka Hartland Park). This is an important issue for the Hart Local Elections 2016.

We have updated our summary page, and table of candidates accordingly. The detail of their response is reproduced below.

In brief I can confirm that the local [Green] party, and all its candidates in these elections are opposed to the Winchfield new town, but support the latest proposal for redevelopment of housing in Pyestock.

1. Winchfield – No. It is not required to meet Hart’s own housing targets and by concreting over such swathes of green space, would be the destruction of Hart as we know it for generations to come. In addition, Winchfield simply does not have the infrastructure to support a New Town – it would put strain on GPs, schools, roads and quality of life – not just in Winchfield but also in Hook, Fleet, Hartley Wintney, etc.

2. Pyestock for housing – Yes. By developing brownfield sites such as Pyestock, Hart’s housing targets can be met through dispersal of home building, and lessen the burden on roads and facilities in a concentrated area. Additionally, such developments are eligible for central Government grants towards infrastructure and do not leave HDC at the mercy of council tax hikes and s106-shy developers.

Our more detailed response will include demands for any new housing to be zero- or negative-carbon and high density, and any new roads to incorporate cycle lanes. But more importantly, we don’t see this as being just about whether or not to build the Winchfield development and need to address the broader policy – how the housing need projections are worked out and allocated. If this area continues to be put under pressure to build new houses, taking in allocations from outside the area, other beautiful rural areas will be hit.

We need to emphasise the importance of rural, countryside for everyone, not just those of us lucky enough to live in villages/ rural areas. There are genuine benefits for non residents too – loads of research on mental health benefits, conservation, getting children engaged with nature, air quality etc.

And we need to be offering alternatives, and to acknowledge the problems lots of people have in getting onto the property ladder. Is continuing to build in the over-developed South East really the answer? Should we be pushing for a more equal distribution of investment, for example, promoting business growth and sustainable development in northern England?

Consequently we are developing a vision starting with what the area should look like in 2030, and then how to get there.

We Heart Hart welcomes the stance of the Green Party on the local development issues in Hart and broadly accept many of their ideas on wider housing policy.

Planning Inspector’s Trimmers Farm decision could scupper Winchfield new town plan

Posted on April 26, 2016September 19, 2017

Trimmers Farm solar farm turned down by inspector

The Planning Inspectorate has decided not to allow a solar farm to be built at Trimmers Farm, near Beggars Corner, on a site that straddles Hook and Winchfield parishes. The implication of this decision is that it also likely scuppers the proposed Hartley Winchook new town. The full decision can be downloaded from the button below.

The main reason given by the planning inspector was that the solar farm “would cause substantial harm to the character and appearance of the surrounding landscape”. Although the inspector did also say that ” the proposal would make a valuable contribution to the cutting of greenhouse gas emissions. It would also assist in securing the ongoing viability of the farm enterprise”. The more detailed assessment of the harm said:

From my own observations and having regard to the appellants’ photomontages and Zone of Theoretical Visibility (ZTV), the solar farm would have an adverse visual impact which would significantly detract from the visual amenity of the area. Having taken into account the presence of the railway, motorway and pylons I consider that the proposal would consolidate the spread of man-made features across the skyline and add to the creeping urbanising effect on the area, thereby exacerbating the resultant harm to the landscape character and visual amenity. In conclusion the level of harm to the character and appearance of the landscape would be significant and would conflict with LP saved Policies GEN10, GEN1, GEN3, CON23, RUR2 and RUR3.

SHL167 SHLAA Map – Beggars Corner, Winchfield, Hart District, Hampshire

The implications of this could be quite interesting as the same Beggars Corner site is contained in the Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment as SHL 167, and is included in the proposals for the proposed new town at Winchfield. We have written before that 772 houses were proposed to be built on the former land fill site.

SHL 167 Landfill details Beggars Corner, Winchfield, Hart District, Hampshire

However, we find it difficult to believe that 772 houses, many of which might have solar panels on their roofs, would have a lower visual impact or create less creeping urbanisation than a solar farm. Of course, the challenges of building houses on landfill would be much greater than installing solar panels.

As can be seen from the image below, the removal of SHL167 from the new town plan would effectively isolate two halves of the proposed new town, with the Murrell Green sites being disconnected from the other sites. This will compromise sustainability and will also reduce the housing capacity.

Winchfield and Hook New Town proposal

We have previously challenged the viability of the new town plan, as have Winchfield Parish Council. However, to re-cap, the SHLAA suggests that the housing capacity of the new town sites is in the range 6,500-7,500. But not enough space has been set aside for SANG, or for sports facilities, schools, shops, car-parks or community facilities. Making allowance for these elements would reduce capacity to 4,000-5,000. Removing the 772 houses from SHL167 would further reduce the capacity to 3,228-4,228, which is well below the minimum viability threshold of 5,000 dwellings.

Trimmers Farm Solar Farm Planning Inspector’s Appeal Decision

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