A children’s play park and a Roman settlement have become linked as part of Holybourne Village Association’s battle to prevent developer Redbrown building 160 houses in Holybourne.
Hundreds of villagers packed into the Church of the Holy Rood on July 22 to hear the association outline ten reasons for objecting to the Redbrown plan for fields behind numbers 136 to 150 London Road in Holybourne.
Redbrown proposes to move the play park from its present position to a location on top of the Roman settlement at Cuckoo’s Corner.
In its response to East Hampshire District Council to the outline planning application, the association said this was its top reason for opposing the scheme because the Roman settlement was “a scheduled monument of national importance of the highest order”.
It stated: “Notwithstanding the risk to underground archaeology at the site, the relocation of a play area and kick-about area on to the scheduled monument risks trivialising and damaging a nationally significant heritage asset - an act that prioritises convenience over cultural responsibility.
“The monument’s integrity must be respected, not compromised by modern infrastructure.”
Holybourne Village Association is calling its campaign Don’t Swamp Holybourne.
It said: “Despite attempts to cast us as NIMBYs, the village is in favour of limited development in the right place.
“In the last few years we’ve seen substantial development on brownfield sites in the village, such as the old Grange Hotel.
“These projects were within the existing Holybourne settlement boundary and received few, if any, objections, as we all know we need more housing.
“However, this proposal from Redbrown is in a different league and is on a very special site that offers the last unspoilt views of Hampshire downland from the village.”
The other nine grounds for objection are the impact on other heritage assets; the loss of the original play area; flood risk; the size and scale of the development; damage to the character of the landscape; failure to support East Hampshire’s sustainable transport objectives; impact on local roads; impact on existing village infrastructure; and loss of an area of best and most versatile agricultural land.
Speaking at the meeting, John Bound - of the Holybourne Village Association’s planning sub-committee - said: “Any one of these objections is a showstopper, particularly the first four. We think we have a very strong technical case for stopping this plan.
“The number of objections makes a huge political impact. It gives the council a sense of outrage if 250 people in a small village object, so we need more.”
Holybourne councillor Graham Hill, who sits on Alton Town Council and East Hampshire District Council, said: “I absolutely support everything you said tonight. It’s a brilliant set of objections based on real facts and real policies.
“On August 6 there will be a meeting of Alton Town Council at the Alton Assembly Rooms, and as a statutory consultee we carry a lot of weight.”
John Bound told the audience: “If you don’t want the urbanisation of Holybourne, we have to work effectively now.”
For more information visit Holybourne.com/swamp
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