Property company makes new Lodge Farm application for 124 homes on the green belt

A property company has put forward a new planning proposal for the controversial Lodge Farm site in Holyport – having already been denied permission on a separate application.

Last December, the Planning Inspectorate dismissed an appeal and refused planning permission for a 150-home development by Beaulieu Homes Southern Limited.

On December 11 of this year, Beaulieu Homes submitted a new application for 124 dwellings on the site, with access off Ascot Road and Holyport Road.

This differs from the 150 homes it proposed in its previous application. Unlike the first, the new application does not include 660 sqft for a doctor’s surgery with 25 parking spaces.

Other elements remain the same – for example, the proposal still includes two grass football pitches, a community building and landscaping and parking.

More than 50 of the homes (about 40 per cent) are intended to be affordable housing.

Approximately a fifth of the 20 hectare site is for homes – with around 16 hectares to be ‘gifted to the community’ as ‘Holyport Community Park’.

Beaulieu Homes has also changed parts of the plan for access to and from the site. A new access point would be created from the Holyport Road with emergency access only onto Ascot Road.

In its new planning statement, Beaulieu Homes said that its previous application should not have been refused on the grounds of protecting the greenbelt, as it meets the ‘very special circumstances’ required to justify construction – in this case, a need for housing in the borough.

“RBWM has accepted that the release of greenbelt land for development is necessary in order to meet the Borough’s housing requirements,” Beaulieu Homes wrote.

Thus far there have been a dozen written objections by residents noting that their concerns – increases in traffic, urban sprawl on the greenbelt and flood risk – have not changed, and the fresh application 'offers nothing new'.

“Holyport Road is totally inadequate to support any access to the proposed application for 124 new houses,” wrote one objector.

“Lots of parents walk to Holyport School along this road on both sides, the paths are certainly not wide enough for the safety of foot passengers, particularly young children, and there will be obviously more danger where pedestrians have to cross the new proposed junction.”

Beaulieu Homes was unreachable for comment at the time of going to print.

The application is open to comment until January 11. Comments may be emailed to planning@rbwm.gov.uk, quoting reference number 20/03371/OUT.