This was my formal response to the Question posed at the Winchester City Council Meeting on Thursday 22nd February 2024

I was speaking in my role as the WCC Cabinet Member for Place and Local Plan  

WCC does not agree that a new development in the countryside, such as is proposed for Popham, is the most carbon or socially efficient way to build a community – and we have serious questions about whether this particular proposal is even deliverable. 

District Councils have a duty to co-operate both before and after the publication of the plan, so we were surprised to see the proposal for Popham come up in their Reg 18 plan, without any consultation from BDDC to WCC – even though the proposal comes right to the Winchester District border.

The challenge here is the fact that a key transport linkage falls so clearly to the Overton Road which as you and I know, is not the best road for a mass transit of traffic, including foot and cycle ways etc alongside it : it cannot be done without land take within Winchester district.

The proposal also includes the use of local facilities at Micheldever Station, including the station itself, rather than providing their own or linking to their own communities which was completely unexpected and again, not something we were consulted on.

To connect to facilities in the Winchester district as the proposal, Winchester would have to agree to make allocations in that area in our own plan – which we have not done and have no plan to do. 

It is a risk that a proportion of the site is considered previously developed land and so if the Government force a simplistic ‘brownfield first’ policy onto planning authorities – without considering other factors such as connectivity, infrastructure and local facilities – we could end up with a unwanted and unsustainable speculative development with major negative impacts on our area. 

The Dever society and many residents have written to me expressing their fears for their community if Popham goes ahead. 

I am urging local residents to express their opinions to the BDDC consultation. Their opinions will provide useful context for our neighbouring district. Meanwhile, WCC’s obvious need is to protect the landscape around the hamlet of Micheldever Station too. 

I reiterate:- 

WCC does not agree that a new development in the countryside, such as is proposed for Popham, is the most carbon or socially efficient way to build a community – and we have serious questions about whether this particular proposal is even deliverable. 

The Lib Dem Cabinet’s view is that these principles for sustainable development apply not only to our district.

I cannot verify the numbers required to satisfy the needs of a neighbouring District’s local Plan: that is for them to decide and I don’t think it’s as strong an argument about the issues of sustainability and deliverability.   There are many factors that we don’t have sight of – such as requests relating to the duty to cooperate from their other neighbours, for example.

So we will be opposing their proposals.  But we expect to be doing this on the grounds of sustainability and deliverability – rather than challenging how they have calculated their housing need.

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