Protest aginst thousands of homes in Upper Swallick
The demonstration, which took place at 6pm outside Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council[1]'s (BDBC) Civic Offices at 6pm on Thursday, September 4, was organised by Stand up for the North Hampshire Downs (STaNHD)[2], and opposed plans to create a new 'garden community' in Upper Swallick, near Cliddesden. It followed the release of a draft local plan that outlines plans to create at least 2,500 houses in Upper Swallick, with a total of 4,500 homes across Basingstoke in the next 15 years. Residents of Cliddesden and the neighbouring Ellisfield and Winslade came out in solidarity ahead of a three-hour-long BDBC Environment and Infrastructure Committee meeting where proposals for the development were discussed.
"We're not just local villagers. We have lots of support from people like Hatch Warren Runners, mountain bikers, horse riders and just general members of the public. "From where we're standing now, it's a ten-minute walk to get into the countryside.
If that estate goes in, it's a 20-minute walk. Nobody in the town centre will be able to do that easily, whereas at the minute, as soon as you cross the M3, it's open rolling countryside." Alan Tyler, chair of Cliddesden Parish Council, helped to organise the protest.
He said: "We're not against housing, we want housing, but two and a half thousand next to a village of what, 200 people? It's just ridiculous. "They're going to concrete over the farmland where food is being done, the aquifer, where we have the fresh water for Basingstoke, it's just totally rubbish.
"It's not the councillors' fault, it really is the fault of the government for having such a plan for housing, which is to not listen to anyone else." 
Imagine trying to fit 6,000 cars through Cliddesden, that's how many there would be. "Our dad was born in Cliddesden and, and if he knew what was going on now, he'd turn in his grave." Diane Rampton, Eddie's wife, added: "Where we live, it's almost all single-track road.
The amount of vehicles that will be coming by, they're going to have to change the whole infrastructure of the village. "There is no water supply, and some houses are still on septic tanks. To put two and a half thousand houses there, and trying to cope with that, the leader of the council has already said the water companies have said they'll struggle to do it.
"We've got no public transport nearby. There are two buses a week. You're just going to destroy a village of about 400 people."
Ken Rampton, Eddie's brother, added: "It affects us anyway when the motorway is closed, this would make it worse. "I worked on the farm all my life in the village, I can't imagine what would happen, it would destroy the village, it would destroy Ellisfield." Other residents expressed concerns that the village would not be able to cope with a significantly increased number of cars passing through on a daily basis.
Ben Maunder, from Cliddesden, said: "I've lived here since 1949, and we've been blessed with living on the wrong side of the motorway." Marcus Rule, from Ellisfield, added: "It's in the wrong place. The M3 is now already totally gridlocked at peak times where it will be impossible.
It's also the aquifer for the test and there's massive water issues there as well." Les Smith, chair of STaHND, Cliddesden, explained why it is important to leave Cliddesden how it is. He said: "Cliddesden is a rural community, set in the countryside, where it's unique.
It's got many listed buildings, and it's a place for leisure and recreation. The views are stunning, it's unique, it sits over an aquifer, which has got to be protected. "What is being proposed is another neighbourhood for Basingstoke, which wraps around Cliddesden, and totally destroys its image and importance to Basingstoke, and we're going to resist it very strongly."
Adam Noble, of Old Basing[3] and Lychpitt Environmental Campaign (OBLAC), said: "We accept that there is a need for housing, it's really important, but it shouldn't come at the cost of environmental and public health. "Lots of other parishes and boroughs are challenging big developments in their areas, but I would say none of them have the unique set of challenges that our parish does. "We call these the four horsemen of the apocalypse.
We've got an incinerator, a sewage works, and the River Loddon all next to the areas where they want to build the houses. "On top of that, there's a massive active floodplain in one of those, which is no doubt going to become more active with climate change. So it feels quite a disastrous idea to build on those.
"It's a site that's been proposed multiple times in the past and has always been turned down for those reasons. So it seems strange that they're going to attempt a plan to build on it now. Nothing's changed, only the developer's words."
What does the Local Plan say?
Local Plan documents, published last year, say: "Upper Swallick will provide the town of Basingstoke with a new community that has long-term stewardship at its heart, placing its residents in control of managing the community assets in the longer term and putting in place effective management structures to ensure the long-term viability of these assets.
"It is evident from highway impact assessments undertaken with the North Hampshire Transport Model, that a housing allocation for 2,500 homes at Upper Swallick would not burden the strategic road network. "Equally, subject to some limited localised improvements at key junctions, as required by most major housing schemes, the North Hampshire Transport Model indicates the local road network has the capacity to absorb the traffic generated. "The garden village will introduce new walking routes to improve public access to the countryside and new parkland, with around 17km of new permissive routes through the countryside beyond the development boundary.
New and enhanced footpath links will be provided to enable improved access from Basingstoke, making use of existing links over and under the M3."
References
- ^ Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council (www.basingstokegazette.co.uk)
- ^ Stand up for the North Hampshire Downs (STaNHD) (www.stanhd.com)
- ^ Old Basing (www.basingstokegazette.co.uk)