QEB
UPDATE
Report of QEB planning meeting (1st June 2011)
That the QEB application would go through has been inevitable ever
since the inspector's report following the appeal of 2007 which
endorsed
Hampshire Highways acquiescence over the impact of traffic generated by
the
site.
About 80 people sat in the Harlington Centre yesterday evening to
see Hart's planning committee debate the application. Collectively the
committee
have probably made the best they could of an application that the
government imposed planning regulations meant that they could not
refuse.
The key issues of a school on the QEB site and the mitigation of the
traffic impact dominated the meeting.
In the days running up to the meeting the developer had apparently been
demanding that the school site be freed up for more housing once
Hampshire
have used up the £13 million that they have requested from the
developer
for extend existing schools.
However, the committee resolved to preserve the school site for 10
years after which a review would be made to see if it needed to
be reserved for a longer period.
The appeal process had 'established' a rather meagre fund of £3
million (compared to the £13 million required by the education
authority) for highway improvements. Local councillors were very vocal
that as this fund is pretty small in highway terms the money must
be carefully managed and used to fix real problems as they occur. Their
rational is that you could invest a lot of money in a highways scheme
that may not address the real impacts of the development. The
planning committee has agreed that the legal agreement with Hampshire
Highways be worded so that Church Crookham parish council and local
councillors will be consulted on what schemes this money should be
spent on.
Undoubtedly the QEB development will have an adverse impact on our
local amenities but as I stated earlier the development has slowly
passed each planning hurdle in its long gestation and refusal this time
was not an option. The parish council and local district councillors
have invested a lot of time and effort in securing the best package of
mitigation measures possible in the circumstances. I believe that what
we got on Wednesday was the best out of a bad deal.
Finally a big thank you to those who turned out to witness this
meeting, it being half term there were a good many who wanted to turn
up but couldn't. The QEB Campaign will continue to monitor the
development and will keep those of you on our e-mail list
updated with significant happenings.
Best regards,
Ken.