Consultation starts over Andover housing plans
Test Valley Borough council wants to hear residents' views
Residents are being encouraged to share their feedback on the proposed new housing sites in Test Valley’s draft Local Plan.
Test Valley Borough Council (TVBC) has launched a public consultation on the document.
The draft plan and consultation can be found at www.testvalley.gov.uk/localplan2042 and residents have until Friday 5 September to respond.
The news comes after central government inflated Test Valley’s housing figure in its National Planning Policy Framework, meaning the council must now deliver 78 per cent more homes than it had initially planned for.
Test Valley must now identify enough sites to deliver 15,878 new homes over the next 17 years, which has led to some difficult decisions about where the new homes could be built.
The proposed new developments are spread across the borough, including Andover and Romsey, as well as in our rural areas.
Difficult
Leader of the council, Councillor Phil North, said: “We have had to make some incredibly difficult decisions off the back of the government massively increasing our housing figure, and councils up and down the country are in the same boat. I am under no illusion that what is proposed will be challenging for our communities, and we share their concerns and frustrations.
“But if we do not move forward and get a new Local Plan in place as quickly as possible, then we leave the door open to speculative applications from developers that we will struggle to defend against. That is why we have worked so quickly to update the draft off the back of the hugely inflated housing figure from central government.
“Allocating sites to accommodate the additional homes at least gives us a level of control over a situation that we would never choose to be in. We know there will be some difficult compromises, but your input is critical to making those decisions. Please do take the time to respond to the consultation and share your feedback.”