Executive summary

The residents of Medstead understand the need for some additional housing but it needs to be the right number, the right size dwellings and in the right place, where it is sustainable and does not overwhelm or change the character of the village. Since 2016, there has been a huge amount of house building in Medstead, predominantly in the south of the parish. Currently there are 54 dwellings under construction, 157 with outline approval and a further 62 awaiting a decision, all in Medstead.

We believe that this application for 37 dwellings outside the Settlement Policy Boundary of Medstead village, overlooking undulating open countryside is totally inappropriate, it is high density compared with surrounding properties and is therefore totally out of keeping with its surroundings, it is in an unsustainable location with very limited public transport options and it proposes far too many 4 and 4+ bedroomed dwellings which are not needed in this location and are in fact far too expensive for most local residents on average income. Additionally, the cumulative negative impact of increased traffic on Medstead High Street has not been considered.

Please use the content of our report to make your comments if you so wish.

The more planning related comments the better!

Thank you once again for your support

The SMASH team

Link to  SMASH FULL report 

Link  to EHDC planning portal for this application to make your comments/representations  

Note you now have to be registered to make comments

27000/005 46 dwellings behind 61 Lymington Bottom Road - Approved

Despite a strong support from Medstead and Four Marks Parish Councils and one of our District Councillors to REFUSE this application the vote went against us.

There were 6 in favour, 3 Abstentions and 1 Against.

SMASH read out their declaration at the meeting. Here is a link to it Declaration  

This site is ostensibly unsustainable e.g. it is 1.4Km to the shops on the A31 and it is 2.4 km to the catchment school in Medstead village. Walking and cycling whilst possible is not probable, so any new residents - like the rest of us, will require a car. 

Under 'normal' circumstances this application may have been refused, but because EHDC do have a 5YHLS (5 Year Housing Land Supply) then the 'tilted balance' mechanism is invoked which means the planning committee have to show that there would be 'significant and demonstrable harm' if this development went ahead. They believed they could not.

However, a long discussion took place about the cumulative impact of traffic on the southern part of Medstead where this application is located. Over the last 12 months approvals have taken place for 54 houses at Brackenbury Gardens, 62 at Beechlands Road and 95 on land west of Longbourn Way. With the 46 approved on this site this now totals 257 approved. Since 2017 there has also been 338 houses built in the southern part of Medstead. With ca. 600 more houses comes over 1200 more cars on our local roads.

Although Hampshire Highways (HH) had no objection to this application in isolation, the cumulative affect that will be caused by all the recent housing approvals in both Medstead and Four Marks will significantly impact our local roads, lanes and A31 junctions. 

Some Councillors are becoming very uncomfortable with approving all these applications even though they are lawful to such an extent that they are now seeking a meeting with Hampshire Highways to discuss this problem before any more applications come forward in this area.

They want to determine from HH the point when the infrastructure will not cope before it becomes overwhelmed. Don't forget Lymington Bottom Road has a single lane arched railway bridge, Boyneswood Road has a single lane railway bridge to navigate before reaching the junction of the A31. These junctions are already at or near capacity at rush hour.

HH say that they want to implement 'modal shift' i.e. get us out of our cars. But since most residents either commute to work, leisure or shop then this will not happen. As an active travel study in Wales over 5 years costing over £200M. Welsh active travel audit Modal shifts do not tend to be successful in rural areas. They are essentially designed for towns and cities.

Hence HH cannot depend solely on their 'modal shift' strategy (LPT4), otherwise there will be increased traffic issues and possibly fatalities.

SMASH will follow up with HH early in December.

Thanks again for your support -  we have to keep fighting for our village.

Team SMASH

More overdevelopment in Medstead - we have had enough!

Despite the strong local opposition by residents (184 objections), the Parish Council and SMASH to this latest speculative application for another large high density housing estate on more of our green fields, then sadly this proposal is being recommended for APPROVAL by the Planning Officer responsible for the application. 

Medstead and Four Marks Neighbourhood Steering Group, Medstead Parish Council, one of our District Councillors and a member of the public (only one public speaker allowed) will make declarations against this application. SMASH did apply to comment.

You can watch the meeting LIVE by going to link shown under the map.

There are multiple reasons as to why this application should be REFUSED: 

• Outside Medstead’s Settlement Policy Boundary, 

• Contrary to multiple policies in the current EH Local Plan & the Neighbourhood Plan, 

• Medstead has already significantly exceeded the FM/Medstead housing allocation (min 175) with 487 dwellings built or with planning approval since 2017, 

• Likely introduction of an additional 120 vehicles to the local village roads adding to the issues at Boyneswood Road/A31 junction & Lymington Bottom Road/A31 which is already near capacity at rush hour, 

• Loss of these fields that will likely worsen local surface water flooding, there is already regular flooding on Beechlands Road and Lymington Bottom Road. A car was abandoned in the flood water recently,

• No winter ground water testing has been done, 

• The requirement for 10% Biodiversity Net Gain cannot be achieved on site, off-site mitigation is being proposed which will leave the site in a worse condition for local wildlife, 

• Detrimental change to rural, peaceful character of this area of Medstead, 

• EHDC’s Landscape Officer deems the impact on the landscape to be Medium/Substantial, 

• No further need for additional ‘affordable’ dwellings in Medstead. Current need is 42, but there is already approval for 60 ‘affordable’ units, 

• Several Planning Inspectors at Appeal have stated that due to the limited facilities in FM/Medstead, then by simply adding more housing adversely affects both the social and sustainability credentials of this Tier 3 settlement, which would significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits of additional housing provision 

EHDC does not currently have a 4/5year housing land supply, (currently stated as 2.7 years), therefore this means that the policies which give rise to an 'in principle' objection to the scheme, are to be treated as out of date and the planning balance is tilted in favour of granting permission unless the adverse impacts of doing so would significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits.  

Note: The planning committee have the power to reject this application and override the planning officers recommendation should they wish to do so.

SMASH believes that this development will cause harm for the reasons stated above. If EHDC did have a 5YHLS then it would most likely be refused. This rule in the NPPF is crazy and can result in inappropriate decisions being made.

Hampshire Highways could stop this overdevelopment madness in our village but they choose to hide behind a policy which actively tries to reduce the use of the private car by promoting walking and cycling, which in a village location like Medstead, where facilities are limited, most residents who live here need to use their cars for employment and their weekly shopping. Studies in Wales have shown that despite spending millions of pounds on 'active travel' measures people in rural communities need their cars to live. Welsh travel audit 

Finally, Medstead and Four Marks are currently developing a new Neighbourhood Plan. This will create a master plan for our villages. It will be an evidenced based, community led process looking at the needs of the community not the profits of developers. This application and future speculative applications should be put on hold until this group has developed OUR plan.

Please also go to the Beechlands Community excellent Website, Beechlands Community Website  

SMASH and the residents of Medstead continue their fight to Keep Medstead Rural and stop inappropriate housing development in the village.

The housing numbers show that the housing stock has increased by over 96% in the southern part of Medstead since 2013 and the population of Four Marks/'South Medstead' has grown by 38%.

Who are these new houses for? They are certainly not for the locals as many of them are simply unaffordable and there have been hundreds built here already in recent years!

It is clear that developers and local landowners are keen to concrete over all the remaining green fields that surround our 2 villages and not for the good of the community or our local wildlife but for their own economic gain.

Currently, while EHDC do not have a 4-year housing land supply, then this means that the Council have virtually lost control of their own planning strategy whilst the developers continue to urbanise our villages by stealth.

The new government's planning rule changes are going to make this drive to build in the countryside significantly worse as it is proposed to increase the number of new dwellings in East Hampshire from 575 a year to 1074 (an 87% increase!). Don't forget 57% of the district is in the SDNP, which has very restrictive planning rules.

SMASH and F4FM will continue to hold the Council and Developers to account whilst working with our Local Parish and District Councillors. 

Thank you for you continued support and help.

Together we can repel and excel!

See full transcript and downloadable document in Useful documents 2024