Micheldever Application comes as a Surprise
The Leader of Winchester City Council has expressed astonishment at a new application for a major development of 12,500 homes in the District.
Eagle Star Estates has submitted an application to the Government to build a new 'eco-town' around the existing railway station at Micheldever. This is not a planning application – but an application to the DCLG for ‘eco-town’ status.
In response to a press release issued by the developers, Cllr George Beckett said: "I am very surprised to hear about the Micheldever application as it has already been specifically rejected in the report of the Inspectors' Panel into the South East Regional Plan that was published just this August."
The report stated: "Notwithstanding its location and its rail station, it is a relatively remote rural area with very few facilities for the existing population." It made several points in rejecting Micheldever Station for development as a market Town, including: "the most likely scenario is that it would become a focus for long-distance commuting, not a sustainable community."
Cllr Beckett stressed: "It is important to note that Winchester District is already at the forefront of creating sustainable communities, a fact acknowledged by CABE (Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment) in reporting that our West of Waterlooville Development was one of only five "sizeable housing schemes and masterplans on the drawing board, in planning, or in existence which could be described as places designed for sustainability”.”
He added: “The City Council’s emerging Local Development Framework (LDF) will make provision for the housing numbers acknowledged in the South East Regional Plan in sustainable locations and that, of course, does not include Micheldever Station.”