Town councillors unanimously reject 220 homes plan for heart of Evesham - The Evesham Observer

Town councillors unanimously reject 220 homes plan for heart of Evesham

Evesham Editorial 12th Jan, 2017 Updated: 13th Jan, 2017   0

TOWN council chiefs have unanimously voted to refuse a controversial planning application for hundreds of homes in the heart of Evesham.

During a passionate debate at the Town Hall on Monday (January 9), councillors called on residents to resist the application with ‘all the power’ they can by objecting to Hallam Land Management’s proposals for 220 homes and 60 extra care units on land off Boat Lane.

At the meeting the proposals were branded as ‘not right for town’ and concerns were raised about the impact the development would have on the town’s road network which is already ‘over-capacity.’

“I recommend refusal on the grounds of over-development. Traffic infrastructure is already full to capacity and the access to this site is disgusting,” Coun Alan Booth said.




“There is the impact of course on the local health service and on schools- they’re both at capacity and they can’t take anymore.

“This isn’t right for the town. This land is prime; it’s right for development, but for development in the right way, and not for housing.


“If you look back to the Evesham Town Plan it mentions our unique selling point and I think that land is possibly the best unique selling point we’ve got.”

As the Observer has previously reported, Hallam’s application exceeds the 200 homes the South Worcestershire Development Plan says can be built on land off Boat Lane- a reason Coun Mark Goodge said residents should use to object to the application.

“This area of land has been allocated for housing in the SWDP and I do believe we should be able to keep it as stiff to the 200 homes. Certainly we should be objecting to this strenuously on the grounds it exceeds the SWDP,” Coun Goodge said.

“Also, as far as the traffic situation is concerned, I would also like to recommend no decision on this is made until the results of the county wide traffic survey are known.”

Coun Charlie Homer also urged as many residents as possible to submit their objections to the application before the deadline on Saturday, January 28.

“It is really important that residents are encouraged to submit a single letter of objection because a petition will be registered as one document,” he said.

“A single letter from resident will be registered as an individual piece of evidence objecting to that planning application. One petition with 12,000 names is not as powerful as 12,000 individual letters of objection.”

Visit www.wychavon.gov.uk and search for W/16/02814/OU to view and comment on the application.

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