Plans approved for 41 new homes at manor house in Havant
An
office block is set to be demolished to make way for more
than 40 new homes next to a 19th-century manor house.
Developers have already been given
the green light to turn the grade-II listed Southleigh Park
House and other existing buildings in Eastleigh Road,
Havant, into 20 homes.
Now, a second part of the scheme
has been given the go-ahead by borough council planners,
with 41 new homes set to be built in the estate’s parkland.
The building of the new houses will
‘lag’ behind the conversion of the main house to ensure the
work is completed, Havant Borough Council’s planning officer
said.
The site between Bartons Road,
Horndean Road and Eastleigh Road is being developed by
Bargate Homes Ltd and Vivid Housing Ltd.
The 1983 office building and
associated brick and glass corridor link will be demolished
to make way for 41 new dwellings reduced from 70 that had
been approved in 2019.
Consultants say the new dwellings
will be two or 2.5 storeys, have between one and four
bedrooms, and be traditional in appearance with pitched
roofs and casement windows. The main external material will
be red brick with some grey brick on “key landmark
buildings” and roofs of red/brown tiles or grey slate.
William Chalker, who lives in
Eastleigh Road, challenged the planning documents on
drainage, flooding, traffic and pedestrian safety.
He said: “Is the planning committee
aware that whenever there is rainfall an area of Southleigh
Road between Eastleigh Road and Horndean Road is often
impassable due to flooding? This is the low point where the
flood water coming down Eastleigh Road collects.”He said
that access to the road network from the south of the site
into Eastleigh Road is ‘wholly unsafe’ for walking and
cycling.
The planning council’s consultant
at the meeting said that Hampshire’s highways team has
already approved the plot for up to 70 houses and so these
issues will not come back to the public for consultation.
In response, planning committee
chair Councillor David Keast (Conservative, Cowplain) asked
the senior planning officer if he had heard the issues Mr
Chalker had raised, inferring he would be involved during
any future council and planning/developer consultations.
Plans showed 85 of the 281 trees on
site will be chopped down and replaced with 44 new ones.
Luke Vallins, from Bargate Homes,
said it is not a one-for-one replacement of the trees
removed because that wouldn’t be possible in order to ensure
the trees “thrive and flourish”. A balance between the new
houses and shadowing caused by existing trees needed to be
achieved and now, fewer trees than were scheduled to be cut
down in what is considered open parkland.
Mr Vallins also said that traffic
had been addressed at the outline planning meeting and
Hampshire’s highways chiefs had not found a problem which
was contrary to Mr Chalker’s arguments.
Before recommending the plans for
approval Councillor Diana Patrick (Conservative, Stakes)
said in her 10 years as a councillor she commended the
developer with the ‘overwhelming care’ they had taken in
these latest plans. And she stated the original plans were
‘criminal damage’ of a heritage house that needed
renovating.
Councillor Mark Coates (Labour,
Hayling East) said he couldn’t see a way to refuse the
proposal and was disappointed the plans did not include
affordable housing.
Councillor Grainne Rason (Green,
Emsworth) said the lack of social housing which was
desperately needed in the borough was regrettable.
The reserved matters application APP/17/00863 was granted by the committee and work can now begin.
The News 13th January