THE MP for Basingstoke will be hosting her next community chat to encourage residents to discuss the future of Basingstoke.

Ms Maria Miller will be hosting her next community chat later this week, which has been called the Local Plan.

During the event, which will be held on Thursday (June 23) residents are invited to come along and hear about Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council's local plan and discuss the future of Basingstoke.

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On Facebook, she posted: "I have established Basingstoke Community Chats to bring together local residents in the Basingstoke Constituency, to hear from experts, support positive discussions on things that matter locally, and to understand how we can all play our part in helping support change. Anyone can sign up, come along to listen, and share their thoughts on positive change for the future of our community."

As previously reported government calculations suggest as many as 17,820 new homes need to be built in Basingstoke and Deane by the end of 2039 and council documents reveal that Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council (BDBC) need to build 7,703 houses more than they currently have in the pipeline.

It's part of the update process of a document called the local plan, which sets the rules surrounding the development of the borough and can be used by developers as a blueprint on where and how to build houses.

At a meeting of the borough council’s economic, planning and housing committee in September 2021, councillors unanimously voted in favour of rejecting the number of new homes, which is set under the government’s standard methodology procedure.

It has since been revealed that the figures had been calculated using the Standard Method, which use data which is 13 years out of date.

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Since then the debate has continued and Cllr Paul Harvey previously branded the plan as “fundamentally flawed”.

He said: “We say there is a better approach when we know that data on the current plan is fundamentally flawed and is 13 years out of date.

"2021 census data will be available on time for us to take a different route. The 2021 data is based on interviews and surveys from people, and it is genuine data. Let’s shape our plan going forward with hard data.”

Details of coming events are posted on Maria’s Facebook page, which can be found at @Maria4Basingstoke.

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