"TADLEY is full" - that is the message from a borough councillor who has called for land where hundreds of homes have been proposed to be removed from the draft local plan. 

In June, Bewley Homes revealed its plans for a development in Skates Lane, Tadley, seeking an allocation for land in the draft local plan and is preparing an outline planning permission for 260 homes that would include 40 per cent affordable housing.

The proposed site is located to the south of Tadley. It would provide new connections to the existing footpath network.

Now, Cllr Jo Slimin, ward councillor for Tadley and Pamber, has urged for Skates Lanes to be "removed immediately" from the local plan because "there is no capacity for new homes".

SEE ALSO: Borough council's plan to slow down house building debated

Cllr Slimin made the argument at a meeting of Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council's economic, planning and housing committee meeting held on Thursday, September 28, where the spatial strategy, which sets out where homes could be built, was discussed. 

Cllr Slimin said the area is too far away from a main road, adding: "If we come to a full stop because of a fire in Tadley, and there are more houses, how are things going to happen, how are people going to get an ambulance through?"

 

She continued: "We need houses to be in the right place but this is the wrong place.”

The opinion was not shared by all councillors in attendance.

Cllr Nicholas Robinson said: "I think it could bring some development to Tadley to benefit to all those who live there.

"If we don’t build houses because of a one-off incident we will not build houses. You will always have one-off incidents somewhere that gridlocks a place.”

He added: “To me, it looks like a very deliverable site.”

Meanwhile, Cllr Ken Rhatigan said Tadley has had "almost no development for more than 20 years".

He said: "Tadley has not had overdevelopment, unlike other places unlike many of the other wards.

"This is an opportunity to deliver the site for people who want to generally live in the town they were born in and have a job in." 

READ MORE: Residents make a stand against homes in east of Basingstoke

As previously reported, government calculations suggest as many as 17,820 new homes need to be built in the borough by the end of 2039.

Council documents reveal that the authority needs to build 7,703 houses more than it currently has 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.

The borough council’s current target of 850 homes a year, which is based on a national formula set by the central government, would be cut to under 700 each year for five years from 2025 under a fresh ‘stepped trajectory’ approach put forward by the new administration.