June 28th 2001: Winchester city councillors are expected to choose land at Barton Farm, north of the city, to build 2,000 houses.

Officers are making their recommendation today (Friday) to members of the local plan panel, meeting at Colden Common.

Predictably, it has sparked an angry reaction from Winchester Member of Parliament, Mark Oaten and from the Save Barton Farm Group.

The 2,000 houses are part of the Hampshire County Council structure plan, which calls for a "reserve" housing area to the north of Winchester.

Barton Farm, which is in the ownership of Winchester College, came top in a City Council assessment of six potential sites with officers reporting: "Some areas liable to flood, particularly from groundwater; potentially developable with careful location of development and further investigation of drainage measures".

"I am still 100% opposed to building on Barton Farm. It may meet the criteria of development but that does not change the fact that the original scheme is inappropriate," said Mr Oaten.

"I fundamentally disagree with the proposals. The last thing we need is two thousand £500,000 homes in the area.

"I am very disappointed that Hampshire County Council has persisted with this scheme, forcing the city council into picking a site.

"We should be looking at development of brownfield sites elsewhere to provide affordable housing for police, nurses and young people from the area.

"I fully support the campaign to prevent this development being built and, over the next four years, I will do all I can to defend the greenfield site at Barton Farm."

Gavin Blackman, chairman of Save Barton Farm Group, said it was "peeved" by the selection, without further consultation, of Barton Farm.

"But we were expecting it, because it was all decided 18 months ago. They have just gone through the motions of consultation."

He said his members were so angry that they would be putting up candidates in six seats at the city council elections next year.

"If Barton Farm is incorporated in the local plan, developers will be able to utilise that to build houses."

A Winchester City Council spokesman said that if Barton Farm were chosen, many studies would still need to be done--including an ecological survey to determine whether it was a suitable site.