Sir.-Recently many of us who launched objections to the development of greenfield sites in Tadley received letters from Basingstoke council's forward planning team inviting us to withdraw our objections.
The letter stated that the revised draft deposit plan has indeed recommended the deletion of these sites and therefore we are invited to withdraw our objections - either unconditionally or with conditions.
May I suggest that all people receiving these letters do not withdraw their objection in any way shape or form? We must be aware that this is still a draft Local Plan - it is not final and, should our objections be withdrawn, the development could find its way back into the plan.
It will not be finalised until after a Local Plan inquiry which is due to start on October 26. Until then, please be aware our objections must stand.
Even when it is final, I believe our objections should still stand - we do not want additional development in Tadley without the resources in place to support it.
Even then, we do not want our greenfield sites, and the wildlife they are supporting, destroyed.
Many of us fought long and hard to get these areas removed from the Local Plan and I would hate for us to be duped into withdrawing our opposition to the development too soon. Remember, once withdrawn unconditionally, we can no longer object.
A glance at the building site opposite AWE shows that most developers do not build the kind of housing we're told we need -our council says we need more low-cost housing and yet we see large detached houses on that site. Granted, it's not Basingstoke council's land, but it is indicative of how things can change if we do not stand firm.
It will be interesting to see the prices of these houses. Will they be low cost? I doubt it.
It's another pleasant green area gone forever under tons of concrete.
We need to make sure it doesn't happen to other greenfield sites, so let's not withdraw our objections.
-Bill Hipgrave, The Copse, Tadley.
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