'Everyone will have their say'

Conservative councillors are claiming that the firm retained by Basingstoke council to handle public consultation over the Manydown site is excluding them.

They also claim that a report by consultants MRUK is due to be published before the end of the public consultations on the 2,000-acre site bounded by Winklebury, Kempshott, Oakley and Wootton St Lawrence.

Winklebury ward Tory councillor Jonathan Curry told The Gazette: "MRUK, the council's spin doctors for the Manydown plan, have informed Conservative councillors who opposed the Manydown development that they are to be specifically excluded from key parts of the consultation process.

"They have also informed us that despite the council extending the consultation period in response to the public outcry, MRUK's report will go in as originally scheduled - two weeks before the consultation process is due in theory to end.

"I have always felt that the so-called 'consultation' was nothing more than an attempt by the council to do the developers' work. We are now seeing a deliberate attempt to silence opposition and hand in a report that only says what the council wants to hear.

"It's clearly a complete farce when the report will be in weeks before the consultation finishes. At the moment, I believe the 'consultation' process would have to be a lot more open and honest even to be a whitewash."

However, Basingstoke council's planning, environment and transport director Tony Curtis rejected the suggestion that anyone is being excluded from having their say over Manydown.

He explained: "The current consultation exercise is being run independently by MRUK in order primarily to engage local communities and residents. It is deliberately not aimed at political groups. Councillors will have plenty of opportunity to voice their opinions on it.

"The consultation period has been extended with two additional meetings being arranged to address concerns that not enough time and not enough opportunities were given for consultation in all the interested areas.

"We have received an initial report from MRUK but it is incomplete because the consultation has not finished. They will produce a full report after the end of the consultations - and we are committed to publishing that final document in full. Once that report has been written up it will be available to everybody.

"In fact, we are not actually required to carry out this particular piece of consultation but it is being undertaken wholly transparently to provide the opportunity for local people to indicate what sort of facilities they would like to see if - and it is a big if - this land is eventually allocated for development.

"This is all being done totally without prejudice to the decision as to whether or not the site goes for development.

"It is rather ironic that a piece of consultation undertaken specifically in order to provide full opportunity for people to comment should attract all this criticism.

"Manydown is not included in the next Local Plan which runs up to 2011 as an area for development. The Local Plan says that in the period between 2011 to 2016 approximately 2,700 new homes will be needed and land for this will need to be allocated. It goes no further than saying that the Manydown area would have the capacity to accommodate that number of houses.

"The promoters and land-owners of Manydown have said that the land has capacity beyond that for up to 8,000 houses - but that is not being proposed through the Local Plan at all.

"Cllr Curry has submitted a petition on behalf of residents demanding that planning officers attend the next Manydown consultation meeting to deal with questions of fact. I have said that I will be attending the additional meeting in Winklebury tonight solely to deal with factual issues."

Do you have a view on the Manydown issue? Write to The Letters Editor, The Gazette, Gazette House, Pelton Road, Basingstoke, RG21 6YD or e-mail editor@basingstokegazette. co.uk