Stop more housing within Ashford Hill

Please help RAAD (residents against Ashford Hill development)

We are a group of local residents who are opposed to further development within our village. We are fundraising for;

1. An independent traffic survey

2. An independent environmental impact survey

3. Contributions towards our planning consultant's fees

Ashford Hill used to be a small village of just 100 houses with a shop, pub and a school. The shop and pub have now closed and there is NO public transport whatsoever in the village. The village is also not on mains drainage. In 2016, 35 new houses were built and another new development of 27 houses is currently under construction. Although the construction of these houses has already begun, the developers have still not got a plan for the collection and treatment of sewage and waste water. This is a really big issue is Ashford Hill as we are not on mains drainage.

There are now two further housing applications, one for 36 houses and one for 47, within the village that are currently under appeal. If these were to be allowed this would be a 138% of houses on the previous core village.

The 145 dwellings consented or built or proposed in this appeal is far in excess of the 10 dwellings envisaged for the village within the Basingstoke and Deane Local Plan and is wholly disproportionate to the size of the village. As a village we have taken our fair share and are now being dumped on as we are seen as an easy target.

These developments are not sustainable as there is no public transport within the village so every household will have to use a car to go anywhere. In addition, we have major concerns about the sewage run off into the river if additional houses were built as drainage is already a major problem within the village.

To date we have been funded purely by two generous local residents but we now need to raise money for an independent traffic survey and environmental survey to support our case at the appeal hearings which are in October for the first appeal and the second appeal date is likely to be in November. We are working with a local planning consultant who believes that we have a strong case to oppose these developments but we really need financial support from local residents now please.

Any donation, however small, will be hugely useful and will also spur us on to keep fighting!

Thank you very much.

Patrick Taylor and Melissa Tayabali