The decision, made on Wednesday, July 9, was an amendment to an approved planning application in 2018, which reduced the 120 apartments and two suites to 70 two-bedroom apartments, allowing residents to have a second bedroom for their carer to live in.
The application, submitted by Graham Land and Development’s includes detailed plans for four EV charging spaces, 70 car spaces, with 37 bays in an underground basement and 33 bays above ground.
He explained that a statement for Thames Water wrote that they ‘cannot and will not guarantee that anybody in the area will have water pressure moving forward if this is approved.’
He said: “It will put you in an interesting position both legally and morally because of the precedent you will be setting.”
He finished with: “How do the people of that care home get off-site when there’s an emergency? They don’t, they have to rely on external.”
Melissa Magee, the architect of the project, spoke in support of the project.
She explained: “The 120 suite consent was granted prior to the pandemic, and post pandemic, we’ve learned so many lessons on how we can alleviate the risks of residents being isolated to their rooms with no external immunity space and their wellbeing suppressed. The application proposes 70 two-bed apartments which allow for a resident to truly age in place.”
Her responses to councillors’ questions answered many of Martin Tuvie’s issues.
She explained that Thames Water must work with them to ‘ensure that we can make this facility come to fruition’ and that the emergency site plan is for residents to stay safely in place until further help arrives.
Councillor Mike Bound started: “I don’t personally have any particular problems with this application as there is an extent permission on the site.”
He said he was ‘surprised’ that Hampshire County Council hadn’t objected to the existence of traffic by the site coming from AWE and parents taking their children to school, but, as the county council hadn’t objected, it wouldn’t be a sufficient reason for them to reject the application.
On the emergency plan, he said: “Everybody in the area I live in is told to stay indoors, close the windows and listen to the radio. That is the extent of the emergency plan as far as we are concerned.”
Councillor Angie Freeman said: “I’m never happy to see large amounts of wooded areas destroyed for a building, but given the fact that there is extant planning permission and it would take away a lot more of that woodland.
“I don’t really think we can refuse it as this one is a better option than the extent permission. Although I’m not happy about it. I don’t see how we can refuse it.”
Cllr Bound moves for approval, and Cllr Freeman seconds it.
The motion is approved with no opposition and no abstentions.
To view the planning application, search with the reference number 23/03028/FUL on Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council’s planning portal.