Gravel depot is mooted (From This is Hampshire)

Gravel depot is mooted

8:00am Sunday 19th July 2009 in News By David Connop Price

A NEW gravel depot could be established in Basingstoke on land neighbouring a proposed massive housing development.

Details of the plan for the gravel depot on land occupied by Basingstoke railway sidings were revealed in a Hampshire County Council response to developer Lemon Land’s £300million plans to develop the former Eli Lilly manufacturing site and neighbouring Victoria lot in Kingsclere Road, Houndmills.

Lemon Land wants to create 489 homes, a hotel, shops and retail outlets, space for offices and education facilities – including a new home for Basingstoke College of Technology – on the 26-acre combined site.

In a response to the planning application Lemon Land submitted to Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, Kristina King, a development control officer for Hampshire County Council, noted the development was adjacent to the railway sidings that the county is supporting for use as an aggregates rail depot.

She wrote: “The rail sidings to the north of the railway line at Basingstoke have been identified as a location for the development of an aggregates depot subject to resolution of traffic impacts and access issues. This would improve the provision of rail-imported crushed rock across the county.”

The letter stated that potential conflicts between the sidings, the potential depot operation, and Lemon Land’s scheme “must be recognised” and measures, such as planting and screening, put in place to protect any planned homes from problems, including dust and vehicle movements.

Borough Councillor Paul Harvey, whose Norden ward includes the Lemon Land site, opposes the developer’s plans.

He said: “It’s very serious that anyone in their right mind would think of siting houses with families and kids next to an aggregates site.”

Cllr Harvey is worried the depot would create an environment that would be “significantly harmful to local families and residents” if the neighbouring land is used for homes.

Network Rail, which is responsible for maintaining Britain’s rail network, is currently using the sidings for one of its projects, but plans to hand them back next year to rail freight operator DB Shencker, which owns a 125 year lease on the site.

On Monday, The Gazette asked Hampshire County Council for more details about the planned depot, but no one had responded by Wednesday.