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  • "we were one of the residents of Kingsclere road who agreed with the site being used for housing , if the concil had wanted to put factorys close to the town , why was the area along the ring road used for housing, this was a perfect site for industry , with good road links and no houses close by , as for increased trafic , industry usualy start and finish shifts at the same time so lots of trafic then none ,with houses the trafic is spread out , as people come and go to work ect at different times , and usualy dont have big lorrys going to privet houses, we noted when lemon land were making their bid to build houses the complants were coming from as far afield as Tadly,? what does it have to do with them , they should only ask the houses who are directly effected, by the change i.e. Kingsclere road and maybe the road surronding it , i do agree however the the site should have a School as the other local schools say they are full. we are also cocerned that you are building more and more houses when there is a shortage of water ? hose ban due soon , a nice park could be the answer."
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Use of site 'must meet the borough's needs'

10:00am Sunday 25th March 2012 in News By Simon Moss

ANY new bid to build on the former Eli Lilly site in Basingstoke must be looked at with “fresh eyes” – even if that includes more housing.

That’s the view of borough council leader Councillor Clive Sanders after an ambitious £300million scheme for the Kingsclere Road site collapsed.

Developer Lemon Land wanted to build more than 400 homes as well as shops, offices and a hotel on the former pharmaceutical factory and its neighbouring Victoria lot.

Lemon Land was granted outline planning permission for the scheme in 2010 despite a passionate appeal from neighbouring residents, who claimed additional traffic and parking problems would make life a “misery”.

However, the scheme has hit the buffers. In January, Sentinel Housing Association purchased the 6.6-acre Victoria lot and last week The Gazette revealed Lemon Land’s deal to purchase the Eli Lilly site had fallen through.

Cllr Sanders, below, told The Gazette: “We want to make sure what goes on that site is something that meets the needs of Basingstoke and Deane as a whole.

“It is a good opportunity for industrial usage but we should not ignore the possibility of having good, affordable homes where people want to have them. It would be wrong for me to pre-judge anybody’s application at this stage.”

Cllr Sanders added: “There can sometimes be hiccups in development and the fact that Lemon Land is not proceeding is a reflection of the current state of the property market.

“In terms of what should go on there, that is dependent on who buys the land and what proposals they put forward. It would be wrong for me to pre-judge anybody’s application at this stage.

“Situations always change. You have just got to go back and look at it with a fresh pair of eyes when a new application comes in.

“What I will say is it is always good to see affordable housing on brownfield sites because that protects the need for building on green fields and we should not turn our back on that.”

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