ROMSEY must not lose its rural identity.

That was the message opponents of the plans to build 1,300 new homes at Whitenap send to a Government appointed inspector holding the public hearing into the borough council’s revised planning blueprint for the next 15 years.

Planning inspector Phillip Ware set aside Wednesday to hear people’s views on the proposed new neighbourhood at Whitenap which includes 1,300 new homes on farmland owned by the Ashfield Estate.

Putting his views forward to the inspector on the new neighbourhood Romsey county councillor Mark Cooper said it was important to preserve the landscape setting of the town.

“Romsey is a great rectangle of open land and the Broadlands estate is crucial in keeping the town separate from what is now urban south Hampshire,” said Mr Cooper who argued that the land involved should be preserved.

“Building on it would destroy that setting. People in the town say to me keep up the fight,” he told the inspector at the Crosfield Hall hearing.

Romsey’s mayor Peter Hurst also made his views abundantly clear. “It should be seen as substantial harm to Broadlands and the town which is in such a rural setting. It is not time to lose that rural aspect and we should make sure that it’s preserved. There is not usually space for 1,300 homes so close to a town centre and it is unwanted development,” said the mayor.

The inspector queried whether the borough council had looked at alternative sites for the 1,300 homes and whether the proposals which include five hectares of land earmarked for employment were sustainable and deliverable.

In response, the borough council’s head of planning policy and transport Steve Lees explained that the authority had been told some reserve sites put forward would end up being counted into the five year housing land supply the council has to have.