In May this year I quizzed our current town centre manager on the matter of the Old Brewery Site and the essence of his reply was: "The delays are caused by flaws in national planning law. The developer/freeholder is simply taking advantage of that flaw."

I then had a lengthy correspondence with our local MP, Caroline Nokes urging her to apply pressure for the relevant law to be tightened.

Her initial reaction was to assure me that she had raised the issue a number of times in Parliament including in a ‘recent debate’ in October 2019 when a Green Paper on accelerated planning was referred to by the then Housing Minister. Ms Nokes pointed out that one of the problems here is that the development has been started and successive Housing Ministers have refused to make any legislation retrospective which obliges developers to build within a certain timeframe. Every time our Borough Council seeks to make a compulsory purchase order (CPO) against the developer he builds one more unit which effectively staves off the threat of a CPO.

Needless to say the ‘promised’ Green Paper has not yet seen the light of day. Ms Nokes did say that she had written to the current Housing Minister (Chris Pincher) asking him to pick up the issues his predecessor was unable (or unwilling?) to answer but she reiterated that: “It is only when legislation comes forward that we will be able to push for the sort of retrospective powers that the Old Brewery Site will require in order to compel the developer to finish it off.”

I know that I am not alone among the people of Romsey when I say that I do not want this matter to lie fallow any longer than is absolutely necessary. Every time I glance in at the site when I walk down Station Road I see what a disgraceful eyesore it is, and so near the centre of our lovely town too. What is the point of all the other enhancement schemes when this carbuncle is left to fester?

Michael Bull

Romsey