OPPOSITION is already mounting to fight the biggest planning application in Winchester history.

Local farmer Nick Russell is proposing 5,000 homes on farmland between Hursley and Oliver’s Battery, sparking dismay.

As reported in the Chronicle last week, the scheme has been called Royaldown Garden Village and would see homes, a new access road linking to Badger Farm Road, two primary schools, a secondary school, health centre, park and ride, solar farms and land for employment.

Last week many local politicians and residents expressed horror at the plans which are more than twice the size of Barton Farm/Kings Barton.

Now organisations have expressed their concerns including Butterfly Conservation and the Campaign to Protect Rural England.

Hampshire Chronicle:

Butterfly experts are “deeply disappointed and worried” by the plans to build 5,000 homes between Winchester and Hursley.

The UK charity Butterfly Conservation has recorded 38 different species in the Royaldown area since 1988.

Its members also manage the Yew Hill nature reserve – just a stone’s throw from the proposed development.

Steve Wheatley, regional conservation manager for South East England, told the Chronicle: “The charity is deeply disappointed and worried by this proposal. The charity has in its database records of more than 72,000 butterflies that have been recorded in this area since 1988. This includes 38 different butterfly species, which is almost two thirds of all butterfly species found in the UK.

“At least six of these are priority species, protected as Species of Principal Importance under Section 41 under the Natural Environment and Rural Communities (NERC) Act 2006.

“This landscape also supports downland specialists such as the beautiful Adonis Blue butterfly (pictured), the Chalk Hill Blue and the Dark Green Fritillary.”

Mr Wheatley continued: “Butterfly Conservation has been managing the Yew Hill nature reserve immediately adjacent to the threatened area, and monitoring butterfly populations there since 1990.

“This year alone, more than 3,500 butterflies were recorded on the reserve, including more than 1,000 Meadow Browns and 200 Chalk Hill Blues.

“One of Hampshire’s rarest downland butterflies, the Silver-spotted Skipper was also found here in 2019 and again in 2020. These butterflies will undoubtedly be using and benefitting from the wider landscape as part of a rich and interconnected ecosystem.”

Hampshire Chronicle:

The proposed development plots at Royaldown

CPRE Hampshire, the countryside charity, is also concerned about the plans.

Caroline Dibden, Hampshire vice president, said: “We will be arranging to visit the site as soon as allowed, but our first thoughts are that this represents the worst type of car dependant sprawl.

“It is a completely inappropriate location, in open countryside, not related to any mass public transport hubs, and will likely lead to a significant adverse impact on climate change.”

The charity is also concerned that Royaldown would be the first step in fully developing the countryside between Winchester and Southampton.

Ms Dibden added: “It would be a first step in the eventual coalescence of Winchester with Southampton, which is something we have long feared.

“CPRE Hampshire has therefore been campaigning for this area, amongst others, to be designated as a South Hampshire Green Belt, which is a policy designed to protect the separation of settlements, and to encourage urban regeneration.

“At the moment, so-called ‘Royaldown’ is a purely speculative suggestion which has not been included by Winchester City Council in any formal consultation, and we would hope they reject it at an early stage for the poorly thought-out scheme that it is.”

Royaldown is detailed in a glossy leaflet available online. An official planning application has not yet been submitted to the city council.

Meanwhile, councillors met on Monday evening for the Local Plan Advisory Group. The council is drawing up its new Local Plan.

It heard that in February-March there will be another statutory ‘call for sites’ when the authority asks landowners for suggestions.

Councillors say they are hampered by not knowing what their housing targets are going to be. The Government has recently published a White Paper for a radical overhaul of planning. The district would see a sharp increase in the number of new houses it would be expected to accommodate.

Another issue is the campaign for a expanded green belt in southern Hampshire but Winchester councillors fear that will simply shovel more homes into the Winchester district. With national parks protected that would see many more houses around Winchester and in the north of the district.

Cllr Caroline Horrill, Conservative group leader, told the meeting that a “sword of Damocles was hanging over us, we have Royaldown and Micheldever Station promoting their schemes.”

Cllr Jackie Porter, cabinet member for built environment and wellbeing, said the council was uncertain about how many houses the Government would tell it to allow: “We don’t want to frighten people with numbers that may not happen. There are rumours that the numbers may be reduced in rural areas.”

Additional reporting: Andrew Napier