I see that government inspectors and the Tory local government
minster have given the go-ahead for more housing at Picket Piece (Andover Advertiser July 8). In doing so the have overruled Test Valley Borough Council’s Planning department and councillors.

Once again Test Valley’s planning policies have beeninvestigated by a government inspector and found to be flawed. The decision to
grant planning permission for over 500 new houses at Picket Piece throws into doubt the council’s policy to allocate almost all new housing in Northern Test Valley to just two major development areas at East Anton and Picket Twenty. This plan is a key part of the Core Strategy rejected as unsound two years ago by another government inspector.

The policy was approved by the ruling Conservative group despite strong opposition from local residents and councillors who argued then
that the large concentration of housing in two locations was unsustainable and undeliverable. What were needed, we said, were smaller more manageable developments at a number of sites including Picket Piece – exactly what the government inspector and minister is now saying.

As a result Andover now has three major development areas supplying many more houses than it will need in the foreseeable future and the whole east side of the town blighted by development indefinitely

Most worrying is the reluctance of Cllr Hatley to admit they got it wrong. Instead he argues that councillors should be free to make the
wrong decisions without any right of appeal or supervisory control. How long before the inspectors are back to rule on another planning application which falls foul of the flawed local plan?