Proposed housing-Weyhill

ANGER DEEPENS AFTER 200 ATTEND WEYHILL CONSULTATION EVENT OVER 1,034-HOME PLAN

Contact: Amport Parish Council | [email protected]

Amport Parish Council, local residents and residents from neighbouring parishes have expressed deep frustration following a public consultation event held on Thursday 24th July in Weyhill, where Test Valley Borough Council presented plans to include a site for 1,034 new houses in its draft Local Plan.

The drop-in session, hosted at Weyhill Village Hall, drew an attendance of over 200 from concerned parishioners, councillors and Caroline Nokes MP. Many residents felt their views were not being meaningfully heard. There is growing anger that years of community-led work on the Neighbourhood Plan are being sidelined by a top-down approach to housing development.

Chair of Amport Parish Council, Chris Harris, said:

“This proposal flies in the face of everything our community has worked so hard to achieve. Parishioners have spent years contributing to the Neighbourhood Plan in good faith, and now all that effort risks being ignored. We deserve better – and we will not accept this without challenge.”

Alongside concerns about traffic, infrastructure, the environment, and pressure on local schools and health services, residents are particularly alarmed about the impact such a large-scale development would have on local water supplies, drainage, and flood risk.

Much of the land identified is prone to surface water flooding, and the scale of this proposal risks overwhelming existing systems and increasing the danger to water supply in Weyhill and neighbouring villages. At a time of growing water scarcity and supply issues across the South East, residents say the plan is unsustainable.

There is also alarm at the lack of transparent consultation to date. The Parish Council is calling on Test Valley Borough Council to honour the principles of localism, respect the Neighbourhood Plan, and withdraw the Weyhill site from its housing allocation proposals at this time.

Amport Parish Council is urging all residents to submit their objections through the formal consultation process before the deadline on Thursday 5th September, and to contact their elected representatives to ensure local voices are heard.