Queen Elizabeth Barracks inquiry has pre-meeting

Date: 5 December 2006

The long-awaited inquiry into plans to build 1,100 new homes on the site of a former Gurkha army barracks has had its first pre-meeting.

Making an announcement to a full meeting of Hart Council last week, the authority’s Cabinet Member for Planning, Cllr James Radley told members that a meeting to agree the procedures of next year’s inquiry into proposals build on the former Queen Elizabeth Barracks site in Church Crookham, Hants, had taken place.

In his statement to Council, Cllr Radley said:

“Last Friday, 24 November, saw the initial pre-meeting for the Queen Elizabeth Barracks appeal. There is no doubt that this is shaping up to be a long and complex appeal. I expect there will be need for further discussion on the precise scheduling of the appeal when we have the second pre-meeting in February 2007.”

The full public inquiry, predicted to last nine weeks from its start on May 15, 2007, will be held at the Princes Hall, Aldershot.

Editor’s notes

Background to the story from July 2005 press release

HART District Council Planning Committee last night rejected plans to build more than 1,100 homes on a former army barracks site in Church Crookham.

The scheme, which would have seen 1,000 homes built at the Queen Elizabeth Barracks site and a further 132 dwellings at Wakesford Copse, was thrown out by councillors after a marathon three and three quarter hour meeting in front of 700 people at the Princes Hall, Aldershot.

Plans to build on the two sites were holed below the waterline when the meeting earlier rejected two additional planning applications for the construction of a roundabout, car park and three notice boards at Leipzig Road, and reduction in the size of the car park at Bourley Road – all in Church Crookham.

Both these applications were “mitigating” measures attached to the two main plans to build the 1,132 homes. By rejecting them, councillors made it impossible to accept the two bigger applications for construction of the new homes.

Members of the committee also believed that the building of this number of dwellings would have a detrimental impact on the environment and the Special Protection Area at the site. They also felt that the area’s roads and infrastructure, including schools and health services, would be put under strain by the resultant increase in population.