The Government has rejected a developer’s bid to build 1,000 homes at the former Queen Elizabeth Barracks site in Church Crookham.

But the Hart District councillor in charge of planning has warned that the council could be powerless to stop any similar plans for the site.

Secretary of State Hazel Blears ruled that developers Taylor Wimpey had not agreed to provide enough funds for schools, and had planned to build too many homes on the south east corner of the site nearest Ewshot.

She also wanted the affordable homes to be built with more urgency.

The developers had appealed against Hart District Council’s decision to refuse the application back in 2007. The appeal was heard by a public inquiry late last year.

Coun Richard Appleton, Hart’s portfolio holder for planning and regulation, said he expected that the developers would re-submit an application – and the council could be powerless to refuse it.

He said: “I would anticipate that the developers will come back to us with another application and, if they do that, Hart is not in a position to re-open any of the arguments that the secretary of state has disagreed with.

“If we did, we could end up paying the other side’s legal costs.”

He said Hazel Blears had not agreed with the council on a number of important points.

He said: “Although the application was dismissed, the secretary of state agreed the highways works would support the development, she also agreed that the mitigation for the SPA (Special Protection Area) was adequate, including the controversial closure of the Bourley Road car park,” said Coun Appleton.

Closing the Bourley Road car park was designed to reduce the number of residents visiting the Thames Basin Heath SPA, satisfying Natural England’s objections to the projected increase in residents visiting the protected site.

It became a controversial aspect of the development  because many residents of Fleet and Church Crookham viewed it as an unnecessary removal of access to a much-loved nature spot.

Coun Appleton, the Conservative representative for Fleet West, believes that if Taylor Wimpey agreed to move homes from the south east corner of the site, provided affordable homes nearer to the start of the build and agreed to give more funds to schools, a near identical application for a development may well be successful.

But Coun James Radley, Community Campaign Hart, said he thought it would be difficult to move the planned homes near Ewshot to a different part of the site, and therefore anticipated that any future application would have to be smaller.

The Church Crookham East councillor, who has long campaigned to prevent a big development on the QEB site, also thought that the council could now negotiate to keep the Bourley Road car park open.

“We’re very pleased the original scheme was rejected because we did believe it had some flaws,” Coun Radley said.

He added: “If these things happen, if we can protect the Bourley Road car park, if we can reduce the number of homes being built on the site, then it has been worth all the effort.”