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Public to have say on 3,850 Aldershot homes

By Amy Taylor
January 14, 2013

CONSULTATION on the Aldershot Urban Extension, or Project Wellesley, is expected to begin this week once the planning application has been validated.

Plans for the long-awaited development, which will create 3,850 new homes north of the town centre, were submitted to Rushmoor Borough Council before Christmas by the developers Grainger, and will go out for an extended public consultation on Friday (January 18).

The gap between the application being submitted and the consultation beginning is due to the detail of the plans, with each one needing to be checked and approved by the council before the project as a whole can be considered.

A spokesman for Rushmoor said: “As you can imagine, for an application like this there are lots of documents and drawings to be checked and uploaded onto our planning system so that we can consult on them.

“The vast majority of the documents are fine but we are just waiting for a couple of technical drawings. We anticipate that we will have received, validated and uploaded everything by early this week so that we can start consultation.

“At the moment, we are hoping this will start on January 18 when the application will be available for the public to see and comment on.”

A 10-week consultation has been earmarked for the Wellesley plans – named after the Duke of Wellington – due to the scale of the development, after which the proposal will go through the formal planning process for consideration by Rushmoor’s development control and executive committees.

The increased number of homes in Aldershot will need improved infrastructure, and as part of the Wellesley plan, extra school places will be created, both at existing schools in the borough and at new, purpose-built ones.

Rushmoor chief executive, Andrew Lloyd, said last month that once the consultation had started in the new year, he was confident work could start on site by autumn, depending on the consultation outcome.

However, Labour councillor Mike Roberts said he did not think anything would be ready much before 2015.

“The first phase of 227 units won’t be ready next year even if they start on site before the end of the year.

“We are talking about 10 weeks for consultation, which takes us to March, then three months of planning, which takes us to June or July. 2015 might be much more reflective.”

He said the plans were important to get right because they were the only "major development area" Aldershot would likely be consulted on.

“We need to make a statement both for now and also in the future. I would like to see the plans in much more detail – such as how many people are going to be working from home in the area, cutting out the need to travel,” he added.

“Everything must be carbon neutral.”

He said he was pleased with the work Grainger had been doing so far and looked forward to seeing the plans once they had been validated.

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Housing association does help with moving, if you ask!

PJA
05/02/2013 at 09:27

@ PJA A good idea, the problem being is that if she swaps she receives no financial assistance and cannot afford the cost of removal without the assistance. As I have said a policy with merit but without workable implementation.

UKR
02/02/2013 at 13:16

if this lady wants to down size why doesn't she try swoping home through following site:- http://www.rushmoorhomefinder.org.uk/Data/ASPPages/1/24082.aspx

PJA
02/02/2013 at 08:57

@ PJA The problem is the shortage of decent 2 bed homes, a person I know is willing to down size and release the 4 bedroom she is living in but NOT to move into Totland Close or Denmark Square. This is why I have said we need new 2 bed units for people to downsize to. So once again the LibLabCON trick come up with a policy that has merit but once again kneejerk implementation, no ground work to make it happen. But is this another CON trick, they do not want people to move they just want an excuse to cut benefits. The LibLabCON trick is very much like the three card trick, you just see the cards not the manipulation of the flim flam man.

UKR
31/01/2013 at 08:43

yes UKR their are many households around near me that are 2 and 3 bedroom homes and only have 1 person living in them, yet they don't down size because many of them don't pay rent at all, so why would they down size in first place?.

If these people were put into propertities for their needs and allow families with 2 or more children to move in I think we wouldn't need to build so many homes in the first place?.

PJA
31/01/2013 at 06:57

I think that the shortage is in the social housing secter combined with the problem of under occupied properties causing a bottle neck. I think an answer would be to bring forward planning to allow 2/3 bed social housing units to be built allowing first choice to those willing to down size fron 3/4 bed units and then house local people who are on the waiting list. The land is available it needs planning to treat this with urgentcy.

UKR
30/01/2013 at 10:50

These are not the only homes in Aldershot being built or has been built - so why is their a shortage of homes for the locals?

PJA
30/01/2013 at 10:00

@ BlisteringBarnacles! , Sheffield / Farnborough It is not for me to change your opinion that is your job and to do that you need to break away from the herd mentality and step outside of your comfort zone

UKR
29/01/2013 at 14:49

Good advice and I agree with you on that. We can't just expect everything to be done for us in a democracy. I'm afraid you won't get me to change my opinion on the English Defence League but I suppose that's only really a side issue... :)

BlisteringBarnacles! , Sheffield / Farnborough
29/01/2013 at 12:11

@ BlisteringBarnacles! , Sheffield / Farnborough Well that's all well and good but I'd argue that Muslim men grooming teenage girls is not a good reason to think groups such as the EDL have the answers. This is a matter for the police to deal with.

The worrying point here is that the police were failing to investigate complaints of grooming by Muslim men. It was not until a group called the Casuals started to protest after the death of a young girl in Blackpool that the EDL became involved resulting in over 60 complaints being investigated, other cases have since come to light, Derby 100, Manchester 56, other succesful cases have reached tthe media with a case on going at Oxford. These case have shown that many of the victims were in care at the time of the offences, so the question now being asked what is being done about it, the system that should protect our children is not fit for purpose. Do we just sit idley by waiting for someone tto fix it. because we will wait in vain if we do, or do we the ordinary men and woman protest and demand that there are changes to the system. maybe you can tell everyone how????? This was the question I was asked and the answer is to get envolved, it may mean sailing into uncharted waters and talking with people you normaly would not mix with but you come out better informed and can make your decissions from a far wider spectrum

UKR
28/01/2013 at 14:08

Well that's all well and good but I'd argue that Muslim men grooming teenage girls is not a good reason to think groups such as the EDL have the answers. This is a matter for the police to deal with.

I think the 'no-go areas' of Tower Hamlets are just another example of the media spin and hype you were talking about. Obviously not government-sanctioned, but spin none the less. I have visited Tower Hamlets many times and I have never felt out of place or under threat. I won't deny that Sharia Law is practised by some strict Muslims in this country but again that needs to be tackled by the police and justice system, not by ordinary people with a racist chip on their shoulder (once again I'm not referring to you when I say that).

You're right of course about the spin, no arguments there. I'd doubt the alternatives would do any better though.

BlisteringBarnacles! , Sheffield / Farnborough
28/01/2013 at 13:06

Continued after power cut

We the public suffer from the LibLabCON trick form of government that relyies on knee jerk reactions designed in the short term to please public opinion. Mr Brown's knee jerk reaction to Joanna Lumley, our services are now at breaking point due to the influx of Nepalese. Every one realises that that the welfare system in this country needs a complete overhall and yes there is merit in tackling the under ocupation of social housing but to introduce it before you have built 2 bed social housing into which people can downsize into. There is merit in a cap on housing benefit, it is wrong that people who refuse to work should be allowed to live in expensie housing and it is only right that they move to a less expencive area but it is wrong that a hard working family on low pay should be forced out and possably away from the area where they work, low pay means difficulty in findint the cost to cover transport to work so hence possable unemployement. The LibLabCON trick is the government of spin, spinning out of control with no hard and fast well thought out policies to implement to ensure Britains fight back to recovery.

UKR
28/01/2013 at 11:40

@ BlisteringBarnacles! , Sheffield / Farnborough I cannot provide a link to the Guardian artical as it was over two years ago But it did impress upon me the need to find out facts for myself and not rely to much on the media or Facebook. We are starting to see cracks appearing in the smear campaign against the EDL as more and more cases of the grooming of underage girls come to court and we are now seeing sharia no go arias in Tower Hamlets and other London boroughs, we are also seeing the about turn on imigration by both the Tory and Labour party. Leaving the EDL to one side there are other examples of the governments manipulation of the media. Starbucks are a good example of the government trying to look as though they are chasing the tax dodgers and omiting to tell the public that Starbuck outlets are franchises that enploye a lot of people, pay tax and NI contributions. The part of the Starbuck company that does not pay tax in Great Britain is their European Supply company based on the European main land not in Great Britain, they attacked a well known comedien for not paying more tax than that he was legaly liable for, forgeting to mention that the same tax law was available to the government and their friends. We the public suffer from the

UKR
28/01/2013 at 09:04

None of that changes what the EDL are and what they've done. Since you didn't provide a link for the Guardian article I guess you don't have one but if you do by any chance I'd be interested in reading it (I couldn't find it on Google).

BlisteringBarnacles! , Sheffield / Farnborough
27/01/2013 at 15:01

@ BlisteringBarnacles! , Sheffield / Farnborough

UKR: More fool you and your Muslim and Christian friends for giving the EDL the time of day. They would like nothing better than to have all your Pakistani friends deported.

Niether event was organised by the EDL. What you have hi-lited is the danger of not looking at the facts for your self to do that you have to talk to people and listern to their opinion. Having also spoken to members of the UAF (EDL's opposite number) I found that they spent so much time ranting and raving at each other they failed to notice the common ground thet excisted between them. I think you are confusing the EDL with the BNP the majority of EDL supporters are anti BNP. I am not a supporter of the EDL as I do not agree with their method of protest (to much ranting and raving) but as an artical in the Gardian pointed out The EDL raise some very valid points, the problem is thay suffer very poor leadership and a biased press.