Milford residents pack The Bridge for meeting about Pennyfarthing’s 190-home plans for the village

Scores of Milford residents had to be turned away from a public meeting about housing plans for the village after hundreds packed into a community centre.

Around 350 turned up to The Bridge – formerly Milford Community Centre – to oppose plans for 190 homes on fields adjacent to Manor Road

The outline scheme, submitted to New Forest District Council in April, has so far attracted 272 letters of objection from locals.

It has also prompted the creation of campaign group Milford Residents for Sustainable Development (MRSD) who are calling for the development to be reduced to no more than 110 homes as set out in the Local Plan. They also want to see a proposal for three access roads into the site reduced to one.

MRSD spokesperson Jill Watson said the meeting organisers were “completely overwhelmed” by the strength of feeling from the community.

She said: “We had around 350 people at the meeting but unfortunately the whole building was full with people sitting and standing. We had people queuing out on the pavement and sadly we had to turn some away because we just could not safely accommodate everyone.

“If we hold another event, we will have to look at an even larger venue.”

As reported, Pennyfarthing Homes has applied for outline permission to build 190 homes on fields adjoining Manor Road in a scheme which MRSD has called “the most significant in the village for half a century”.

Campaign group spokesperson Trevor Watson said: “We want to see a scheme that is aesthetically appropriate and at a density that will work for Milford – we are also determined that the provision of affordable housing should not be eroded. It must stay at 50% of the development.”

The outline planning application by Pennyfarthing sets out details for the development of the 11.9-hectare site with a range of one to five-bedroom affordable and market dwellings.

Access would be via three points along Manor Road, with a pedestrian entrance on Lymington Road and a network of cycle and walking routes throughout the site.

However campaigners say that Milford cannot accommodate a development of that size and density and want Pennyfarthing Homes to go back to the drawing board with its plans.

One scheme opponent commented: ”I object to this site being grossly over-developed. It will impact very heavily on what the village already offers to residents and does not take into consideration the large influx of visitors we have in the holiday seasons.”

Another added: “Milford is a village and should stay a village. The doctors and the school are full. A development of this scale is completely unacceptable.”

Opponents claim that 190 new homes would increase the population of the village by over 10%, putting an “intolerable strain” on the local amenities, parking and traffic, and negatively impacting wild life and the environment.

The Manor Road site was allocated as a housing site for at least 110 homes in NFDC’s Local Plan, which sets out where major housing developments can take place outside the national park until 2036.