Plan to build 225 homes off Cooks Lane in Calmore

AN infrastructure plan needs to be drawn up before development starts near Totton, the town council has warned.

Town clerk Derek Biggs made the call amid the publication of the first documents relating to developing land north of Cooks Lane with 225 homes.

"Infrastructure will be vital here and we think there ought to be a plan in place before building starts so everyone knowns – including the developers themselves – what they are going to provide, how and when," Mr Biggs told the A&T.

The 225-home plan by applicant Louise Reeves, concerns land in the south-eastern section of Strategic Site 1 in the district council's Local Plan – which sets out how land within the district outside of the national park will be developed until 2036.

More land immediately north and further west of the proposed development has been earmarked for 800 more homes. Five hectares has also been set aside for business and employment use, and a further two for a primary school.

So far only one parcel of that land – 174 metres north of Ms Reeves' site – has been promoted by Bloor Homes and Barker Mill Estates, based on a proposal for up to 350 dwellings.

As the process moves forward it faces complications: some of the homes across the entire site may end up under different local authorities – Totton Town or Netley Marsh Parish councils – and there would be debates over whether a community centre or other new facilities are needed due to the influx of new homes, where they will go and who would receive funding grants for them.

Meanwhile, planning engineer consultant Campbell Reith Hill has argued to New Forest District Council that it is not necessary for an environmental impact assessment (EIA) to happen as part of the process of deciding Ms Reeves' proposal.

"It is considered that the proposed development will not have the potential to generate significant environmental effects," its EIA screening opinion adds.