Dear Supporters

Fantastic news just before Christmas - Chawton Park Farm is NOT in the list of sites to be consulted on in the Draft Local Plan!  So it has gone from being a Preferred Site in August 2021 to now not being a potential site at all!  

Thank you to everyone who has been a part of this campaign and through such a large petition (nearly 30% of the population of Alton) we made the point loud and clear to the District Council Planners that we were not going to lie down and accept building on this beautiful, serene and historic landscape.  

The Local Plan spans the period 2021 - 2040 so we can be confident that Chawton Park Farm is safe from development until at least that end date.  We expect the consultation to start sometime in January/early Feb 2024.

For those who would like a bit more detail, Alton will have to take 1700 houses - see proposed sites and quantities on the photo above.  There is another site just south & off the map in the header photo - for 24 houses at Travis Perkins/Mounters Lodge.  The balance (to get to 1700) will be determined in the Alton Neighbourhood Plan. 

See links to the Local Plan documentation and the Alton Neighbourhood Plan information at the end.

But for now, we should make the most of this moment and celebrate and say that 'our work is done'!  

And we can raise a toast to those at East Hampshire District Council who have had the good sense to leave Chawton Park Farm out of the Site list in the Local Plan, and also to the Campaign Group who have met regularly and together shaped the protest with articles, correspondence, face to face meetings and Facebook and Petition updates and finally the speech to EHDC. 

Congratulations to all who cared enough to join this Campaign.  Thank you and have a peaceful Christmas and Happy New Year!

The link to the Local Plan documents is here: https://easthants.moderngov.co.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=412&MId=4175

And the link to the document specifically about Sites is here: https://easthants.moderngov.co.uk/documents/s24099/OUR%20LOCAL%20PLAN%202021%20-%202040_FINAL_Part8.pdf

The Alton Neighbourhood Plan link to their facebook page is here: https://www.facebook.com/altonneighbourhoodplan

And the Alton Neighbourhood Plan recent Press Release is here: https://bit.ly/4arEqNv