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14/10/2026

Contact details, crime stats, events and news from Hampshire Constabulary's Basingstoke Rural West Neighbourhood Policing Team.

14/10/2026

HOLD ON TIGHT — HERE WE GO AGAIN.

After two failed attempts to get a new Local Plan in place, the Lib Dem and BDI administration is asking landowners and developers to put forward sites for development AGAIN.

Our earlier analysis already identified sites with a combined theoretical capacity of 31,707 homes across these communities:

• Old Basing & Lychpit — 6,395
• Oakley, including listed Manydown South land — 5,642
• Steventon / Popham — 4,250
• Cliddesden, including Upper Swallick — 2,769
• North Waltham — 2,208
• Bramley — 1,430
• Pamber — 1,290
• Whitchurch — 1,169
• Sherborne St John — 1,039
• Sherfield on Loddon — 792
• Dummer — 780
• Overton — 649
• Ecchinswell, Sydmonton & Bishops Green — 442
• Burghclere — 385
• Hurstbourne Priors — 311
• Ellisfield — 306
• Kingsclere — 285
• Highclere — 276
• Ashford Hill & Headley — 225
• Mapledurwell & Up Nately — 206
• Newnham — 200
• Monk Sherborne — 145
• East Woodhay — 97
• St Mary Bourne — 94
• Upton Grey — 69
• Newtown — 58
• Preston Candover — 54
• Wootton St Lawrence / Ramsdell — 33
• Rooksdown — 30
• Baughurst — 25
• Candovers — 23
• Mortimer West End — 20
• Bradley — 10

These are potential site capacities, not permissions or a prediction that every home will be built. Some sites overlap or represent alternative proposals.

But residents should brace themselves: these sites could be back — with more added to the list.

Every fresh start means more uncertainty for communities waiting to understand what development could mean for their roads, schools, GP surgeries and water supply.

Our villages need a credible plan, infrastructure and certainty.

Instead, the planning chaos continues!

14/10/2026

🚮 PAY MORE. GET LESS. STARTING TODAY.

From today, 12 October, your general rubbish bin will be emptied once a fortnight instead of every week.

Around 52 collections a year cut to 26. But your council tax hasn’t been cut — BDBC’s share went UP again this year.

This change was agreed in July 2024 by the Liberal Democrat and Basingstoke & Deane Independent administration, with very little consultation with the residents who now have to live with the consequences.

A decision affecting practically every household deserved proper public debate. Residents deserved a meaningful say before the decision was made.

For families managing nappies, households with limited bin space and residents sharing bin stores, the practical concerns deserve answers.

The council calls it a “change”. For your general rubbish bin, it is a 50% cut in collection frequency.

As Conservatives, we will scrutinise missed collections, overflowing bins and complaints, and press for action where the service fails residents.

Higher bills. Fewer rubbish collections. That’s the Lib Dem and Independent administration’s delivery for Basingstoke and Deane.

Check your collection dates here:
https://www.basingstoke.gov.uk/BinCollections

14/10/2026

🚨 LESS PUBLIC SCRUTINY. LESS LOCAL SAY.

Residents already question how much local decision-making happens behind closed doors. Labour’s new planning rules risk making that concern worse.

Under the National Scheme of Delegation:

❌ Your ward councillor will lose the existing power to require an application to come before the planning committee.

❌ The number of residents’ objections will no longer trigger a committee hearing.

❌ Whole categories of applications must be decided by officers, without a public committee debate.

❌ Even larger applications will not automatically receive a hearing before elected councillors.

Residents and parish councils can still submit comments. But sending a comment is different from seeing concerns debated, questions answered and decisions explained in public.

Conservative Group Leader Cllr Simon Minas-Bound said:

“Residents deserve to see how decisions affecting their neighbourhoods are made. At a time when we should be building trust through greater openness, Labour is restricting access to public planning scrutiny.”

Basingstoke and Deane Conservatives will vote AGAINST the recommendations at full council this Thursday.

Our vote cannot overturn national legislation. But if Labour wants to impose these restrictions on local democracy, it must own that decision.

We will comply with the law. We will not give this attack on local accountability our endorsement.

14/10/2026

🏘️ Labour’s housing message: “Not a matter of whether, but where.”

At today’s Local Government Association cross-party councillor forum, Housing and Planning Minister Matthew Pennycook made Labour’s position clear: compulsory housing targets are here — and they are here to stay. Councils are expected to find where the homes will go - no matter what!

His other answers were equally troubling: even where large numbers of homes already have permission but remain unbuilt, councils should keep granting more. Infrastructure barriers were specifically raised, yet the message remained that permissions should move ahead while build-out waits.

This risks creating a planning permission doom loop. Homes receive permission but remain unbuilt. Housing delivery falls short. Pressure grows to approve yet more sites — while the infrastructure barriers remain unresolved.

Without an up-to-date Local Plan and a demonstrable five-year housing land supply, the council’s ability to resist speculative development is weakened. Developers gain greater scope to secure permissions, including on appeal, on sites residents never chose.

More permissions. More speculative applications. More pressure on infrastructure. Still no guarantee that the homes already approved will actually be built.

This message needs to be heard loud and clear across Basingstoke and Deane — especially by the current Lib Dem / BDI administration.

Delays to the Local Plan leave our communities more exposed to development driven by speculative applications rather than a properly planned future.

Basingstoke & Deane Conservatives will keep pressing for the homes we need, infrastructure that works and a proper voice for local residents.

07/10/2026

A LOT OF PEOPLE HAVE ASKED: “WHERE ARE THESE SITES?”

Following the recent post about the growing risk of speculative development across Basingstoke and Deane, lots of people have asked where the potential sites actually are.

The answer is that they aren’t secret. The list is publicly available in the council’s own planning evidence.

We reviewed the council’s Appendix 5 — sites promoted for development outside existing Settlement Policy Boundaries — against the changed national planning context.

Of the sites we reviewed, 89 stood out in our initial screening because the Lib Dem / BDI published council’s assessment indicated that they were available/achievable and the existing countryside planning framework was a key reason preventing development.

These are NOT planning permissions. They are NOT all planning applications. And this does NOT mean all 89 will be developed. Many would still face other planning considerations.

But they demonstrate why having an up-to-date Local Plan and a five-year housing land supply matters.

Here are the 89 sites from our screening, grouped by parish:

Ashford Hill with Headley: West of Thornford Road (15); south of Galley Lane (142); Highfield, Newbury Road (18); Plum Tree Farm (12).

Baughurst: Church Meadow, Browninghill Green (10).

Bradley: adjoining Keepers Cottage (5); Clubs Field (5).

Bramley: North of Upper Cufaude Farm (110); north of Bramley (600); West of Upper Cufaude Farm (250).

Burghclere: north of Harts Lane (35).

Cliddesden: rear of The Mount/Jolly Farmer (5); Church Lane (40); rear of Manor Farm, Farleigh Road (19); south of Woods Lane (6); north of Woods Lane (10); south of Manor Farm (20); north of Bramble Bank (75); off South Lea (9).

Dummer: Glebe Close (10); north of Dummer Village/Tower Hill (30); Dummer Down Lane (5); north-east of Dummer (30).

Ellisfield: north of Green Lane (6).

East Woodhay: south of Knights Farm, Knights Lane, Ball Hill (25); west of Mount Road, Woolton Hill (45).

Highclere: Highclere Glebe/east of A434 (90); South of Burfield (25); Westridge, Andover Road (25); east of Falkland Farm (66); east of Andover Road (5); North of Westridge (30).

Newnham: The Old Rectory (35).

Newtown: Swan Inn (18); West of Well Street (15); Hill Farm, Newtown Common (25).

North Waltham: north-east of North Waltham (65); Westside Dairy south-east (5); Westside Dairy south-west (20); Westside Dairy Group Option (5); Waltham Lane (70).

Oakley: west of Sainfoin Lane (20); Pardown (120); north of Sunbeam Cottage/Rectory Road (18); Oakley Coaches (24); west of Park Farm (175); Pardown/Bull’s Bushes Farm (1,200); east of Trenchards Lane (80); north-east side of Rectory Road (5).

Old Basing and Lychpit: Lodge Farm/Pyotts Hill (600); Poors Farm/Pot Lane (3,000); North of London Road (732); Hodd’s Farm/Ashmoor Lane (800); Paddock Land at Lower Mill (33); Newnham Lane (30).

Overton: west of Kingsclere Road (120); east of Court Drove (30); west of Overton Primary School/Lordsfield Gardens (75); Vinns Lane, Southington (100); 7 Vinns Lane (30); west of Dellands Lane (17); southeast of Overton Station (22).

Pamber: New Road, Little London (25); north of Ramsdell Road, Charter Alley (12); Plot 3 Cottage Farm/New Road (17); Plot 4 Cottage Farm/New Road (5); east of Pamber Place (5); Wigmore Farm (156); Bramley Road (5); Wigmore Farm – Small Site (50).

Preston Candover: Church Farm/Wield Road (9); Fairview Farm (10).

Rooksdown: land adjacent to Weybrook Golf Course (30).

St Mary Bourne: Wyke Down Driving Range (35); south of Bells Meadow (9); rear of Denham Terrace (30).

Sherfield on Loddon: Breach Farm (50); Breach Farm (50); Sherfield Hill Farm/Reading Road (385); Redlands Lodge/Reading Road (15).

Sherborne St John: north of Cranesfield (35); Vidlers Field (120); West of Marnel Park/Kiln Farm (200); North of Cranes Field (78); Manor Road/Elm Road (90); Hilltop Nurseries (35); West of Marnel Park/Kiln Farm (220).

Upton Grey: adjacent to Elder Dell (12); Draycott (7).

These figures are SHELAA estimated yields, not predictions of what will ultimately be built. The council’s Appendix 5 expressly describes these as sites submitted to the LPA by promoters for potential future development outside defined Settlement Policy Boundaries.

This is the consequence of losing control of the planning timetable: the housing requirement doesn’t disappear, but the ability to determine where development should go becomes much harder.

A Local Plan isn’t just paperwork. It’s how we plan development rather than simply react to it.

07/10/2026

Last night the Environment and Infrastructure Committee heard an update on how the delay in having a Local Plan by the Lib Dem and BDI council administration has impacted on the likely delivery of homes at Manydown South.

And the dates tell an important story.

In 2024, the council’s draft Local Plan said the first homes at Southern Manydown could be delivered from 2032.

In 2025, the revised draft still anticipated first homes in 2032/33, with 2,750 homes expected by 2042.

But that Local Plan was subsequently abandoned and restarted.

Now look at the programme presented to councillors last night:

➡️ 2026/27: still working on planning promotion, infrastructure, access and highways — including the difficult railway crossing — legal issues and the delivery model.

➡️ 2027/28: only then does the programme talk about “setting out proposals for preparing an Outline Planning Application.”

➡️ 2028/29: the programme says “Progress OPA” and establish the delivery approach.

That is a very different picture from one which assumed people would start moving into homes in 2032/33.

By the end of 2028/29, there could still be an Outline Planning Application to complete and determine, followed by detailed planning, major infrastructure, site servicing, appoint delivery partner, housebuilder mobilisation, construction — and finally occupations.

The council’s own report now acknowledges that delivery is constrained by infrastructure, access, planning and legal risks, and that the timetable is partly reliant on the Local Plan timetable.

That matters.

Every year of delay getting a Local Plan in place doesn’t simply move a document through the council more slowly. It risks pushing back the strategic sites that were supposed to provide thousands of planned homes.

And while those planned homes are delayed, the pressure to meet housing need doesn’t disappear.

That leaves our borough increasingly exposed to speculative applications on sites that communities never chose through a Local Plan process.

This is why getting a Local Plan in place matters.

235 potential sites. Around 31,700 homes. Not all will be developed — but without an up-to-date Local Plan and five-year housing land supply, more communities could face speculative planning applications they never planned for.

It is about having a plan for where homes go, delivering the infrastructure to support them, and giving our communities far greater certainty about what happens next.

THE CLERE SCHOOL: FAMILIES DESERVE CLEAR ANSWERSWhen news broke of the consultation on closing The Clere School, our Gro...
06/10/2026

THE CLERE SCHOOL: FAMILIES DESERVE CLEAR ANSWERS

When news broke of the consultation on closing The Clere School, our Group Leader, Cllr Simon Minas-Bound, immediately asked Hampshire County Council key questions about pupil numbers, finances, alternatives to closure and future housing growth.

He has now shared the detailed reply, alongside a clear summary of the answers.

The school faces serious challenges. But residents also deserve to understand whether future housing demand has been fully assessed, what transferring pupils to The Hurst would involve, and how much those arrangements would cost.

A decision with lasting consequences for local children needs thorough scrutiny.

Read Simon’s post and the response below. 👇

🚨 NO PLAN FOR THE HOMES = NO PLAN FOR THE INFRASTRUCTUREThis is what Basingstoke & Deane’s Local Plan failure looks like...
05/09/2026

🚨 NO PLAN FOR THE HOMES = NO PLAN FOR THE INFRASTRUCTURE

This is what Basingstoke & Deane’s Local Plan failure looks like in the real world.

The Lib Dem/BDI administration abandoned its Local Plan process. We now face huge Government-imposed housing numbers but no settled plan showing where those homes will go.

And that doesn’t just affect planning applications.

It affects schools. GP surgeries. Roads. Public transport. Water. Utilities.

Those challenges are real.

But here’s the question:

❓ How can Hampshire officers confidently decide the future about any school places across the borough in 5, 10 or 15 years when Basingstoke & Deane cannot yet say where thousands of future homes will be built?

That’s why Conservatives are demanding that HCC officers scenario-plan the impact of all future housebuilding scenarios.

Because imagine closing a secondary school today…

…then discovering a few years later that thousands of new homes mean we need those school places after all.

That would be unforgivable.

This is why Lib Dem’s abandoning the Local Plan has consequences far beyond the planning department.

🏠 NO PLAN FOR THE HOMES.
🏫 NO CERTAINTY FOR SCHOOL PLACES.
🩺 NO CERTAINTY FOR HEALTHCARE.
🚗 NO CERTAINTY FOR ROADS.

A Local Plan isn’t just about houses.

It’s about having a plan for the communities and infrastructure that go with them.

And right now, under the Lib Dem/BDI administration, Basingstoke & Deane doesn’t have that certainty.

🚨 THE CLERE SCHOOL — WE NEED ANSWERS BEFORE ANY DECISION IS MADEA consultation has been launched on the potential closur...
04/09/2026

🚨 THE CLERE SCHOOL — WE NEED ANSWERS BEFORE ANY DECISION IS MADE

A consultation has been launched on the potential closure of The Clere School from August 2027.

Importantly, this consultation has been launched by Hampshire County Council following a formal request from The Clere School’s own governing body to consider closure.

That is a significant fact — and we need to understand why the governors concluded that asking the County Council to consider closing the school was necessary.

The figures are clearly concerning. The school has capacity for 725 pupils but currently has just 382 on roll, and only 35 new Year 7 pupils were expected this year.

But closing a secondary school is an enormous and effectively irreversible decision.

We remember the consequences of the closure of Fort Hill. We cannot afford to get another decision about Basingstoke & Deane’s secondary education provision wrong.

Before any decision is made, we need answers.

🔹 What led the governors to formally request consideration of closure?

🔹 What alternatives did the governors and County Council explore first?

🔹 What do the detailed 5 and 10-year pupil forecasts actually show?

🔹 How much of the fall in numbers is genuine demographic decline — and how much is because families are choosing schools in West Berkshire and Wiltshire?

🔹 Could confidence in the school and pupil numbers be rebuilt?

🔹 What academy options have been explored since the Government required the school to convert?

🔹 Has future housing growth across Basingstoke & Deane been properly factored into forecasts?

🔹 What would closure mean for journey times, school transport and places at The Hurst and other schools?

The fact that the governing body itself has requested this process means there are clearly very serious issues that need to be understood.

So we won’t pretend there is an easy answer.

But neither should anyone assume that closure is inevitable.

This must be a genuine consultation — not simply a process towards a decision that has already been made.

We will be looking carefully at the evidence and listening to parents, pupils, staff, governors and the wider community before reaching our conclusions.

WE NEED ANSWERS BEFORE ANY DECISION IS MADE.

Address

Promoted By R Symmonds, NWHCA, Faulkners Down Office, Hants.
Andover
SP116LZ

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+441264601384

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