Taylor Wimpey have announced a public consultation for their White Dirt Farm proposals. It is important that you visit this to see their proposals and comment on them.
What to do next:
• Taylor Wimpey are holding a public consultation at Clanfield Memorial Hall on Friday 7th March from 2pm to 7:30pm. Please visit this consultation to see their proposals, and to comment. Please can you also return to this article and comment on the plans you are shown so that your comments are publicly visible and not just seen by Taylor Wimpey.
• Please consider subscribing to email alerts on this website (right hand side in the bottom boxes). You will get updates whenever they are posted (as well as information on all the other great things going on in and around Horndean.)
• Please be ready to comment to the planners when an application is presented. This may take 6 months for Taylor Wimpey to gather all the supporting information and reports they need to make an application, and you can keep on top of any further consultations here.
As a reminder, the land is in important gap land as identified in the local plan and the Joint Core Strategy (the current and newly emerging framework for how development is to be planned in). The farm is an important landscape in our community and to build on any part of it will cause irreversible and permanent damage to the semi rural feel the villages have. There are better places to build, and this is not considered to be remotely suitable.
Photo by kind courtesy of Andy Stevens who overlooks White Dirt Farm from hos Facebook page which has been set up to express his views on development of the site: https://www.facebook.com/groups/828674133826132/
Thank you to everyone who has visited the website in the last 7 days, this has generated over 9,000 hits from 98 countries and a poll with over 750 votes. If you have not yet voted please scroll down to the article below.
horndeanmatters 
Do we really want in this relatively small area |-
A population increase of upto 700 people
A vehicle increase of upto 500 cars vans etc.
increase in the crime figures
Increase in flooding
Permanent damage to a semi rural area
The answer has got to be NO NO NO.
Please leave our remaining space alone. two houses in draycote road have sold recently because of the views. there has been enough building in this area already. the roads and services are not able to take any more. Most of us have lived here for a number of years and look after our properties and the area why should this be spoilt. Mr shepherd says there other sites so why this one.
Too many properties on a very small site. Have we learnt nothing this year with all the flooding in the south, can the existing infrastructure cope with the on going building works in Horndean and Clanfield. We have had enough new building site in our once lovely enviroment, so no no to this new proposal.
Thank you Guy, for providing residents in the Ward with this vital information.
It is imperative that we put forward rationale arguments why this land should not be developed. Your suggestions about how to do this will be invaluable.
I would add my voice in urging local residents to attend the meeting on March 7th and make their view known here on this blog or via Councillor Sara Schillemore.
Let’s remember to focus on persuading EHDC that this is not the site for the houses that have to be built in Horndean – there is a better site that could accommodate the full quota of housing plus facilities to enhance the village. The White Dirt Farm site is only a half mile from the large Green Lane development which has already caused so much upset in our rural community. It would be complete overkill to the area to build another 200 houses in close proximity.
Not happy about this !!!!!!!!!!!!! its crazy
We live next to the field at White Dirt Farm,which seems to be already at medium risk for flooding by the environmental agency , since building in Green Lane commenced we as residents here experience back flooding in our downstairs toilets and kitchen sinks from foul sewage water also excrement in back and front gardens when it rains, we have been living here for over 20 years and have never experienced any thing like this before, Southern water have deep scaled the sewer pipes twice in as many months and for them its going to be an on going problem for the future, the circumference of the sewer pipes are not large enough to cope with the extra flow ( we were told by SW last year that they should be larger pipes ) this is going to be a nightmare for us residents if more housing is going to be built on this land, we are going to find it difficult to get a reasonable price for our housing insurance if the flooding continues…
We think that it is disgraceful that the proposed development would destroy an area of such outstanding natural beauty. We feel that an area such as this should be passed to future generations as it is. We do not wish to see the three local villages become one vast conurbation. We have considerable wildlife in the area including deer, the habitat of which would be destroyed. Surely such a project would lead to a considerable increase in traffic when added to other developments the area. We have already had much flooding at both ends of Southdown Road.
Living opposite the White Dirt Farm site we have seen much flooding in the field itself over the last couple of years, to the extent that there were heron seen on the field a few times last year looking for fish! Surely if 185-220 homes are built there, and the field is concreted over – where will the extra water go with no field to help soakaway? Already we see much flooding along Southdown road and Tarn rise sections of the main road.
The main road itself is already busy with traffic and acts as a main bus route, so do we really have the road capacity & infrastructure to take on this many extra houses, thus cars? No, I do not believe we do.
This site is an important rural break between the ancient village of Catherington, Clanfield and Horndean. Family of deer come down into the field every year to graze, reminding us we are not in a main town. Where would the deer go?
There is already a main site being built at Green Lane so why would we want a further large site so near? From what I hear there are already increasing issues, especially with flooding due to these other homes having been built.
To sum up, if more houses must be built, there must be better places than this lovely field