The Lymington Society Welcomes Overwhelming Rejection of McCarthy and Stone Appeal for Huge Development of Flats

18.04.07

The Lymington Society today welcomed the decision of the planning Inspector Mr Marshall to overwhelmingly reject the plan huge development of 53 flats in the centre of Lymington announced yesterday

In a detailed consideration of the issues, the Inspector made it quite clear that the scale of the buildings proposed were totally out of proportion with the character of the surrounding area and that the harm caused to the town did not outweigh any benefits that might come from provision of more sheltered accommodation.

Setting out his decision the Inspector said in his report:

 “ …..the considerable length of the proposed building on the Southampton Road frontage at a full 3-storey height would result in development so substantially out of keeping with the scale and prominence of houses in the vicinity that it would be detrimental to the character and appearance of the surrounding area.”

Speaking about the decision today Dr Donald the Press Spokesman for the Lymington Society said:

  “We are hugely relieved that the inspector has agreed with our detailed arguments to the Public Inquiry on the harm that the huge development would have done the character of the surrounding area.   We were determined at all costs to resist this development which would have been so out of keeping with the surrounding building,  including those in the nearby Conservation Area. If this scheme had been approved it would have set a very dangerous precedent which could have resulted in a similar developments dominating most of the major routes into the town within a few years.”

We are grateful to the New Forest District Council for deciding to resist this application and making a major effort at the Public Inquiry to oppose the development. Sadly until their recent change of heart,  brought about by pressure from the Lymington Society Petition,  they had approved many unsuitable developments which will still set a dangerous precedent for possible future developments.

Hopefully however, the positive rejection of the development by the Inspector as “out of keeping and detrimental to the appearance of the area” will deter other developers from bringing forward such huge and dominating developments in the future. The society will be vigilant in opposing any future similar developments which we feel would harm the character of the town.

The Society yesterday presented further evidence at a Public Inquiry, this time at the Public Inquiry into the replacement of the hotel on the Webb's chicken factory site with a large Care Home.

We strongly resist this application which would remove any hope of the Webb Site becoming a vibrant extension to the town centre as originally planned.

With the developers already having been granted a huge number of over 300 flats on the site specifically so that they could afford the community projects such as a hotel, it is highly regrettable that they now wish to renege on this aspect of the agreed permission simply to increase the profit they wish to make by selling the site on to a new owner.

With so many of the flats on the site likely to be bought by retired people or as holiday homes, the addition of a care home would ensure that the development would become little more than a quiet dormitory area rather than the lively extension to the town centre which many people wish to see.

We hope that we will again be successful in persuading the Inspector to reject this appeal and ensure that the hotel, which could bring so many benefits to the town, is developed rather than yet another care home.

Ends

Dr Donald Mackenzie

Press Spokesman the Lymington Society

07860 106 120

01590 672 986