Campaigns - Save Botley

My children go to school in Botley, I work in Botley and if my team and I fancy a swift half we’re often found in the Pear Tree pub in Boorley Green.

I drive through this area a couple of times each day. My children and I never fail to be in awe of the natural beauty which enriches our school run. Like you, I am mortified that the Lib Dem controlled council is considering Botley for the build of 6,000 new dwellings.

Common sense tells you that a development like this will be catastrophic for our communities and our environment. There is evidently no adequate infrastructure to support this plan, and even if the Government was to provide it, it would mean further concreting over of our green fields and create the pollution and congestion that the additional traffic would generate , yet at the Residents Action Group meeting, Lib Dem MP Chris Huhne said that Eastleigh Borough Council would support this Strategic Development Area (SDA) providing the infrastructure is there! As Eastleigh Borough Council’s planning Department decide where housing goes in the borough, and they are considering Botley, one might assume that they are confident about meeting infrastructure needs.

The manner in which this has been handled is appalling. There has been little or no public consultation. And as such this has left no window of opportunity for sufficient dialogue, lobbying or research by local residents. It is almost a fait accompli. There has been no discussion of an alternative area either.

Admirably, BPAG (Botley Parish Action Group) is determined to fight this. Jerry Hall (our prospective county Council candidate for Hedge End and Botley) and I have been working with BPAG to voice the feelings of the majority of local people. I urge you to do so too. Take a look at the fact box below, this will give you a clear indication of what this development will mean to Botley. Indeed, you might ask why this development is necessary, particularly when it is estimated that 93% of the approx. 14,000 people to be housed are from out of the area!

The decision to build these dwellings in your back yard is being considered by the Lib Dem controlled council that is led by Keith House who sits on the UNELECTED regional bodies that are working on the South East plan that produced this monstrosity of an idea. Their massive plans for future developments threaten to destroy village life as we know it and could mean we become just another suburb of Southampton. If there is a need to house people to work in Southampton let them house them there.

Botley is special - let’s keep it that way.

Please email me Maria Hutchings at Eastleigh@hantsrc.com with your support, comments and ideas.

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How To Stop The Stategic Development Area (SDA) North/North East of Hedge End!

Maria’s Message
We are on the precipice of a new era. People want CHANGE. The Conservative Party will be that change; the next party in Government. Indeed, as I write this, polls show that a greater number of voters want to see David Cameron and my party running our country.

People are sick of incompetence and nanny state government, and, for the people of Hedge End and Botley, nowhere is that more evident than decisions about our villages and the way we live our everyday lives.

Our greatest investment is in our homes, and with house prices nose-diving, where and how we live needs even greater protection.

There is no doubt in my mind that most of us have chosen to live in our villages because of an environment which affords us being close to nature, tranquillity and the stunning views of space and beauty.

I believe that decision-making on housing and development should be brought right down to the people; to the residents’ associations, to parish councils, to YOU!

Indeed, when the next Conservative Government gains power it will hand power back to local people to decide where and how many homes are needed in our villages. We will scrap unelected regional bodies, top-down government that dictates housing numbers and give local people a greater say about their villages and lives.

CHANGE in Great Britain equates to you making the decisions about how and where you and your family lives. A Conservative government will trust you and your community to best decide how we live. It is this trust that will grow an even greater Britain and a far safer, sensible way of life for our children and grand children.