A PLANNING application for 24 new homes on a controversial site in Liss was deferred at a meeting of East Hampshire District CouncilÕs south planning committee last week.
The proposal was for 24 apartments with landscaping and garage access, to be built on the 0.65 hectare site at Sparkhams Yard, Farnham Road, West Liss.
The site comprises a large commercial unit, sub-divided into two units with various permitted uses.
Unit 1 has approval for the construction of commercial units and coachworks, solely for the benefit of Hillbrow Bodies Ltd. There is a restriction on outside storage and display and an hours of operation restriction on machinery.
Unit 2 has a personal permission for use for the processing of electrical cable recovering copper metal only.
There have been a number of refusals for other uses and enforcement action and appeals concerning the site.
Leader of the council Elizabeth Cartwright suggested the proposals might provide a good opportunity to introduce social housing, currently in short supply in Liss.
The site has an extensive area of hard surfacing on its eastern and western sides with an area of open land in the north-eastern corner of the site. This last area of land has no authorised use.
A telephone exchange is located on the south-western corner of the area but does not form part of the application site.
The decision to defer was recommended to allow officers to assess any additional information received. Councillors will also go on a site visit.
An appeal for a similar development of 24 houses site is to be subject of an appeal inquiry in December this year, having been refused by EHDC last December.