PETERSFIELD town councillors this week agonised over their decision to object to plans which would give a well-established business a new home and provide a desperately-needed enterprise centre for the town. Echoing the feelings of members of her planning committee, chairman Mary Vincent said she felt councillors were "in a cleft stick". On the one hand, they desperately wanted fencing manufacturer JB Corrie – which employs more than 60 Petersfield people – to be able to expand and remain in the town, and at the same time gain small start-up business units they have been crying out for for more than a decade. But councillors felt they could not support the application, which was for a site outside the settlement boundary of the town. And, crucially, they felt they had to object as the government inspector examining the Local Plan had declared that the Causeway south application site should be protected against development. Ms Vincent said she couldn't understand why Corrie's had been encouraged to pursue the application by the district council. And speaking to East Hampshire district planning officer Adrian Ellis, she asked: "If this land was not designated for industrial development, why was Corrie's encouraged to go ahead. You could have discouraged them from going to all the expense if it was outside the policy boundary." Paul Molloy added: "I am surprised that the application has got to this stage bearing in mind the huge hurdles there are. "I'm quite amazed that the pre-application consultation between the developer, the consultant and yourselves (EHDC) didn't stop months and months and months ago, unless different signals came out of the consultation." But Chris Jenner, who has been pressing for an enterprise centre in the town for 10 years, warned that the chance to attract these units could be lost forever. He believed the benefits of the application outweighed the objections. They were, he said, only being offered on Causeway south as a "sweetener" to tempt planners into allowing Corrie's to relocate onto the controversial site. "If this was just an application for Corries to move to the Causeway, the decision would go one way, but the fact that there is the carrot of the enterprise centre that EHDC has hankered after for 10 years has a bearing in terms of planning gain." Vaughan Clarke said he was unhappy about the site because it was one of the entrances to the town: "The decision you make is going to affect Petersfield for years to come." Hugh Kennedy, the managing director of Corries, told the meeting: "As you would expect, alternative sites have been thoroughly explored with officers from the district council. These included Bedford Road, Vision Park and Buckmore Farm, but no viable premises exist for our operation." Mr Kennedy said the company had been told "we would not be welcome at Buckmore Farm". He added: "I have read the concerns of residents closest to The Causeway site about the appearance of the buildings and flooding, but I think it is important to note that the site is several metres lower than the road, and the ridge heights of the proposed buildings will also be much lower than those of the houses on The Causeway. "When the existing and proposed landscaping is taken into account, the visual effects of the scheme will be minimal. On the issue of flooding, the Environment Agency has raised no objections to the scheme." Councillors voted to object to the scheme. They said that although they wanted to keep established businesses and, wherever possible, provide more employment in the town, they considered the application inappropriate "because the proposed site is not included in the Local Plan as an industrial site". Proposing the objection, George Watkinson told the meeting: "If this site was in the Local Plan, we could agree to it straightaway." The meeting was told that if EHDC was minded to agree to the plan, it would be a departure from planning policy and would have to be submitted to the secretary of state for community and local government. He would decide whether to call in the application or allow the council to make a decision. l Town councillors also objected to a plan for nine houses on land next to 247 The Causeway, which had been submitted by Hillreed Homes Ltd. They objected on the grounds that it would be backland development, the loss of an industrial site, constitute over-development of the site, and the application went over the building line.
