A DEVELOPMENT brief which will provide the basis for the submission and consideration of planning applications for 40 new houses in Whitehill was agreed on Tuesday. Members of East Hampshire District Council's north east area community committee approved the development brief for the housing site at Hogmoor Road, Whitehill. The proposal aims to redress the imbalance of housing in the area by building 40 large, low density homes in Hogmoor Road. The houses will mainly be detached and have three, four or five bedrooms. Draft development guidelines for the site were prepared following consultation with the town council, local residents and various relevant organisations and internal consultations. They outlined the main proposals for the site including: the amount and type of housing, vehicular access and parking, environmental considerations, open space and landscaping provision. This was then followed by public consultation which took place over a period of seven weeks and the comments received were taken into account in preparing a revised document, the development brief for the site. In April, following the local plan inquiry, an inspector recommended the retention of the Hogmoor Road site as a baseline housing site with a reduced housing provision from 50 to 40 dwellings. This reduction reflects the nature conservation constraints of the site and its surroundings and the imbalance in the range of houses in the settlement. When discussing the development brief, Geoffrey Whittle said: "I am delighted. I think the slightly larger houses will help balance the community. At the moment people are moving away if they want to live in bigger houses. This will hopefully mean they'll stay. "However, I hope you will tell any potential developer that the number of houses must remain at 40, if it goes beyond that number, then we have been wasting our time." EHDC senior policy planner Ian Godfrey reassured members: "It is very much in the local plan to reduce the number of houses to 40. This is one of very few schemes nationally of such low density. The recommendation is normally for a minimum of 30 dwellings to the hectare but this is only 12. It should ensure that we get the larger houses." Anna James commented: "I am thrilled that the inspector agreed with what local people knew at the time and also that there is a separate policy for affordable housing." She suggested that the site is awarded H9 status. She commented: "After years of hard work and a long fight for this, we need to make sure that any developer knows that they cannot add on or sub-divide the 40 houses." H9 status is a policy in the EHDC second review local plan which protects areas of special housing character. Mr Godfrey explained: "H9 status bans infill development, stops gardens or the houses being divided or extra houses built, thereby keeping the density as it is. It is normally awarded to an existing area which has been there for many years. "It would allow the site to be low density, with large houses and it would stay that way in perpetuity." He continued: "However, it is separate planning policy, so it's not something that we could do through this development brief, but when planning policy change in future years there is a possibility that the site could be protected in some way, but it has not been thought through yet." All the members of the committee fully supported Mrs James. Whitehill Town Council's clerk Linda Tiley said: "I welcome Mrs James' suggestion. H9 status would be well worthwhile." She also indicated that Hampshire County Council is considering reducing the speed limit from 40 to 30 miles per hour on a section of Hogmoor Road. Mr Sam James had pointed out: "Developers need to be aware that Hogmoor Road is very busy and at times very speedy, therefore any site access arrangement needs to bear in mind speed reduction methods." Mr Godfrey assured Mr James that this could be added to the wording of the brief as a safety measure. Hogmoor Road resident and a member of Whitehill Town Council, Colin Hayden said: "I am reasonably happy with the 40 dwellings, but my main concern is about flooding on Hogmoor Road." He informed members that at times the road becomes impassable due to flooding. Mr Godfrey assured him that the Environment Agency would carry out a flood risk assessment which will need to be looked at by the developer. It was suggested that the developers' contribution could be targeted to solve the existing flooding problem.