OUTRAGED residents on The Causeway in Petersfield are battling to stop an "horrendous" industrial estate being built on their doorsteps. Objectors crammed into Petersfield Town Council's debating chamber on Tuesday to fight plans by JB Corrie to relocate to a site at the southern entrance to the town. The fencing manufacturer, which is desperate to find a new home in Petersfield, is also looking to create an "enterprise centre" for start-up businesses on the land which lies beyond the last house on The Causeway, opposite the lay-by. But it is set to face stiff resistance from residents who say building on the greenfield site would lead to flooding in the nearby stream, traffic chaos on roads, and noise pollution from industrial units. They also claim it lies outside the "settlement boundary" and is not earmarked for development in the Local Plan for East Hampshire. One Causeway resident, Patricia Newby, told the town council's planning committee: "The visual impact for the public at large will not be a fleeting impression. "These industrial buildings will be between five and six metres high at the eaves. Those sited alongside The Causeway will be a dominant feature at the southern gateway to the town." She added: "Petersfield is in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and will be part of the South Downs National Park – what impression will these metal-clad buildings have on the tourism that East Hampshire District Council is keen to promote." JB Corrie, which has been in Petersfield since 1946 and employs 140 people, wants to provide a state-of-the-art new home on two acres of the four-acre site. Beside it would be the enterprise centre, offering small units for new businesses. However, the project hinges on Corrie getting planning permission to redevelop its current home in Frenchman's Road with a mix of 52 flats and town houses, including 18 affordable homes. The plans were a joint venture with agents for the landowner of the site, White Young Green, and Forelle Estates, which specialises in building and running enterprise centres. When representatives from the three parties unveiled their plans in a presentation to town councillors in February, it was revealed that the relocation of the business would be dependent financially on the redevelopment of the existing Corrie site. But Mrs Newby later told the Herald that The Causeway part of the scheme would be fought by a number of different groups. "A lot of people are opposing this, including house numbers 247 to 219 on The Causeway, the residents' association in Weston, and Buriton Parish Council," she said. "It would look horrendous. Why don't Corrie want to move to Bedford Road, which is allocated for industrial use? "The site will be under concrete and water will run off into the stream rather than be absorbed in to the earth as it is now. "This all increases the potential for flooding." The business centre would consist of units ranging from 750-1,500 square feet, so that as businesses grew they could move to larger units on the same site. But many residents, Mrs Newby said, feared the additional business units would operate on Saturdays and Sundays, creating added noise pollution and traffic. "The nuisance they have currently on Frenchman's Road will be moved here and compounded by extra noise at the weekends," she said. At last month's presentation, Corrie managing director Hugh Kennedy said the business was "nearly at the end of the run in trying to find sites". He told councillors: "The buildings in Frenchman's Road are at the end of their useful life and we are in need of modern facilities which meet health-and-safety standards. "Access is pretty inadequate and parking, although this is a sensitive issue, is limited. The Causeway South site would offer solutions." Members of the town council planning committee have now agreed to delay taking a stance on the plans until they can question an East Hampshire District Council planning officer about the scheme. l At the public inquiry into the last East Hampshire District Council Local Plan in 2005, the government inspector recommended that the council's inclusion of Causeway South as an employment site should be deleted. Commenting on his recommendation, planning policy officers at EHDC agreed that the site should be taken out. They said the inspector had fully considered the arguments for and against the allocation of the land for employment use and was "strongly against" such an allocation on environmental grounds. They said there was "no valid justification for objecting to the inspector's conclusion".
