MORE fuel has been put on the fire of already sensitive issues in and around Hook.

Last Monday, a planning meeting at Hart District Council’s offices saw the possibility of an injunction being taken out against a developer currently overseeing the construction of 89 dwellings and associated highway works, landscaping and public open space on land adjacent to Hatchwood Place, Farnham Road in Odiham.

The developer, Charles Church, has currently finished a number of houses on the Montfort Place site with some residents already occupying finished properties.

But a further eight completed homes have now been sold, but incomplete and insufficient drainage works means sewage is not leaving the site efficiently or safely and the council have now taken the step to take out an injunction on any more residents moving into their new homes until drainage and sewage works are complete.

Residents who have been keeping an eye on the developments over the last 12 months have said that “the developers have a track record of ignoring warnings” and that they are “playing fast and loose” with the works.

While the injunction has not yet been confirmed, it is believed that following the meeting it had been agreed and all that they were now waiting on was a court date to see the injunction go through.

The injunction will stop the buyers of the new completed dwellings moving in until the sewage and drainage problem has been sorted.

It currently does not run off site and its current system is emptied twice daily, with some material exposed above ground.

It is this issue that will now see homeowners wait further to move onto the site which had previously been dubbed as a “contentious application and caused local frustration.”

In another planning case, an application for work on land to the east of Hook Road in North Warnborough has seen its appeal against the refusal of planning permission rejected.

JS Nixon, an inspector appointed by the Secretary of State for communities and local government, ruled that the appeal should fail in a 10-page document published last month.

The initial proposal had hoped to build 37 dwellings, as well as access, roads, associated landscape, drainage and infrastructure works.

Before the decision was reached by the council to initially reject it, the application was changed from 37 dwellings to 30, with a corresponding reduction in affordable housing.

There were a number of issues the inspector looked at and that was whether there is a five-year supply of readily available housing land, the effect on nearby businesses, in particular the North Warnborough and Basingstoke Canal CAs, and also whether the environmental concerns pertaining to sewage and drainage can be suitably addressed by condition or agreement.

Other issues explored were the sustainability accreditation of the site and project, and whether the cumulative residual harm would significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits of the scheme.

Despite finding positives in each of the arguments of the five points, the inspector concluded that on balance, the appeal should fail, and therefore work on the site will not be taking place.

The lack of affordable housing may have also proved an issue for local support group HARAH.

HARAH (Hampshire Alliance for Rural Affordable Housing) was formed in 2005 with the aim of increasing the supply of affordable housing, ensuring local people are able to afford to live in the places where they were brought up, work, or have family connections, and so help strengthen rural communities.

HARAH has recently announced that it will continue to build 50 new affordable homes a year.

Meanwhile Odiham Parish Council chairman Jon Hale said: “Odiham Parish Council have been very keen for the Rural Housing scheme to progress in our community.  

“Historically such schemes have been hard to deliver and the efforts of all those involved are much appreciated.   

“Providing affordable homes for local people enables local people on more modest incomes, including people with young families, to be able to remain or return to the village they grew up in. This helps to retain a mixed and vibrant community.  

“Additionally local people are more likely to use the local amenities and facilities such as our shops, pubs, restaurant and church - which helps them to thrive.”