FEARS that development of the former Lord Mayor Treloar Hospital site in Chawton Park Road could go ahead without due consideration for the impact on AltonÕs roads has led to an urgent demand by Alton Town Council for an overall traffic plan for the area.
The concern is that the additional traffic generated by 183 new dwellings proposed for the Westbury Homes site, and the heavy vehicles needed to access the site during an estimated three-year construction period, will prove too much for the area to absorb.
In discussing the matter councillors pointed out that heavy vehicles could have difficulty negotiating both the Northfield Lane and Butts bridge and would be forced to use Whitedown Lane and Chawton Park Road.
Bearing in mind the additional 150-home baseline development outlined in the second draft of the Second Deposit Local Plan for the site along with a business/industrial park, town mayor David Willoughby called for a full infrastructure plan to deal with the traffic which, while unpopular, could he suggested include a re-think on provision of a western by-pass.
Other concerns over the Westbury Homes Holdings proposal included the lack of any community facilities on site which would further encourage trips into town; the siting of social housing too close to Alton Community Hospital; the lack of affordable properties; and the fact that a developerÕs contribution should be insisted upon, not just in the form of land for a possible future community building, but possibly to construct a new play area at the western end of the town.