Developers, who want to build a new town at Micheldever Station, have criticised Winchester City Council's latest draft local plan.

O’Flynn Group are proposing a 6,000 home new town on 1,250 acres of farmland surrounding Micheldever Station.

They have brought attention to the latest annual statement of the combined unmet housing need published by the Partnership for South Hampshire (PfSH). It shows a jump of 7,000 homes in the total shortfall across the South Hampshire local authorities.  

A spokesman for O’Flynn Group said: “The scale of the unmet need which Winchester City Council will have to engage with under the Duty to Co-Operate process through the Partnership for South Hampshire means the approach in the current draft local plan which is currently out for consultation is no longer fit for purpose.

READ MORE: Hampshire pub The Fox Inn battles to postpone closure of the A272

“Unless it changes course, Winchester City Council risks put its own plan in jeopardy, because it has ample land available for housing across the district but has so far turned its back on making a meaningful contribution to addressing the unmet need of the urban South Hampshire local authorities that are grappling with high need but have exhausted the capacity of their available land.

Hampshire Chronicle:

“A new Hampshire town at Micheldever Station provides the obvious solution as a release valve for the unsustainable pressure the district is otherwise placing on the south of the district and the historic city.”

Cllr Jackie Porter, cabinet member for place and local plan, said: "This is typical stirring by the Micheldever Station developer. A development at Micheldever would not do anything to address the needs of the urban areas in the south of Hampshire

"We are confident in the robustness of the draft local plan which plans for homes and employment until 2039. It includes a new allocation at the Sir John Moore barracks using brownfield land, makes allowance for our ‘duty to cooperate’ with our neighbours, and rules out further development at Micheldever Station.”

Tessa Robertson, chairman of the Dever Society, said: "O'Flynn Group's statement is simply wishful thinking by people who stand to gain hundreds of millions of pounds from a large new town at Micheldever and so have a huge vested interest. But Winchester residents made it clear in no uncertain terms in the last consultation on the local plan that building large new settlements in the countryside was the worst development option and should be rejected.”