Residents pledge to challenge Churchill (From Thisisdorset)

Residents pledge to challenge Churchill

7:00pm Monday 29th January 2007

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WE WILL fight the developers to the hilt! An angry group of Hampshire residents are determined to keep the developers away.

Churchill Retirement Living has bought up four family houses in Barton on Sea, which it plans to flatten and replace with flats.

Furious residents have already defeated three different schemes put forward by Churchill, but now that the company has confirmed it has lodged an appeal against the latest planning permission refusal, their battle has begun again.

The company wants to bulldoze the detached houses in Sea Road and build 25 sheltered retirement flats.

Three of the houses - one a former guest house - have stood empty since October. The fourth is occupied by renting tenants.

Last week, the windows were boarded up, renewing neighbours' worries Churchill is ploughing ahead with its plans.

Councillor Goff Beck, who sits on New Milton Town Council and New Forest District Council, said: "These are four fine family homes. We already have too many blocks of flats in Barton.

"This sheltered accommodation is not acceptable and residents are concerned about all the extra cars."

Cllr Fran Carpenter, newly elected to represent Barton on the district council, said: "The houses have stood here since the 1930s, so people are very upset."

It is another example of the trend to demolish houses and build flats. Several other schemes have already gone ahead in Barton on Sea and another similar project is in the pipeline further down Sea Road where Parkcrest Construction wants to replace three bungalows with 11 flats.

Churchill has been trying to develop the site since 2004. It has unsuccessfully applied for planning permission for eight houses, then 28 flats, then two blocks of three terraced houses.

The current proposal for 25 flats was thrown out by the district council last September, following 129 objections from residents. Churchill has now appealed to the Planning Inspectorate.

Spencer McCarthy, chairman and group managing director of Churchill, said on Friday : "An appeal is being lodged very soon, if not today.

"This is a reduction from 29 units to 25. The density is reduced and the whole building is moved back to be more in line with the current buildings. We strongly disagree this would be out of character.

"I have received letters from residents asking us to remove the boarding, but we have to be concerned for the health and safety of the general public and make the premises secure. If anyone got inside the vacant properties and injured themselves, we would be held responsible."

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