Plans for a new village 'ridiculous' (From Evesham Journal)

Plans for a new village 'ridiculous'

11:47am Thursday 9th July 2009

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A PROPOSAL to build a village on a former airbase near Pershore has been described as “inadequate” and “ridiculous”.

Technology company QinetiQ, which is based in Malvern, wants build 2,500 homes and supporting infrastructure on Throckmorton Airfield as part of the South Worcestershire Joint Core Strategy.

According to the strategy, 24,500 new properties need to be built in the area before 2026.

The new settlement could house up to 6,000 people and would include a village centre with food store, five shops, a pub, community centre, primary school, business park and public open space.

Consultation events were held in Throckmorton, Pinvin and Pershore last week where members of the public were invited to view plans and have their say on the development.

But residents said the proposal in its current form was inadequate as the provision of a single school would not cater for the full educational needs of all the children living in the proposed settlement.

Concerns were also raised about contamination on the site –where more than 13,000 cattle were buried during the 2001 foot-and-mouth outbreak –access and flood risk.

Don Cheetham, chairman of Bishampton and Throckmorton Parish Council, said: “Generally we think it’s fairly ridiculous.

“It wasn’t accepted as a suitable site for an eco town because it wasn’t sustainable.

“Now we have got a smaller number of houses which is equally unsustainable.

“We would like to see the airfield used for something but it doesn’t seem appropriate to build that many houses.

“They should be integrated with the other towns already existing.”

In a statement, QinetiQ said it was now in the process of analysing the results of the consultations which would be taken into consideration and shared with relevant local authorities.

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