An East Hampshire district councillor has hit out at England’s planning laws.

Just days after Cllr Roland Richardson - ward member for Four Marks, Medstead and Chawton - spoke unsuccessfully against plans for 21 new homes in Four Marks, it was announced that Harrow Estates was reviving a plan for 1,100 houses at Chawton Park Farm.

Cllr Richardson said: “Frankly I am totally frustrated by the whole system, especially as it appears that there is very little I can do on behalf of residents.

“In just the Chawton, Four Marks and Medstead area, this application will come on top of the 603 houses approved but not built, the 259 awaiting approval and the 900 notified for consultation prior to application. It is difficult not to feel that we are getting more than our fair share.”

Cllr Richardson said developers working with landowners, the rules of the National Planning Policy Framework, and the lack of a new Local Plan, left the council “at the whim” of planning applications.

He added: “Speaking to local residents, it is clear that many are not against all developments, but this volume seems wrong. I am also frustrated that many of the core concerns actually fall to our statutory consultees, such as highways and flooding. and we are told that they are the experts. As a result, these areas of concern are beyond our reach.”

Harrow Estates’ plan requires access on or under narrow Watercress Line bridges and will consume a large area of countryside.

Cllr Richardson said: “East Hampshire District Council are very resistant to challenging the system, with good reason as losing planning appeals will cost the council, and thereby the residents. Nonetheless, these plans will cause real harm to the nature of the area.

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“A change to the system or the policies is needed so that we can better protect our countryside.”