LVRA
Lovedean Village Residents Association
Keeping our community connected and representing the Lovedean residents on development proposals.
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Lovedean Village Local Information
New to Lovedean? Check out our history in the "Past and Present" tab.
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May 2023 - We are facing another big development planning application for the land behind 191-211 Lovedean Lane. Please have a look and make your comments before 24th May (yes, this is a short consultation period and coincides with the bank holidays. Developers are savvy).
Current Planning Applications
Have your say
New Application for 28 dwellings, rear of 191-211 Lovedean Lane | EHDC-25-0864-RES
On 5th August 2025, Southcott Homes submitted another application for 28 dwellings to be built in the fields behind Lovedean Lane.
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Responses are due by 26th August 2025
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View the application in full here.
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Quick refresher: permission was granted for Access Only back in 2024, for an access road leading off New Road. This is still in contention especially with New Road residents who are very much opposed to the access location.
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The previous outline application was for 30 dwellings, so there has been a small reduction in the number. However this is not enough to mitigate the main issues with this site, which are many.
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A note from our Secretary:
"Particularly relevant is the closing date for comments on these applications is 26-08-25 - not that long!
This is not the first time No 2 has been objected to- successfully, 4 times, with a Govt Inspector rejecting on the basis of overlooking - so it can be done!
Local resident apathy is the main reason these applications get passed - whether you support or not is down to those of us in the Community."
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We strongly encourage you to object to this application. LVRA are putting together some tips on how to most helpfully comment on the application, which we will publish here as soon as possible. Needless to say, we object to both the access and the design, which contains nearly as many issues as the previous version. Read more...
55406/005 | 30 dwellings, rear of 191-211 Lovedean Lane
55406/005 | Outline application for 30 dwellings comprising 18 open market and 12 affordable dwellings, landscaping, and associated works (Access only to be considered) | Land Rear of, 191-211 Lovedean Lane, Horndean, Waterlooville
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Southcott have been denied this application (and appeals) before, principally on the grounds of it being outside the current local plan.
They have changed the details of the plan again, but have not addressed residents' main concerns of the highway, loss of light and privacy, increase in flood risk for existing properties, loss of areas of natural space, and the increasing pressure on our local doctors surgeries, dentists and schools.
Please make comments here: https://planningpublicaccess.easthants.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=makeComment&keyVal=_EHANT_DCAPR_253980
Planning Update
LOVEDEAN NEWSLETTER 2023, NO 5, SEPTEMBER 2023 – PLANNING UPDATE
Dear neighbour
Re – Southcott planning application for 30 houses behind 191 to 211 Lovedean Lane.
A quick update -Southcott have submitted a revised layout for the above planning application; having reviewed the revision, it looks like the new layout will make the inevitable overlooking situation caused by this proposal even worse!
However, EHDC planners have now rearranged the site visit in respect of this application to Friday, 6th October. We haven`t been given a specific time at the moment, but it will be in the morning.
This is an important meeting as members of the planning committee will come to view the site to help them form their views about the application, They will, probably, be accompanied by the EHDC planning officer, possibly the land owner and, no doubt, the developer or developer`s agent.
Access to the land will probably be through the field gate off Lovedean Lane between 209 and 221.
Following the site visit, the application will be considered for approval or refusal at the planning committee meeting, the following Thursday, 12th October. The meeting will be at the EHDC offices at Penns Place, Petersfield, starting at 6.00 p.m. The agenda will be issued the week before the meeting showing when this item will be considered.
It is clear that there is no community support whatsoever for this proposal and this has been reflected in many of the objections to the proposal that have been lodged with EHDC.
In fact, there have been over 70 objections to the original application, which shows the depth of feeling against the proposal, within Lovedean.
Interestingly, there have been strong objections from the Campaign for Rural England (CPRE), and (really surprisingly) from EHDC`s own planning policy people!
As always, time is not on our side and the deadline for comments/objections is Monday 25th September. We would ask that people who have commented/objected previously reiterate their comments to EHDC planners – our concern being `no comments = no problems` and the proposal will be waved through by EHDC.
We don`t know what the formats of the meetings will be, but they are open to the public and it would be useful to have some Lovedean residents go along to listen to proceedings.
We have, we feel, run quite a successful campaign against this proposal so far and we know how emotive these things are. We would, therefore, ask that if attending the meetings we are respectful to anyone from EHDC or the developer. Thank you.
Key contacts.
Gill Kneller, CEO, EHDC – gill.kneller@easthants.gov.uk
Local MP – Flick Drummond -flick.drummond.mp@parliament.uk
LOVEDEAN VILLAGE RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION -http://www.lovedeanlvra.org.uk/
02392 595391 (if you are not a member, please may we encourage you to join.)
LVRA – September 2023
NEW INFORMATION
EHDC Land Supply
Further to the recent couple of planning update notes sent out, some more information has come to light.
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The LVRA were puzzled as to how the EHDC plan seemed to suddenly turn from robust, to one which is out of date.
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Apparently, from our enquiries, this has happened because EHDC pulled 3 pieces of allocated land in the north of the District, including Neatham Down, Alton, out of its plan for various reasons without having any sufficient alternative, contingency land with which to replace them.
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The consequence of this is that a shortfall has been created, causing an EHDC-wide problem. This is likely to be leaving all EHDC communities vulnerable to opportunistic, speculative planning applications such as Lovedean is seeing with Southcott.
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It therefore seems that, fundamentally, EHDC have lost control of planning for the District, which is a very serious situation.
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Our local District Councillor believes that there are 3 sites in Catherington that are currently being looked at by developers, with similar motivations as Southcott`s.
This does feel like a catastrophic failure of process on behalf of EHDC, to have allowed such a situation to have developed!
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It can be understood that identified land areas could be moved into and out of developed plans, but there needs to be joined-up approach to such a process – such as one out and one in.
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It is hard to believe that a proper process to protect the EHDC strategic plan doesn`t appear to have been followed, allowing their plan to become deemed to be out of date.
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It seems that all of the hard work done within EHDC over the last 9 years to get a plan in place and create a robust set of planning strategies, policies and controls has been lost and they are finding themselves back in the vulnerable position they were in in 2014.
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If this correct, it is very worrying and one that should be addressed at the highest levels in EHDC.
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Key contacts.
Gill Kneller, CEO, EHDC – gill.kneller@easthants.gov.uk
Local MP – Flick Drummond - flick.drummond.mp@parliament.uk
How to Help
A number of points have been identified which may help Lovedean residents who wish to compose an objection to this proposal:
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EHDC HOUSING NUMBERS – Whilst the proposal is entirely predicated on what is presented as a shortfall of housing numbers in the EHDC development plan, this is not entirely the case. In fact, in regard of EHDC`s 5 year plan they do, indeed, have sufficient numbers of 2593, against a requirement of 2585, a surplus of 8. The `shortfall` being in the plan buffer only.
It would appear that the Planning Proposal is somewhat disingenuous in the way it presents this.
SETTLEMENT POLICY BOUNDARY – Whilst the planning proposal makes their prime issue that the EHDC plan is out of date, due to the perception in point 1, above, the fact is that the proposed site is still outside of the settlement policy boundary and therefore the National Planning Policy Framework suggest that there is a presumption to refuse such development proposals. Indeed, this is the reason why Southcott`s last appeal failed.
WATER POLLUTION – In late 2021, EHDC refused planning permission for an additional property proposed in New Road, Lovedean. One of the key reasons for refusal was that foul water from the development would add to the nitrogen deposition in the Solent. This has only been addressed in a very high-level and unsatisfactory way in the planning proposal, (Section 3.34). If a refusal on these grounds for one property is correct, then a proposed further 30 properties pose a huge nitrogen deposition risk. The areas being the Solent Special Area of Conservation and the Solent and Southampton Water Special Protection area. This is particularly topical at the present time.
NO COMMUNITY SUPPORT – There is no evidence of community support for this proposal. In fact, there has been no community engagement with the people of Lovedean whatsoever. The first that anyone in Lovdean was aware was when the planning application appeared. Interestingly, the planning statement refers to engagement with `Lovedean Parish Council`. No such authority exists! The developers have not even had the decency to bring their proposal to the village, either a public exhibition and consultation, or even a brochure delivered locally. This does feel like an extremely dismissive and arrogant attitude to Lovedean residents.
THE LEVELLING UP AND REGENERATION BILL:PLANNING AND LOCAL CONTROL IN ENGLAND – EHDC have a significant challenge with the area of the District which is in the South Downs National Park, extending to approximately 53%. The SDNP has a different set of planning rules regarding housing numbers and allocations, being at a much lower number. A consequence of this is that EHDC has to try a fit it`s Government target numbers into the remaining area left of approximately 47%. This has caused significant stress in the system and EHDC have been lobbying Government on this point. This is an issue for Local Authorities in a similar situation and now Michael Gove, MP, Minister for Levelling Up and Regeneration has brought forward a Bill called Planning and Local Control in England. This is a wide ranging piece of legislation but proposes that it will end the obligation on local authorities to provide a rolling 5 year supply of land. It also proposes that, where an authority`s plans are at an advanced stage of development, as we understand EHDC`s are, there will be transitional arrangements to make sure that such areas are less at risk from speculative development, such as this is, from Southcott. As we are in this transitional stage, this should be an important point EHDC should use to refuse this application.
TOTAL NUMBERS OF HOUSES BUILT IN LOVEDEAN IN THE LAST 10 YEARS AND CUMULATIVE SUSTAINABILITY – many new houses have been built in Lovedean over the last 10 years. If one considers the Millers Field development, the current Bargate development being built, and all of the Linden homes development which is being built behind the south western side of Lovedean Lane. These numbers, together with the infilling that has taken place in a windfall way for EHDC means that Lovedean has had development of well over what could be deemed to be a fair and reasonable amount of new housing, considering little or no investment in the area from any developers levies.
SITE LAYOUT – OVERLOOKING CONTRARY TO CP27 – due to the topography of the site, with a slope that exceeds 10 metre from the south east to the north west, there will be, self-evidently (and with the evidence on the ground from the new Bargate site on a similar slope) overlooking problems amounting to a `loss of amenity` with the layout proposed. This will be contrary to EHDC`s policy CP27 and should be a very important issue for EHDC planners. Loss of amenity is a serious reason to refuse permission, within CP27. There is also this issue that, one of the properties affected by this proposal is a Grade 2 Listed Heritage Property dating from the early 1500s. The rise of the proposed site from behind the existing buildings means an inevitable overwhelming visual effect, which would cause significant harm to the landscape setting of a Heritage Building. This should be strongly resisted by EHDC.
We hope these notes will be helpful with your thinking, together with any further grounds for objections that you will want to make.
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A couple of points to consider:
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1. Your comments and objections should be made in your own words; it will be easy for EHDC to dismiss objections if they receive multiple `copy and paste` type letters. And, objections are individual; multiple objections can come from one household.
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2. If we are to resist this application we need many objections to be lodged with EHDC to apply sufficient pressure to EHDC planning to bring this application before the Planning Committee, where the people of Lovedean would have an opportunity to make a further representation. The risk is, if there are insufficient objections, EHDC could consider it a non-contentious application and `wave it through` by delegated authority.
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And finally, while wondering why this application has come forward now, other than being a purely opportunistic exercise, it has been mentioned that this developers option is soon to run out on this site…… The LVRA have not been able to verify this, but as the first attempt to develop this site was 9 years ago and the usual option period on land is 10 years, this could be the case.
And a reminder - As always, time is our enemy and we only have until Wednesday, 24th May to make comments.
Key contacts:
LOVEDEAN VILLAGE RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION - http://www.lovedeanlvra.org.uk/ 02392 595391 (if you are not a member, please may we encourage you to join.)
EHDC Planning Officer – Ishita Sheth, email - Ishita.Sheth@easthants.gov.uk
Local MP – Flick Drummond - flick.drummond.mp@parliament.uk
Join LVRA
Membership of the LVRA is open to all residents of the Lovedean Village area who wish to actively support the association.
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LVRA sends out a newsletter and updates on planning applications in the village (by email and hand delivered to your door).
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The Association is a non-profit organisation with a modest joining fee of £10 per household to fund the administration of the Association.
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BACS:
Account Name: Lovedean Village Residents Association
Account Number: 03132749
Sort Code: 20-69-40
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Cheques: Payable to Lovedean Village Residents Association
Address: The Treasurer LVRA, 209 Lovedean Lane,
Lovedean, PO8 9RT
Recent Updates
Planning Update
September 10, 2020
The EHDC website recorded 88 public comments regarding this application, all of which were objections.
The next stage will be this application being considered by the EHDC Planning Committee.
The date for this meeting of the Planning Committee is currently scheduled for Thursday 24th September @ Penns Place, Petersfield.
The LVRA will be making a special representation to the committee which will encompass the range of relevant planning issues raised within the residents objections.
Due to Covid 19 the representation has to be made in a written format and will be forwarded to the committee prior to the meeting date to ensure all the members have sufficient time to take account of the points raised.
New website launch
June 21, 2020
Welcome to the new LVRA website. Â Thank you for visiting.
