Fleet and Crookham are the main centres of population in Hart District which is a rapidly growing area of North East Hampshire, currently with a population in excess of 80,000. Our Society is concerned with the amenity of the area and its main aims are:
- To stimulate public interest in Fleet & Church Crookham and the immediate surroundings
- To promote high standards of planning and architecture in the area
- To secure the preservation, protection, development and improvement of features of historic or public interest in the area.
In these pages you will find information about the Society and its activities. If you would like details of membership, visit our Membership page, or feel free to contact us with any comments or suggestions.
FCCS Welcomes Planning Policy Reforms
A radical reform of the entire planning and development system is currently underway.
On the 27th May, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government wrote to all council leaders advising the abolition of Spatial Strategies, thus returning decision making powers on housing numbers back to local councils. As a result Hart have placed on hold further work on Local Development Framework. Subsequently, the Central Government policy statement for housing (PPS3) has been amended to remove minimum density targets and reallocate garden space as not being classed as brownfield.
The Society welcomes all of these changes as it felt that the previous policies were not sympathetic to the special character and situation of Fleet and Church Crookham. The FCCS has been consistently opposed to the enforced housing targets, minimum housing density of 30 dwellings per hectare, and the encouragement to build on garden space by not differentiating it from previously developed land (brownfield).
Whilst the changes in legislation ease the pressure on Hart DC in favour of development, it is important that Hart continues to provide an adequate amount and mix of dwellings to support the needs of the community. The removal of planning criteria is likely to make the decision making process move subjective. Hart DC therefore will therefore need to ensure that it maintains a consistent approach to the decision process as it is entirely possible that the increase in subjectivity will manifest itself in an increase in the number of applications appealed by developers.
Click here for SoS letter advising the abolition on Spatial Strategies.
Click here for a summary of changes to the Planning Policy Statement for Housing (PPS3)
2010 AGM
The Society's 2010 AGM was held at the Crookham War Memorial Hall, Sandy Lane on the 21st April 2010. Over thirty members attended. Click link for press release.
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