Bewley Homes are purporting to consult local residents from the 24th of July for a 4 week period, asking for feedback to their website Watermill Bridge. The developers concept plan can be viewed below. Many homes locally received the concept plan through their letterboxes on 26th July 2021, with the website (Watermill Bridge site) going live on the 26th July.
Please consider:
- Despite the platitudes in Bewley’s propaganda about frequent buses, car sharing and car clubs we know that the residents will be entirely dependent on car travel (statistics show an average of 1.21 cars per household). The only access road to the development will be from the A343 Andover Road. People have difficulty getting onto the A343 now, imagine another ~400 cars emerging from Common Farm daily.
- We are all aware of the current climate change challenges and our need to reduce our carbon footprint. The residents will be entirely dependent on car travel thus making a mockery of Basingstoke & Deane’s stated air quality and climate strategy.
- 300+ families will further stretch our already overwhelmed surgeries, schools and infrastructure in Wash Common, West Berkshire and the Hampshire villages of Woolton Hill and Highclere.
- The development will block the wildlife pathway which currently exists between the River Enborne and the Chase and will have a deleterious effect on the diversity and sustainability of both ecosystems.
- The entire site is low lying, and the majority is within 2-3m of the low flow level of the River Enborne. Flooding events occur with an almost annual frequency. Given the way our climate is changing we can expect more extreme rainfall events.
What can we do to stop the Watermill Bridge development?
Bewley Homes have opened a “public consultation” website Watermill Bridge . If you are as concerned as we are about this irresponsible development, please take the time to go to this website and express your unequivocal objection. The more objections received the better. We must make our voices heard and help to ensure that the website consultation is not glossing over the public opposition to this development.
The proposed development will have huge implications for Wash Common, Woolton Hill, Highclere, Enborne Row and Wash Water. However, with up to 350 new homes, this development impacts communities further afield and all down the Andover Road into Newbury.
Image: Bewley Homes publication July 2021 
The development is located over part of two Hampshire parishes, East Woodhay and Highclere, see both parish boundary maps below:
