Concrete or Countryside - TrustNews July 1991
The Dever Society is an amenity society, dedicated to the conservation of the countryside in the parishes of the Dever valley, from Northington and Micheldever through to Sutton Scotney.
It strongly believes in the retention of a designated Area of Particular Landscape Importance running across central Hampshire and acting as a buffer between Basingstoke and Winchester.
The Society also supports the views of the County and City Councils that there is plenty of building land available in Hampshire for the number of new houses needed in the next decade without the development of new settlements on green field sites.
Both these policies are at risk from Eagle Star's plans to build a new town of 5,000 houses on about 1,000 acres of open farmland at Micheldever Station. The Society believes that a halt should be called to the covering of Hampshire's fast-reducing countryside with bricks and concrete.
Furthermore, to place a town about the size of Alresford in the triangle of country between Basingstoke, Winchester and Andover would surely lead to those towns and Micheldever Station joining into one vast urban conglomeration before many years have passed.
The Dever Society thinks the Downlands and Hampshire's countryside are worth fighting for and is spearheading the opposition to Eagle Star's plans. The fact that the planning authorities are also against the new town is not enough. The people living in the area likely to be affected, and this includes Winchester itself, must be seen to be strongly opposed to it.
The Society therefore welcomes new members and anyone interested in this fight to save 1,000 acres of green fields is invited to apply for membership. The annual subscription is £1 per person.
Application should be made to the Membership Secretary:
Mrs Sheila Rodger,
Velindre,
Northbrook,
Micheldever,
Winchester.