One Horton Heath met on 3 February to provide a project update;-
- The new road linking Tollbar Way and Allington Lane is to be called the Avenue. It is not currently clear whether the road will join the newly constructed roundabout in Allington Lane or 50m or so north of the roundabout.
- Open spaces and cycleway infrastructure will have a prominent place.
- The development will have a Green carbon free focus, but a number of attendees expressed concerns that 1.5 car parking spaces per dwelling were insufficient. Much conversation took place as to what form of transport will be predominant in the future.
- A question was asked about the narrow Allington Lane railway bridge. I have been told by the County Council that even if Highways Developers Contributions from the One Horton Heath project were made available, the bridge is not considered a priority. I have spoken to Network Rail, the bridge owner who are open to including the bridge in a future project.
- It was acknowledged that flooding is an issue for part of the site and that The Environment Agency, Southern Water and Hampshire County Council are working with the One Horton Heath team to resolve this. It is expected that the annual flooding of Allington Lane where it crosses Quobleigh stream (at the junction of Fir Tree Lane) will soon become a thing of the past.
- HGV traffic in residential areas was raised. There has been a history of HGVs taking a short cut from Botley Road through Meadowsweet Road to reach Chalcroft Distribution Park. HGVs were one of the main drivers for the One Horton Heath development.
Following a number of Traffic Commissioner related Public Inquiries, the only solution to remove Heavy Goods Vehicles from Burnetts Lane was to build a link road from the entrance of Chalcroft Distribution Park to Bubb Lane, just north of the railway line; but who was going to pay for it? The distribution park owners were not, nor was it coming directly from the public purse. A solution was found in the form of developers contributions from housing. Normally developers contributions are payable once the housing stock has been constructed, but Eastleigh Borough Council took out a public loan to fund the circa £20m to install this vital piece of infrastructure first. Developers contributions will also pay for the County Council to establish an HGV controlled zone in the nearby residential area. - No news as yet on planned Gigabit Broadband access and the type of domestic heating energy for the proposed housing (relates to the banning of the construction of domestic natural gas fired boilers from 2025).