The Andover Advertiser first with the news
Developer sorry for demolishing school
8:57am Friday 29th August 2008
A COMPANY that flattened an old school against the wishes of the county council has apologised and made a large donation.
David Wilson Homes received permission in July 2006 to convert the former Worting Infant School, in Old Kempshott Lane, Basingstoke, into three houses and to build a further 45 homes in the school grounds.
Hampshire County Council claimed it placed a restrictive covenant on the deal, requiring the building to be retained. The school, believed to date from 1929, was deemed surplus to requirements by the county council in 2005.
But David Wilson Homes, which claimed no knowledge of the covenant, razed the school last April, claiming the walls were unstable.
Now the firm has made a large donation to Chiltern Primary School, in Chiltern Way, Buckskin, which replaced the former Worting infant and junior schools.
It has also won planning permission from the borough for one three-bedroomed home and two two-bedroomed homes to replace the old infant school structure.
A statement issued on behalf of Mark Docherty, sales director for David Wilson Homes Southampton, said: "The housebuilder has donated £20,000 as a gift to a local school and apologises for the failure to adequately consult prior to instructing demolition of what remained of the building."
Basingstoke MP Maria Miller, who previously accused the developer of riding roughshod over the planning process, said: "I think both the county and the borough councils need to think again on how we can successfully defend the heritage of the community."
Hampshire County Council declined to respond to Mrs Miller's comment, but Nicky Linihan, head of planning and transport at the borough council, said it could not refuse the application for homes on the site because the school had been demolished. It had not, in any case, been protected as a listed building, she explained.
Borough and county councillor Stephen Reid, one of those who raised the alarm over the school's demolition, welcomed the donation. He said: "I think the developer does at least acknowledge it made an error."
Your Say YourGazette
BonzoDog, local says...
10:20am Fri 29 Aug 08
So much of the towns history has disappeared because of thoughtless non-residents who care little about the community they work in.
T Potts, Wonderland says...
4:45pm Sat 30 Aug 08
Stephen Reid, Home says...
8:33pm Sat 30 Aug 08
I was born in 1951 and at University till 1972, by which time the damage was done.
However, as a Young Conservative from 1972 onwards I campaigned within the Party for the early end to the Overspill Agreement and, when elected to the Borough Council in 1978 set about correcting some of the worst mistakes that had been made which included a major homes improvement programme and the demoltion of some of the worst examples of bad housing design.
I regard the wholesale destruction of the old town centre as an act of cultural vandalism. That's why I was so angry when the developers knocked down the old school without consent and took another bit of our heritage away.
Jo Walke, says...
8:48pm Thu 4 Sep 08
Your sayYourGazette
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FROM LEFT: Borough councillors Stephen Reid and Robert Taylor and Basingstoke MP Maria Miller in front of the site of the old Worting Infant School, which was demolished by developer David Wilson Homes without permission
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Mark Lane, town says...
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