I NOTE in a recent Goodworth Clatford Parish Council circulation that a charity pressure group called Action Hampshire has now submitted a report to the parish setting out various potential housing development sites around the village.

All these site apparently fall outside the existing and fully adopted “settlement boundary line”, which in my view should be an absolutely sacrosanct demarcation line on the planning map to protect our countryside. This established ‘settlement boundary’ should be outside any consideration on the housing sprawl side of the equation.

I fear this may be somewhat a concern of local democracy in that the group has made their recommendations, but no public map showing the various sites under threat of development is available to show which existing homes are likely to be blighted by their intervention.

If the parish council has this threatened site map then surely it would be better if they copied and circulated it to every village household now rather than further any degree of collusion about development plans to which the vast majority are wholly opposed.

If this clear “settlement boundary line” can be breached under some sort of sham ‘exception sites’ criteria for housing development then clearly the whole Test Valley structure plan credibility is weakened and the notional protection of the countryside, here in this village, or one must assume anywhere else, is thrown into question.

I would finally contend that the first job of any parish council is to fully protect the absolute integrity of that village envelope line and not to commission or co-operate with unelected pressure groups like Action Hampshire.

A government inspector is reviewing the Revised Local Plan. Therefore if there are to be any housing projects coming forward they should come under the scrutiny of that review.

C Somers-Cocks, Barrowfield, Goodworth Clatford.