Chrismas Lodge Care Home
Evelyn Avenue Aldershot

Planning Considerations

Should Chrismas Lodge go to a planning application we will let you know on this page where and how long you have to comment on that application, so bookmark this page and return here on a regular basis. If you want too, you can keep a track of current planning applications and their details here at Rushmoor's website.

Currently the Chrismas Lodge site is for sale by Hampshire County Council with tenders closing on the 20th June and supposedly a decision on the winning purchaser by around the middle of July. We would ecpect planning applications to appear anytime after the end of June.

Marketing details for Chrismas Lodge can be found on the web at - www3.hants.gov.uk/estates, and their press release can be found here. Chrismas Lodge is being put out as "Property for Sale - Former Older Persons Home", with a picture of the boarded up Chrismas Lodge minus the fire damage !. This picture and title could be deemed miss-selling as the home is no longer there, just the land, it is however corrected in the sale particulars as being demolished. This sale surely should be listed in their "Land for Sale" category. Three further documents relating to the sale are available from here.

Public comments by the public about planning applications are actively encouraged by Rushmoor Borough Council and are not restricted to the immediate neighbours of an area covered by an application. There are several ways to register you comments on an application, whether for or against, contact details are listed here.

Rushmoor advertise planning applications in the following ways -

• By sending a letter to the immediate neighbours of a property covered by an application.
• Advertisements in the "Star" newspaper, usual on the back page.
• Displaying a site notice on or close to the application site.
• Publishing details of the application on the planning section of the Rushmoor Council website.

1, 3 and 4 above usually give a time limit in which you have to get your response back to the planning department.

Your comment on an application can only be based on genuine planning considerations, must relate to the development being proposed and mindful of the purpose of planning legislation - to control the use of land in the public interest.

Common considerations that you can comment on are -

• Local planning and Government policies.
• The effect on the local area, but not loss of private view.
• Size, layout and density of the proposed buildings.
• Design, appearance and materials used in the proposed buildings.
• Amount of parking, whether too much or not.
• The amount of additional (or not) traffic the development will have on surrounding roads and resulting effects on safety.
• Loss of privacy, being overlooked.
• Noise and disturbance from the use of the proposed development, but not such disturbance caused by the actual construction work.
• Contamination caused by the development.

You cannot comment on -

• Items covered by alternative legislation such as Building Regulation.
• Falling property values resulting from the development.
• Sunday trading.
• Construction disturbance from the proposed development.
• Competition or moral issues.
• The need for the development.
• Issues arising from disputes between neighbours, boundaries, rights of way or covenants

Notes -

• If you comment on an application you must get it to the council before the time limit advertised otherwise your comment will not be considered.
• You can organise a petition but it should be centered on matters about the application, and be legible as signees may need to be contacted. It should be signed by people with a direct relevance to the application, I.E. neighbours not resident from some miles away.
• Although a petition will be considered, bear in mind that individual comments have a higher bearing in the planning departments consideration of an application, twenty individual letters carry more weight than one petition of twenty signatures.
• Talk to other people concerned with an application, including your local councilors, but be aware that if you discuss an application with a Councillor, he/she may have to declare an interest and be restricted in what they can do or say about an application.
• Some larger planning applications of a complex or controversial nature may got to a public meeting where you may be able to comment on the application but you must first have written in with comments about the application. All planning meetings are open to the public where you can observe and listen to the applications being considered by the planning committee.

Planning contacts -
To comment on a planning application by writing to -
Planning Services, Rushmoor borough Council, Council Offices, Farnborough Road, Farnborough, Hants, GU14 7UU.
Alternatively you can email plan@rushmoor.gov.uk.
You can telephone 01252 398668 for further advice but you will not be able to comment on an application by telephone.

Current planning applications and their details can be viewed on line here at Rushmoor's website, or you can see the application in person at the Council Office during normal working hours.

The aim of this website is to ensure the continued use of the Chrismas Lodge site for the local community in a way that supports that community and wildlife of Brickfields Park by ensuring all avenues of consultation are explored and examined. Discussion of this website and its aims are open to all and any comment is invited and welcomed, please use this form to contact us.