About this website – Hook Action Against Over-development

Hook Action Against Overdevelopment was formed when it became apparent that the village of Hook was under attack from multiple directions. Villagers were aware that 500 dwellings in North East Hook were included within the draft Local Plan. Whilst this number represented an unfair proportion of Hart’s housing need being directed at Hook, the need for additional housing is understood and the majority of residents were accepting.

In late 2013, multiple applications started appearing for large developments in Hook over and above what was included in the Local Plan, and on green field sites outside the settlement boundary. We became aware of different groups of residents who were independently becoming concerned as they heard about one development after another; Reading Road, Brown Croft, Hop Garden Road – and this on top of a regional-size Sainsburys, and talk of the North East Hook development being not 500 houses, but 550, 600 or more. There was also a lack of information and understanding; residents did not necessarily realise that these developments were in addition to the 500 new homes in North East Hook.

Several concerned residents started to look into the situation further, attending both Parish and District council meetings, talking to the Parish and District Councillors, writing letters to the council and our MP to seek clarification, and reading extensively. The more we found out about the situation that Hook was in, the more concerning it became.

It was clear that Hook was not alone with this problem either, there were communities up and down the country experiencing the same situation. The root cause of the problems being the NPPF (National Planning Policy Framework) that had been introduced by the Government at the time as it strove to boost the economy and growth through housebuilding. This put pressure on councils to approve applications from developers, and the situation was exacerbated by the lack of a Local Plan. Hart District did not have a Local Plan – its draft plan had been rejected.

Hook Action Against Overdevelopment was formed by the disparate groups from across the village joining forces and agreeing objectives as follows:

To oppose all development in Hook until a fair, reasonable and sustainable plan for the village has been agreed with residents
Work to reshape the new Hart Local Plan
Explore the possibility of developing a Neighbourhood Plan
Keep Hook residents aware of the issues and developments
Feed into local, regional and national organisations to apply pressure to the Government to reform the NPPF (National Planning Policy Framework)

We were NOT against all development; we were against OVER development. (And this stance remains the same today).

Uncontrolled development on the scale proposed at the time would have affected all Hook residents, not just those living near the new houses. If the applications that were submitted at that time had all been approved, Hook would grow by 25% in three years, and without guarantees of additional infrastructure to support that growth, or indeed that there wouldn’t be more applications. When Daryl Phillips (Corporate Director of Planning for Hart at the time) spoke at the Hook Annual Village Meeting in April 2014, he made clear that it was the developers who were currently in control of the situation, not the council – not a good position to be in. We thought it vital that all residents in Hook knew what was going on, and understood how and when they could make their voice heard. We didn’t expect that everyone would agree with us, but we wanted everyone to have the facts.

Activities to progress the understanding and visibility included local District Councillors arranging a meeting at Basingstoke Country Hotel for James Arbuthnot MP to speak to concerned residents; Mr Arbuthnot was joined by Cllr Stephen Parker of Hart District Council, Maria Miller MP and also Ranil Jayawardena (prospective Conservative candidate for North East Hook since Mr Arbuthnot was standing down in 2015). More than 400 people attended, with many more being turned away due to lack of space. Hook residents were astounded to hear about the situation in which Hook found itself, and with the response at both district and parliamentary level coming across as “there’s nothing we can do”. Residents made their anger very plain, and with the only seed of hope being that Mr Arbuthnot promised to invite the Planning Minister Nick Boles MP to come and talk to Hook residents.

Hook Action Against Overdevelopment had wide support from within the village and beyond. Hundreds of people requested that we keep them informed of developments and others followed our Facebook page. This gave us a clear indication that the people of Hook wanted to be kept informed of what was going on. Hook Action became very firmly established in 2014 as more than 650 residents signed-up to receive our emails.

Since these early activities resulting in the formation of the Hook Action group, we have continued to communicate about planning activities in and around Hook. This includes explaining issues to residents, suggesting actions residents can take as well as undertaking actions ourselves. We have successfully led the charge about a number of unwanted and unnecessary housing developments in Hook.

We continue to to attract new supporters and we continue to communicate where planning matters are likely to add any burden to Hook’s infrastructure and residents.