New Milton Advertiser 16th Oct 2020

Friday 16th October 2020 · 13 News

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Developer loses second bid for retirement flats

Inquest: body of carer Andy was found in woodland

A POPULAR carer from Bar - ton who died aged 32 was found hanged in woodland, an inquest has heard. Andy Maclean’s body was discovered at a site off Becton Lane on 28th September. The cause of death from a post-mor - tem examination was read out during a hearing opened at Winchester Coroner’s Court on Wednesday. As reported in the A&T, friends paying tribute to Mr Maclean, who lived in The Fair - way, revealed he had struggled with his mental health during the Covid-19 lockdown.

Mr Maclean was a home car - er working for Agincare in New Milton and was also a well- known member of the pool team at the Walker Arms in Sta - tion Road. One of his close friends, Matt Luscombe, said: “Andy was always very open with us about his mental health strug - gles but that wasn’t all he was about. “He was just the most incred - ible guy who would do anything for anyone.” A full inquest into Mr Ma - clean’s death is due to take place on 27th May 2021.

Block of apartments at Lymington gateway judged ‘out of keeping’

Anne Corbridge said: “If we are going to have more and more old people in the town, we actually need affordable homes to allow those people to live.” Cllr Barry Dunning claimed there were already “many, many” empty retirement homes in the town. He declared: “We do not need any more – we need affordable homes for the staff who care for the elderly resi - dents of our area. “The impact on the town will be huge. We do not want to be - come a retirement area for the south coast.” The planning committee vot - ed unanimously to refuse the scheme. Speaking afterwards, Lym - ington Society spokesperson Mr Mackenzie said: “The so - ciety hopes that the emphatic rejection of this scheme by the NFDC will lead to a major re - think by developers of this type of housing in Lymington and that they will now look else - where in the future.”

BY ROZ WATERS

A RETIREMENT developer has lost a second bid to build flats on one of the gateway roads into Lymington amid warnings the town could be - come a “retirement area for the south coast”. Pegasus Life had hoped to demolish a row of four homes in Stanford Hill and build 44 retirement apartments, after adapting previous plans for 45 dwellings which were also thrown out by New Forest Dis - trict Council in December last year. The latest scheme by Renais - sance Retirement Ltd, a com - pany Pegasus bought out in 2018, was unanimously rejected again by NFDC’s planning com - mittee during a virtual meeting on Wednesday. Speaking for civic group the Lymington Society, Donald Mackenzie declared to coun- cillors that there was “no real need for this type of develop - ment in Lymington”. He warned that if approved the scheme would “drive a coach and horses” through lo - cal distinctiveness guidance, and “inevitably lead to blocks of flats creeping up along all the major routes into the Georgian town centre”. Planning officer Stephen Bel - li acknowledged that although the new plans had gone some way to address the previous HAMPSHIRE County Council has pledged to push ahead with a nearly £460,000 plan to im - prove a notorious New Forest junction where two fatal acci - dents have occurred. Work at Ipley crossroads will begin once an area of grassland is returned to grazing at Wilver - ley Cross as part of a swap deal negotiated with Forestry Eng - land and supported by the ver - derers, as reported by the A&T. The realignment of a section of the road near Beaulieu will be undertaken by HCC at the “earliest opportunity”, it said, while avoiding construction during the ground-nesting bird season between March and Oc - tober. The meeting point of the C63 Beaulieu Road and the C97 at Ipley crossroads has become a major New Forest accident hot - spot with two fatalities and 11 serious-injury accidents report - ed between January 2011 and August 2019. Last week Cllr Rob Humby, HCC cabinet member for econ - omy, transport and environ - ment, approved details of the £457,000 project which will cre - ate a staggered junction by al - tering the western arm of the crossroads. A new section of carriage - way on the approach of the C97 from the west would join the Beaulieu Road at an angle of 90 AN author from the New Forest has seen her childhood ambi - tion rewarded when her first novel won her a writing com - mendation. Ann Biggins, who lives in Fordingbridge, was “elated” to discover her semi-autobio - graphical tale Losing Jane had triumphed in this year’s Hall & Woodhouse DLF Local Writing Prize. The judges – a leading liter - ary agent and a publisher – said the book, which is set in Leeds and begins in the 1970s, was “a beautifully written story and the characters at its centre are heart-felt, wonderfully rounded and true”. Having started to write the novel purely for herself, Ann was thrilled when she self-pub - lished and it was warmly re - ceived by readers. Following delays imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic, the awards ceremony was cancelled and the festival organisers in - stead contacted Ann to tell her she had won the £1,000 prize. “When I was seven years old I told my mum and dad that I was going to be a writer when I grew up,” she said. “It took me another 50 years

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A CGI of plans for the Stanford Hill site

However, the changes had not been enough to convince Lymington and Pennington Town Council and 21 residents who lodged objections. Speaking for the town coun - cil, Cllr Andy Ash-Vie said: “Simply put, we really recom - mend refusal – it will have a massive impact on the town’s character. It’s out of keeping, it’s not needed. We just could not disagree with this proposal further.” Debating the application, Cllr Sue Bennison said the de - velopment was “akin to a small village”. She continued: “For me, I would like to have seen some gaps in the development – it is a long amount of brick all along the road frontage and I am con - cerned about how far it extends back into the site.” Cllr Mahmoud Kangarani

feared it was the sort of devel - opment which would encourage people to retire to the New For - est from outside the area, put - ting further pressure on hospi - tals and social services. Recommending refusal, Cllr

reasons for refusal, the scheme for 29 two-bedroom and 15 one-bedroom flats would still be unsympathetic and out of keeping next to the town’s con - servation area. Mr Belli told the meeting that the lack of any affordable hous - ing was also a negative issue in terms of sustainable develop - ment. But speaking on behalf of Pegasus Life, planning agent Kate Holdon said suggestions the development was unsus - tainable were “wholly unfound - ed”. She said: “This is a brown - field site in a central location with excellent access on foot to a range of facilities in Lyming - ton.” She said changes had been made to the scale and mass of the buildings to address previ - ous concerns.

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Council presses on with £450k crossroads work

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degrees, 50 metres south of the current crossroads. The proposed new layout, in - volving a T-junction for traffic travelling east or west on the C97, will force vehicles to slow down and give way in order to join Beaulieu Road. Once com - pleted the effectiveness of the project will be monitored for five years. Cllr Humby said: “Ipley cross - roads has a very sad history of personal injury accidents, mainly due to the open vista and some drivers misjudging the speed and distance of other Ipley crossroads will be staggered

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Floor safe and cigarettes stolen in raid on village store THIEVES snatched a haul of cigarettes and a safe in a smash- and-grab raid on a New Forest store in the early hours. The alarm was raised around 12.15am on Tuesday after a glass door was broken to gain entry to Budgens in Station Road, Sway. Having grabbed the ciga - rettes and a floor safe, the of - fenders are believed to have driven off in a green Mercedes. The value of the items stolen was unknown. A social media post by the store that morning said: “Some of you may already be aware that we suffered a break-in last night. “Fortunately the store was vacant and no one was hurt. “We are currently closed while the crime investigators are at our store but we will be reopen - ing around 10am. Sorry for any inconvenience and thank you for your understanding.” Police are urging anyone with information about the raid to get in touch. Contact officers on 101, quoting crime reference number 44200396911, or call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. It is anticipated that initial work at Wilverley will take one week and the main crossroads scheme at Ipley between six and eight weeks. road users as they approach the crossroads. “A number of these collisions have involved cyclists and this project seeks to reduce the number of collisions at this lo - cation by staggering the cross - roads.” Plans are now being finalised to minimise disruption to traffic and disturbance to the Forest during construction.

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Ann Biggins and her book

to be brave enough to tell any - one else this and start to write Losing Jane. “And so now, to have this accolade and such wonderful words from the judges, I am elated and this woman of a certain age can now share the certainty of the seven-year-old me.” Ann published her second novel, Indigo Children, in July and is currently working on her third.

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