Cala Homes (South) is sitting on 87 hectares of farmland near historic Winchester. It wants to build 2,000 homes there. Since 2004, Cala has been trying to coax planning permission out of those who grant it. I bet it knows its planning law inside and out. Now then, 2,000 homes is quite a handful of change for this very English market town. The place is a delight: it is a tourist attraction, has a cathedral, even has real shops. But this Hampshire neck of the woods is said to need not 2,000, more like 5,500 new homes. And while we're at it, the South-east plan talks of a net addition of 654,000 dwellings by 2026. All this mega thinking comes from "regional spatial strategies", supported by acts of parliament going back umpteen years. That's why folk like Cala invest in land and then seek planning.
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