Grandson of King’s nice uncle Lord Mountbatten is given permission to construct 920 properties on countryside subsequent to household’s Hampshire property regardless of neighbour outrage

The grandson of the King’s great uncle Lord Mountbatten has been given planning permission to build more than 900 homes on his family’s country estate.

Timothy Knatchbull, second cousin to King Charles, has faced a huge backlash from neighbours who live nearby to his sprawling 4,500-acre Broadlands Estate in Romsey, Hampshire. 

The estate also has more than one royal connection – it is also where the late Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip honeymooned in 1947 as well as the King and his then-wife Princess Diana in 1981. 

Mr Knatchbull, who is also Queen Victoria’s great-great-great-grandson, is leading a consortium that is behind proposals to build 920 homes on farmland on the south side of Romsey.

The 61-year-old has now been given the green light to build 920 homes and businesses on the plot of land after Mark Staincliffe, the Test Valley Borough Council planning officer, recommended them for approval at a council meeting due to be held next week.   

Mr Buss has said that Mr Staincliffe has essentially asked councillors to ‘approve the application now and let the officers fix all the problems later’.

Richard Buss, who has lived in the area for 35 years, is leading local backlash against the plan.

He claims that the developers are ignoring Test Valley Borough Council’s requirement to build a footbridge over the railway line which runs next to it.

However the planning report states that the bridge cannot be built until the 800th house is occupied.

He has criticised Mr Knatchbull for previously stating that he had a ‘civic duty’ to offer up the land but could now only be offering 10 per cent as affordable homes.

There have been objection letters from the Environment Agency, Network Rail, the Woodland Trust, Romsey Town Council and 596 letters from local residents.

The Broadlands estate is owned by the Mountbatten family.

Mr Knatchbull is the grandson of Lord Louis Mountbatten, who was the last Viceroy of India and uncle of Prince Philip.

In 1979, Mr Knatchbull survived an IRA bombing that killed his grandfather and twin brother Nicholas.

The consortium behind the Romsey plans – The Ashfield Partnership – originally applied to build 1,100 homes in 2022 but it has been scaled back to 920 homes.

If built, the new development would add around 2,500 bedrooms to the town potentially increasing its population by up to 15 per cent.

The area sits on land set out by Test Valley Borough Council for development and includes a new primary school, businesses and a community hall.

Mr Buss, a 68-year-old freelance film editor, who forms part of the Romsave group, said: ‘It is unacceptable to leave major decisions to unaccountable planning officers rather than the elected representatives of Southern Test Valley.

‘This leaves officers to negotiate a deal which undoubtedly will not be policy compliant particularly around the provision of affordable housing and the early delivery of the pedestrian and cycle bridge.

‘Why is the Planning Officer recommending approval when the EA are objecting on what appears to be very sensible grounds to avoid flood risk?’.

Mr Buss claimed that local councillors were expected to ‘unlawfully approve this application and just trust the planning department to sort out the issues at a later date’ 

‘There are so many issues to be resolved yet Councillors are expected to grant permission for fear of appeal from the developer if they don’t.

‘We hope Councillors will have the metal to stand up to this premature planning application and refuse permission until it is policy compliant and offers benefits to the residents of Romsey.

‘We want to encourage all local residents to come along to the Planning Meeting on Tuesday 24th Feb at the Crosfield Hall 5:30pm to show Councillors just how important this decision is to the town, the largest of its kind in decades, which will fundamentally impact all our lives for generations to come.’

Local resident Linda Pennells said: ‘If this application cannot viably deliver the full level of affordable housing, infrastructure, environmental mitigation, and community facilities required to make it acceptable in planning terms, then this proposed outline application must be refused.

‘Viability should not be used as a lever to force through an otherwise unacceptable scheme’

Another local, Jeffrey Clark, said: ‘I am still very concerned regarding Romsey’s already serious traffic and parking issues. 920 homes will mean around 1800 extra cars in an area where the roads are insufficient for this amount of increase in traffic.

‘Romsey is an old town with narrow roads and in my opinion too small for this amount of extra housing.’

Mr Staincliffe’s report concluded: ‘The benefits of the scheme are significant and will assist the government’s policy requirement to significantly boost housing numbers and the Council’s land supply and thus help to ease the national housing crisis.

‘For the reasons given above, and despite the failure to deliver 40 per cent affordable housing the planning application should be granted planning permission.’

The final decision will be made at next week’s planning meeting.