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Deadline extended: comments now close 24 November
The evidence behind each issue, and what you can add from your own experience. Dated sources are at the bottom of this page.
01 Flooding and the bridge
01 Flooding and the bridge
Access to the site would be a new road and bridge over the Caker Stream. The Environment Agency has said this access lies in the functional floodplain, and the applicant's own model shows the bridge raising flood levels upstream. The Environment Agency asked for full bridge details to be provided now. The bridge drawing, revised in September 2026, is still marked preliminary and still drawn to the 24% climate change flood level, where the Agency asked for 36%. On 3 November 2026 the Agency maintained its objection to the revised plans and recommended refusal, finding the flood storage compensation inadequate.
Evidence you can add in your objection: flooding you have seen at the stream, the field or Riverside, and when.
02 Drainage
02 Drainage
In February, the County Council, as drainage authority, said that on the information provided it did not consider the drainage design compliant with the national standards.
Evidence you can add in your objection: standing water, springs or waterlogged ground you have seen nearby, and when.
03 Traffic and road safety
03 Traffic and road safety
The applicant's road safety assessment assumes every lorry heads north along Wilsom Road. Its September transport note sends 40% of lorries east along Caker Lane instead: about 22 lorry movements a day through East Worldham. No safety assessment of that route has been submitted. Lorries into Alton would use the Wilsom Road, Ashdell Road, Paper Mill Lane and Mill Lane junction, where the applicant's own report records two serious collisions in five years, both involving cyclists; the junction's capacity has not been modelled. In March the County Council, as highway authority, found no pattern in past accidents and accepted the applicant's traffic forecasts. That was before the September note, and a review of past accidents looks back at today's traffic, not forward at a 24 hour storage and distribution site.
Evidence you can add in your objection: how you use the junction and what you see there at busy times. If you live in East Worldham or along Caker Lane, what lorry traffic is like there now.
04 Wildlife and the chalk stream
04 Wildlife and the chalk stream
In March, on the original plans, the council's ecologist recommended refusal unless more information was supplied, and described the Caker Stream here as a priority habitat chalk stream.
Evidence you can add in your objection: wildlife you have seen yourself, with species, place and date.
05 24 hour operation, noise and light
05 24 hour operation, noise and light
The applicant's agent has told the council the units would operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The first noise report assumed lorries could come and go from 5am to 1am every day; the applicant has since offered to limit lorry deliveries and collections to 6am to 10pm on weekdays, with shorter hours at weekends. That offer covers lorries only, not the units themselves. The revised noise report (September 2026) assesses nothing between 10pm and 6am.
Evidence you can add in your objection: how activity at night, lighting or the change in views would affect you.
Details and sources
Details and sources
(Expand to read)
All application documents and consultee letters are on the EHDC planning portal under EHDC-26-0082-FUL. Revised plans were submitted on 20 October 2026; the consultee views below were given on the original plans, except the Environment Agency’s letter of 3 November 2026.
Flooding and the bridge: The Environment Agency's letter of 20 February 2026 says the proposed access route and bridge lie within the functional floodplain, Flood Zone 3b. It objected and recommended refusal. It also said that, as this is a full application, the full details of the bridge should be provided now. On 3 November 2026, on the revised plans, it maintained its objection and recommended refusal, saying the flood storage compensation is inadequate and it cannot review the model without an up-to-date hydrology study. The applicant's flood consultant, RSK, added the bridge to its model in a letter of 27 March 2026; it shows flood levels rising upstream, by more if the bridge is partly blocked. The latest bridge drawing (Burrows Graham, revision P04, 23 September 2026, in the revised drainage note) is still marked preliminary and still drawn to the 24% climate change flood level, where the Agency asked for 36%.
Drainage: Hampshire County Council, as Lead Local Flood Authority, wrote on 26 February 2026 that, on the information provided, it did not consider the proposed drainage design compliant with the National SuDS Standards, and raised concerns about the discharge point being lower than the expected water level.
Traffic: The applicant's Transport Assessment (December 2025) says lorries reach the A31 via the Wilsom Road, Paper Mill Lane, Ashdell Road and Mill Lane junction, because of the 7.5 tonne limit on Paper Mill Lane. It records two serious collisions at that junction between March 2020 and February 2025, both involving a cyclist. It notes the junction improvement linked to the 2017 refusal has not been built, and does not model the junction because the scheme adds fewer than 30 vehicles an hour. Hampshire County Council, as highway authority, wrote on 20 March 2026 that the eight recorded accidents showed no pattern, and that it accepted the applicant's traffic forecasts. The Alton Neighbourhood Plan lists the junction among those known to be overloaded at peak periods. The applicant's road safety assessment (AKT, para 3.5) assumes all lorry movements travel north via Wilsom Road. The applicant's later transport note (Apex TN01, 29 September 2026, paras 8.3.1 and 8.3.2) instead routes 39.9% of lorries east and south along Caker Lane, about 22 two way lorry movements a day towards East Worldham and Kingsley. No safety assessment of that route has been submitted. The County Council's response of 20 March 2026 predates that note.
Wildlife: The council's Ecology Team wrote on 2 March 2026 that refusal was recommended if further information could not be supplied, that part of the site is more accurately floodplain wetland mosaic than grassland, and that the site contains a priority habitat chalk stream.
24 hour operation: The applicant's agent told the council the proposed operating hours are 24/7, and offered a condition limiting lorry deliveries and collections to 06:00 to 22:00 Monday to Friday, 08:00 to 16:00 Saturdays, and 09:00 to 13:00 Sundays and bank holidays (Response to EHO, on the portal).
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