About
This section provides background information about the joint Manydown Garden Communities programme between Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council and Hampshire County Council.
Background
Manydown was originally bought under a long lease with an option to purchase the freehold by the borough council and county council in 1996. In October 2024, the councils completed a deal to buy the freehold of the land at North Manydown from The Manydown Company enabling development to start there.
The northern part of the land was allocated in the Basingstoke and Deane Local Plan 2011 to 2026. Following this the borough and county councils as landowners took forward the earliest planning stages for the land, including undertaking extensive community engagement, to set the main principles for a new community at Manydown.
With these main principles set, the new community is now being taken forward by a pioneering public-private partnership between the councils and the UK’s leading master developer Urban&Civic, backed by global charity The Wellcome Trust. This partnership – Manydown Development Vehicle LLP – cements the two councils’ long-term commitment to staying involved in building high quality, sustainable homes with a master developer’s expertise in creating great places to live and investment from a global charitable foundation.
For more information, visit the website for the public-private partnership taking forward the new community at Manydown.
The councils are now considering how the remainder of the Manydown land to the south, on which they also hold a long lease, could be developed to continue to address the challenge of housing affordability and access to jobs while supporting diverse and changing lifestyles over the next 30 years.
Taking a comprehensive approach to planning infrastructure and net zero carbon communities, the councils are working with adjacent landowner the Society of Merchant Venturers. Both landowners are putting forward their land for allocation as housing development sites, following the process set out by the local planning authority as it seeks to update its Local Plan.
For more information on the early promotion of this land, see South Manydown.
Basingstoke and Deane Local Plan
The current Basingstoke and Deane Local Plan was adopted in May 2016, guiding the development of 15,300 new homes to be built up to 2029, mostly around Basingstoke. There are 12 greenfield allocations, with the largest number of homes at Manydown, together with associated infrastructure and commercial/retail space. The land allocated by the Local Plan includes a number of other sites not owned by the councils.
For more information about the allocation of the northern Manydown land in the Local Plan, see www.basingstoke.gov.uk/planningpolicy.
The borough council as local planning authority is now working to update its Local Plan to provide a blueprint as a guide and basis for future planning decisions. For more information on the ongoing process, see the Local Plan update webpage on the borough council’s website.