The Mayor of Andover has said she is “extremely concerned” over the rejection of a planned supported living home in town.

Councillor Barbara Long made the comments at a meeting of Andover Town Council’s Planning Committee on Monday, June 21, when the rejection of Creepers Cottage was noted on the agenda. Test Valley Borough Council (TVBC) rejected the plans on the ground of “disconcerting noises” from residents, which led to accusations of “pure discrimination”.

Cllr Long said: “I am extremely concerned at the rejection of the house on noise impacting on neighbours. I wouldn’t necessarily think that was a materialistic enough planning reason because they could do something about sound.

“I have a neighbour who used Andover Mind who comes to the door and shouts quite a bit but he doesn’t impact on neighbours. I would have thought they could have got around this with conditions such as soundproofing.

“I hope they appeal it and I hope they win the appeal.”

The dispute relates to a planning application by Maddison Taylor, who applied to convert her family home, Creepers Cottage in Mead Hedges, into a supported living home following many years of work as a carer at Andover and District Mencap. The property would see no alterations to its structure, just requiring a change of use from TVBC.

Concerns had been raised regarding parking and traffic at the site, but were addressed during the course of the application. Noise concerns, however, were raised by environmental health officers, leading to the plan’s refusal.

Maddison told the Advertiser that she intends to fight the plans, and is currently receiving advice on supporting an appeal.

Speaking at the meeting, Cllr Luigi Gregori also voiced his concerns over the rejection, saying: “I was very disappointed over the TVBC decision on Creepers Cottage. We as a town council provided no objection and we raised some questions, which I noticed the officers had not noted in their report. I am very concerned with the delegated response that was given.

“There’s basically, as some of you are aware, quite an aggressive petition against a planning officer, which I have been asked to sign but I won’t because I think we should be criticising TVBC, not officers who are trying to do the best they can.

“I am concerned over how it was dealt with. If you look at the reasons for why it was rejected it does not appear to be material and that does concern me and I do hope it will be raised at a senior level in Test Valley. I’m not very happy about it and it puts us in a very, very difficult position.”

He added: “ I am very concerned it gives the wrong impression of Andover and its people who are quite welcoming.

“I think we need to be realistic, and everybody has the right to live their lives in a secure environment and there are lots of homes around Andover of different sorts. It’s wrong.”

Speaking previously to the Advertiser, a spokesperson for TVBC said that the plans were not suitable for the area, which was why they were rejected.

They said: “When considering planning applications, we have to determine whether the proposed development is in the right location, both for the applicant’s needs and uses, and for those around them.

"The council has to look beyond the intentions of the applicant and consider the potential implications of a change to any of the broad range of uses within the same planning use category, in this case a residential dwelling, as well as the potential future impact beyond this, such as a further change of operator. On this occasion, while considering past experiences and the individual circumstances of this case, we believed that this was not the right location.

“Of course, we’re more than happy to continue discussions with the applicant, as we would with any applicant, as well as a right of appeal to the independent Planning Inspectorate.”