One part of the Merton Rise site is situated on the northern edge of Popley between Popley Way, the A340 and Chineham Lane. The site is bisected north/south by Sherborne Road which together with Chineham Lane connects Popley to the village of Sherborne St.John 1.5km to the north.
The other part of the Merton Rise site is located on a south-east facing slope of a dry valley adjacent to existing residential area of Popley and Marnel Park lies to the north of the natural ridge line to the west of Carpenter’s Down.
The development sites are located in and adjacent to Popley, an existing suburb of North Basingstoke. Popley was originally built in the 1970’s as a London overspill housing estate. The suburb is typical of the Radburn design, with clusters of development following a neighbourhood model. There is a current population of approximately 8500 in 3400 dwellings.
Sherborne St.John is a village located about one and half miles north of Popley. The village is an ancient settlement, with an historic core with newer development on its periphery. The current population of Sherborne St.John is estimated to be approximately twelve-hundred people.
The major visual constraints to the development are established by the crests of the escarpment between Sherborne St.John , the development site and the existing development at North Popley. The surrounding landscape, in which the village of Sherborne St.John is located, is characterised by a pattern of isolated farmstead settlements and small pockets of woodland amongst large, arable fields.
It is intended that the proposed development at Merton Rise and Marnel Park provides a strong green edge by providing robust structural planting and landscape setting for the development. A sloping ridgeline that runs along the top third of the site where a development control line has been set to restrict overall building heights to the west of Sherborne Road to mitigate the impact of the development from the North and views from Popley.
