Pickles followed the recommendations of a Planning Inspector to approve two proposals for a total of 650 new homes and a primary school which had been refused by Basingstoke and Dean Borough Council last year.
The SoS noted in his decision letter that the development sites had been promoted by the Council for residential led development since 2010 and that they were part of evidence documents prepared by the Council for its emerging Local Plan.
He said he agreed with the Inspector that the Council had a "serious and significant" shortfall in housing and land supply and that the proposals would provide between 11% and 26% of the shortfall in the first five years of the emerging Local Plan period, including the provision of 180 affordable homes.
Pickles also agreed with the Inspector's findings that noise and disturbance during the anticipated five year construction period might affect the enjoyment of people's homes and cause "some stress". However the construction should be for a finite period and, in any event, would add "little in the way of disturbance" due to ongoing construction activity at nearby Merton Rise, he said.
Pickles concluded that the benefits of the scheme, in the context of the Council's housing supply shortfall, would "clearly" outweigh the "temporary, albeit lengthy" construction impacts that the local community would have to endure. He also said that reinforced landscaping would mitigate the "slight impact" on landscape character and visual intrusion the scheme would cause.
