1,000 home Sandleford development in Newbury to be decided by appeal
District council cites 14 reasons to reject latest application from developer
A PLANNING inquiry will determine if 1,000 homes will be built at Sandleford Park.
Bloor Homes and Sandleford Homes Partnership has appealed against West Berkshire Council refusing its scheme to build the homes off Monks Lane last year.
Sandleford was adopted for up to 2,000 homes in the council’s core strategy in 2012 and half of the homes were expected to be built by 2026.
The council has included Sandleford in its Local Plan Review for up to 1,000 homes and now assumes a contribution of 200 homes by 2026.
Sandleford has been mired in controversy since its selection and has been met with fierce opposition from campaigners.
The council has insisted that a single holistic application from Bloor and Donnington New Homes be submitted to cover the area.
The council refused separate planning applications from the developers in 2017 as the two companies “had not delivered on assurances that they would work together on one cohesive plan”.
The council cited 14 reasons for refusing Bloor’s latest application.
Bloor has appealed the council’s refusal and a public inquiry will now determine the scheme.
A separate application from Donnington New Homes for up to 440 new homes, 60 extra care housing units, a new primary school and land to expand Park House School, is yet to be determined by the council.
Shadow portfolio holder for planning Tony Vickers (Lib Dem, Newbury Wash Common) said he wasn’t surprised.
He said: “I would like to see both the Bloor Homes and Donnington New Homes one refused and then go to appeal as a joint public inquiry.
“I don’t see how you can have a sensible debate about one and not the other.”
A new application has been lodged to widen Warren Road to serve as an access point to Sandleford West.
Dr Vickers said: “I think the council sees this as unlocking the whole site.
“I would really like to see the whole site considered together.
“It would save a lot of money if they [Bloor] withdrew their appeal if they see their fellow developers are moving on their part.
“We need to know what’s happening there, it’s been a planning blight for the last 10 years.”
Bloor’s application also includes an 80-unit extra care facility, up to 40 per cent affordable housing, a local centre, a new two-form primary school and 1.62ha of land for Park House School to expand.
A country park, proposed woodland planting, habitat creation, new footpaths, cycle routes and amenity space are also included.
A Community Infrastructure Levy, anticipated to be in the region of £6m towards other infrastructure provision, forms part of the application.
The council said the scheme was unacceptable as it failed to ensure the holistic comprehensive development of the Sandleford Strategic Site Allocation.
It said that an application for only part of the site represented piecemeal development and would prejudice the successful delivery of the entire development.
In its appeal papers, Bloor said that the appeal scheme “aligned with the development proposals advanced for the remaining part of the Sandleford allocation at New Warren Farm”.
“Neither scheme prejudices the other,” it said, adding that the appeal scheme provides infrastructure to support the development proposals at New Warren Farm.
The council said that a satisfactory Section 106 agreement to mitigate the impact of the development had not been agreed.
Bloor said the council had not provided any comments on the draft Section 106 agreement prior to refusing the plans.
It said that the infrastructure commitments ensured that necessary infrastructure would be “provided in a timely manner”.
It added that further work was required to refine the agreement, but this could be achieved prior to the appeal being heard.
Another refusal listed was that the development would harm a number of irreplaceable priority habitats comprising ancient and veteran trees.
Bloor said that a 15-metre buffer had been applied to each of the ancient woodlands within or adjoining the site.
It said that an ancient tree needed to be felled to enable the expansion of Park House School and that significant new planting was proposed within the country park to mitigate and compensate for the loss of trees.
Summing up, Bloor said there were “no material considerations individually or together that would justify planning permission being refused”.
People wishing to comment can do so at https://acp.planninginspectorate.gov.ukor by emailing alison.dyson@planninginspectorate.gov.uk
All representations must be received by the Planning Inspectorate by February 24 and must include the appeal reference APP/W0340/W/20/3265460
