Demolition of Greenacre for housing gets council go-ahead

Planners approved Bloor Homes’ application to build a mix of detached, semi-detached and terrace homes at the site on Wednesday.
The application had previously faced strong opposition from Greenham Parish Council and Newbury Town Council owing to the lack of affordable housing, which Bloor Homes claimed it could not afford to include.
However, at the 11th hour, the managing director of Bloor Homes Southern, Martyn Clark, confirmed that three affordable homes would now be provided under a shared ownership scheme.
This is despite West Berkshire Council planning policy which requires 30 per cent of new housing developments to be affordable.
Bloor Homes planning agent Steven Smallman said that the housing firm was providing substantial financial support towards the replacement sports centre at Monks Lane and that the purchase of the land on which it would be built had helped secure the future of Newbury Rugby Club.
Stax Leisure’s plans for the new leisure centre were approved by the district council in March, however construction has not begun owing to the deferral of the decision on the Greenacre site.
It has been claimed throughout the lengthy application process that the two sites are inextricably linked because of finance agreements between Bloor Homes and Stax Leisure. At the March meeting, Greenham ward member Julian Swift-Hook (Lib Dem) questioned whether the council could provide funds for the scheme to secure affordable units at the site, in a similar agreement to that which secured affordable housing at the Parkway scheme.
However, West Berkshire Council officers said last week that it would not provide any funding. Mr Smallman said: “The reality is, it’s the only viable proposal on the table.
“Without a major injection of council funding, it’s difficult to see any other way of completing this project.”
The decision follows the announcement by Greenacre bosses earlier this month that the existing centre would close next July, regardless of any decision on the housing plans.
Mr Smallman said they were not anticipating a delay between the closure of Greenacre and the opening of the new club.
Jeff Beck (Con, Clay Hill) said: “We are looking at a package, including three affordable houses which don’t exist at the present time, plus what we believe will be an enhanced sports facility for the future.”
The approval concluded years of debate since the plans to provide housing at the Greenacre site were first proposed in 2011.