Meeting to discuss Sandleford application cancelled

Decision on 1,000-home proposals will now be made by council officers

A PUBLIC meeting to discuss an application for 1,000 homes at Sandleford Park has been cancelled.

Members of West Berkshire Council’s western area planning committee had been scheduled to decide on the plans from Bloor Homes at a special meeting tonight (Monday).

The application had been called before the committee by councillor Billy Drummond (Lib Dem, Greenham) who is against the proposals.

However, after two other applications for the same site were dismissed by West Berkshire Council in November, Mr Drummond said he had decided to withdraw his request for the public meeting.

“I’m now happy for the decision to be made by the officers,” he told the Newbury Weekly News.

A decision on the proposals for 1,000 homes on the south Newbury site is expected to be made by the council’s planning officers later this month.

West Berkshire Council has already refused two applications for the sprawling development in south Newbury.

One application for 2,000 homes as well as a second application for 321 homes were both dismissed by council planners last month because of a lack of detail.

The council said the third and final application would also likely have been recommended for refusal by council officers.

Sandleford Park was named as one of the council’s preferred sites for housing way back in 2011.

Bloor initially submitted proposals for 2,000 homes and two new primary schools on land off Monks Lane in December 2015 – but disagreed with the council on key issues, including the number of access roads into the site.