Another 360 homes for Sandleford submitted to planners in West Berkshire Council by Donnington New Homes
Plans for another 360 homes at the Sandleford ‘Watership Down’ site in Newbury have been submitted.
The planning inspector allowed another, larger development of more than a thousand homes from Bloor Homes to go ahead last year, despite fierce opposition.
The latest application from Donnington New Homes sits to the west of that site, with access along Warren Road.
The application was lodged last week, and has already generated objections.
“The development proposal raises too many issues about the infrastructure needed to support it,” writes Stephen Mills.
“Clearly as a nation we need more houses but only if they don’t degrade the environment and add to congestion to already congested regions like Berkshire.
“What happened to levelling up? Or do house builders only want to build where property prices are high?”
Others wrote in to West Berkshire Council concerned the access via Warren Road would be “an accident waiting to happen” due to proximity with Park House School and Falkland Primary School.
An application to widen Warren Road to make it in to an access road and bus route with cycle paths is still not determined by the council according to the latest bid.
It says it will protect Brick Hill Copse and other woodland “of value” on the site.
The development will also retain New Warren Farm House as a nod to the area’s agrictultural heritage.
Around 2,000 homes are earmarked for the whole of the Sandleford site, with half of those due to be built before 2026 after the government intervened to over rule West Berkshire Council’s rejection of the plans.
Among those objecting to development of the site was the Watership Down author Richard Adams who spoke out about the proposals before his death five years ago.
Developers have been trying to build at the site since it was allocated for development in 2012.
In the iconic novel, rabbits flee Sandleford Warren, which is about to be destroyed by bulldozers.
Thousands of fans flock to the site each year to follow in the footsteps of the novel’s gang of rabbits.
And in a real-life echo of the fictional children’s classic, protesters have been fighting development and said protected habitats and ancient woodlands would be at risk if it was allowed to go ahead.