Newbury Showground mitigation talks deadlocked

The terms of agreement were due to be discussed at a meeting of the Western Area Planning Committee on Wednesday night (March 14) but the item was removed from the agenda at the last minute.
Development control officer Derek Carnegie said a lot more work had to be done before both sides were happy with the trade-off.
Although the development plans were approved by members of the council’s District Area Planning Committee in November, against the advice of officers, an S106 (financial contribution from developers) agreement to soften the blow of the development still had to be thrashed out, and it is this delay which is holding up the development.
The blueprints outline a 12m high livestock exhibition building, which could house up to 500 cattle, to be a new centrepiece for the Royal County of Berkshire Show, and also planned are a relief road, a lake and a new equestrian menage will also be built.
Concerns had been raised by residents, who contributed to nearly 300 letters of representation regarding the development, that the Showground was using the creation of the new livestock building to expand into a year-round entertainment venue.
Such a move would wreak havoc on the nearby road network, which is frequently clogged on the weekend of the Royal County of Berkshire Show, and could a severely detrimental impact on the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), inside which the Showground sits.
The plans, for a building for showing livestock, plus assembly and leisure uses on non-show days at the showground in Chieveley, were called before West Berkshire Council's district planning committee owing to the level of objection.
Although planning officers said in their original report that they found the proposal to be “entirely unacceptable” because of the visual impact the development would have on the surrounding area, which is an AONB and because of the size and scale of it, it was narrowly voted through by members.
The ward member for Chieveley, Hilary Cole (Con), and the chairman of the Western Area Planning Committee, Paul Bryant (Con, Speen), along with council officers, have spent the last three months negotiating with the agents for the Showground to come up with acceptable terms of use for the new development.
The terms of the agreement state that at the start of a year the Showground must submit a full schedule of known events for the next 12 months, an any event which would create in excess of 1500 vehicle movements daily must be the subject of a specific traffic management plan, agreed in advance.
Other items included in the agreement detail the number of days certain events such as charity functions, trade functions, public entertainment, social functions and educational activities are allowed to use the grounds for.