'No more green left in Greenham'
Councillor and MP criticise council's housing sites
PRECIOUS green land in south Newbury and Greenham is likely to be lost to development after being listed as preferred housing sites.
Between 140 and 160 properties have been identified to be built on land to the north of Haysoms Drive and land adjoining Equine Way in Greenham.
A further 95 homes near the site have been rejected from the DPD at this stage but could be brought forward later in the council’s development plan.
The preferred sites will add to the 1,500 homes being built at Newbury Racecourse; the 2,000 outlined for Sandleford Park and the 225 included in the Market Street redevelopment.
Greenham councillor Julian Swift-Hook said: “There will be no more green left in Greenham.
“I’m very upset that once again Greenham is being targeted for new housing and despite all the efforts over many years to protect Greenham it seems that the council is now going to agree [the DPD] and build on one of the few remaining open green spaces that separates Greenham from Newbury.”
The south Newbury sites are some of the 27 preferred locations to accommodate 1,600 homes in the council’s Housing Site Allocations Development Plan Document (DPD).
The list of sites follows the news that 665 homes will have to be built in West Berkshire each year until 2036. This figure may change, however, as the Berkshire councils will have to negotiate on how many homes they can actually build.
The council’s executive for planning Alan Law (Con, Basildon), said that the document would enable the council to plan for the future; protecting the countryside while providing homes so that the district could prosper.
He said: “These proposals are the culmination of discussions with landowners and developers but also one of the largest consultations we’ve ever run.
“In reaching this point, 8,500 people had their say on our plans, and after listening to the communities we rejected a number of sites.
“This plan is a positive step forward for us and shows where we think houses should be built.
“It puts the council, not developers, in control of where homes should be built and will mean we can ensure additional infrastructure is in place to support the additional houses.”
The leader of the council’s Liberal Democrat opposition, Alan Macro (Theale), said he was concerned that some sites which had initially been rejected had reappeared on the preferred list.
“I think that’s wrong because if people saw that a site was down as rejected they wouldn’t have worried and now they’re disenfranchised,” he said.
Mr Macro, who sits on the planning advisory group responsible for drawing up the DPD, said that some of the housing numbers on sites had changed following consultation and extra assessment.
When asked why some towns and villages were being asked to take more homes than others Mr Macro said that a hierarchy of development was in place.
The council said that the DPD will help protect the district from unwanted development and provide added protection to the countryside.
When asked why most of the preferred sites were in fields – such as Thatcham’s Lower Way site – Mr Macro said: “Unfortunately that’s the nature of the beast.
“Sites had to be identified outside of the existing settlement boundary unfortunately they, by definition, go on greenfields.”
However, Mr Macro said that the council should have carried out a review of protected employment areas before it started work on the DPD.
“We have got to the stage where the council owns the London Road Industrial Estate (LRIE) and wants to build homes but they aren’t included in the DPD.
“If they had gotten a move on with the LRIE work we’d have kept Bayer in the town and maybe saved a few more greenfield sites.”
He added that he was concerned that the public could not ask questions at the special meeting to discuss the document.
He suggested that the council should consider changing the format to allow residents to put some of their points across.
The Conservative MP for Reading West, Alok Sharma, has accused Tory-led West Berkshire Council of not preparing its housing plan properly.
Mr Sharma’s constituency, which covers Purley-on-Thames, Calcot, Tilehurst, Theale and Pangbourne, has been asked to accommodate approximately 280 properties.
Sites include 60 homes at Stonehams Farm, Tilehurst, and 100 homes on land adjacent to Junction 12 of the M4, Bath Road, Calcot.
Mr Sharma said: “Whilst a couple of the sites originally proposed for development have been rejected by the council, I am disappointed on behalf of my constituents that many others are still in these proposals. I am to be convinced whether the council has really done this piece of work thoroughly.”
Residents’ group Keep Tilehurst Green co-chairman, Iain Jones, said: “We now need to fight harder to save the fields at Clements Mead and Stonehams Farm. It’s great news that Blackthorn is saved; it’s clear that the voice of the community can make a difference in this process.”