Plans for major housing development resubmitted

Developer looking to build 157 homes on land between Newbury and Greenham

PLANS for a major housing development on the border of Newbury and Greenham have been re-submitted to West Berkshire Council.

Initial proposals for the 157-home estate, on land to the north of Pinchington Lane, were approved by the council’s western area planning committee in January, but were later invalidated owing to “technical reasons”.

Developer Rivar Ltd has now submitted a replacement application, despite ongoing concerns from local residents over traffic congestion, highways safety and the continuing loss of the ‘Greenham gap’ separating Newbury and Greenham.

In response to the initial application, residents also claimed the area was in danger of significant overdevelopment – with proposals for 71 homes on land to the east of the site also having recently been given the green light.

Meanwhile, the proposed Sandleford Park development, if approved, would also pile further pressure on the area’s infrastructure.

The new application, which was validated by the council in May, has so far garnered two letters of objection.

In the latest proposals, architect Pro Vision, which submitted the application on behalf of landowner Rivar Ltd, said that not developing the land would be a “missed opportunity”.

If approved, the estate would provide a mix of one-, two-, three-and four-bedroom homes – 63 of which will be affordable.

The development would be split into two separate entities, separated by an area of public open space.

Two new accesses would be created, the first off Greenham Road to the east and the second off Haysoms Drive to the west.

The application goes on to state: “The development will create a green lung that would tie together the pockets of development to the north and south, developing the land in a way so as to minimise impact on existing ecology.”

The 3.13-hectare parcel of land, a former landfill site, is also home to great-crested newts and other wildlife for which the developer, according to the application, will provide protected areas of habitat.

Speaking to the Newbury Weekly News after the first application was invalidated in April, Rivar Properties chairman Malcolm Bull said: “The reason they were invalidated was a very small cartographical matter, which has been addressed, and we hope to be putting in a revised application soon.

“I expect it will be treated the same way.

“We would very much like to get on with it.

“We have also made one or two tiny amendments to highways matters.

“We had hoped it would be possible to deal with it through a revised application, but under planning rules it wasn’t possible.”