Thatcham Town Council agrees to see whether it can ‘legally challenge’ increase of 2,500 homes in North East Thatcham under Local Plan
Thatcham Town Council voted in favour of seeking legal advice concerning the district Local Plan at its full council meeting on Monday, May 12.
Councillors approved a motion by Tom McCann (Lib Dem, Thatcham Central) to see whether it could legally challenge the decision to increase the housing allocation in North East Thatcham from 1,500 to 2,500 homes.
Simon Pike (Lib Dem, Thatcham West) and Jeff Brooks (Lib Dem, Thatcham West) abstained.
The town council’s finance and general purposes committee agreed back in January to allocate £4,000, plus any public donations it received from surrounding parishes, to obtain legal advice on the proposed revised Local Plan.
Justin Pemberton (Lib Dem, Thatcham West) proposed to change the original wording of seeking a ‘solicitor’ to read ‘legal adviser’. Councillors voted in favour of this amendment.
West Berkshire Council received the planning inspector’s report on the Local Plan Review in April, in which the inspector concluded the plan was sound, legally compliant and can be adopted.
Mr Pike said he found the inspector’s conclusion inevitable due to decisions made by the previous Conservative administration at WBC and did not see the need to seek legal advice, but would not object if others did.
He said: “In December 2020, WBC itself, under the previous administration, proposed a development of 2,500 houses and commissioned a Strategic Growth Study to justify this.
“In January 2023, it reduced the proposed size of the developed 1,500 houses. However, it failed to provide any real justification for this reduction.”
READ MORE: Council to decide next steps in June after Local Plan approved by Government
A Local Plan must be effective, justified and consistent with national policy – but the inspector decided a reduction of 1,500 houses would not make efficient use of the land in planning terms.
Mr Pike added so long as the inspector and WBC reach a conclusion this is rational, their decision cannot be questioned in the courts.
Jeremy Cottam (Lib Dem, Thatcham North East) added: “This was basically a rushed, botched job by the Conservative administration.
“And now the Labour Government is running it through and I’m disappointed with them.
“They seem to take no account of what effect dumping 2,500 houses on Thatcham without suitable infrastructure will have.
“We don’t know there isn’t a legal fault in this [plan] because we don’t have any legal qualifications that come anywhere near to being a KC [King’s Counsel].”
Mr McCann said: “It’s a relatively inexpensive amount of money.
“It shows the residents we would have asked the pertinent and appropriate questions.”
Owen Jeffery (Lib Dem, Thatcham Central) said: “We are talking about adding the population of Hungerford on to the town of Thatcham.
“This kind of planning should have been consigned to the history books 50 years ago. It’s a disgrace.”
But on a lighter note, Mr Pike shared at the planning and highways committee meeting last week (May 6) that the town council had secured some important benefits for the town through its involvement in the draft Local Plan.
He said the town council will be consulted during the development on a masterplan for the site; that primary healthcare provision will be viable; that Burdwood Surgery will have the option to relocate to the site; that proper provision for early years, SEND and secondary education will be available; and that the northern half of the site will be reserved as a country park and protected from development in future Local Plans.
WBC will be meeting on Tuesday, June 10, to decide whether to formally adopt the plan.
