Thatcham Town Council prepares its response to inspector questions on West Berkshire Local Plan

Thatcham Town Council is preparing its response to inspector questions on the Local Plan.

The Local Plan will determine where houses will be built in West Berkshire until 2039.

West Berkshire Council – under its Lib Dem administration – tried to throw out the plans.

But Government intervention, just hours before the move would have been put to vote, put a stop to the withdrawal.

Since the Draft Local Plan was submitted, in March last year, a planning inspector has put questions to WBC and is now putting questions to all respondents to an earlier consultation (Regulation 19).

Thatcham Town Council – which has been against the building of 1,500 (formerly 2,500) homes in north east Thatcham – was one of the respondents.

It is now putting a statement together – through its planning and highways committee – for the inspector to review.

Chairman of planning and highways Simon Pike (Lib Dem, Thatcham West) has been representing the town council through the process and has drafted a suggested response document.

The response highlights areas where Thatcham Town Council believes the Local Plan preparation, consultation and other areas have fallen short.

It also reiterates areas where the town council has made corrections and comments to documents.

The town council has thanked Mr Pike and former councillor David Lister for their work thus far in representing the town council.

The draft response can be found on the town council’s website.