Widening plans for Warren Road in Newbury withdrawn
Scheme had been labelled a Trojan horse for Sandleford development
CONTROVERSIAL plans to widen Warren Road – labelled a Trojan horse for a potential Sandleford Park development – have been withdrawn.
Newbury-based developer Donnington New Homes had submitted plans to make the road – located in Wash Common next to Park House School and leading to New Warren Farm – six metres wide, with two-metre wide footpaths along both sides.
The road also leads to Sandleford Park, which is the subject of an outline planning application by Donnington New Homes for up to 500 homes with a primary school.
The design and access statement for the Warren Road project said: “The proposed improvements to Warren Road are intended to provide improved access to New Warren Farm, where a number of businesses are based.”
The statement goes on to say that the “enhanced access” to the farm will be “future proofed” in terms of its ability to serve a development at Sandleford Park.
However, the application received a backlash, with Newbury town councillors blasting it as simply a plan to make Warren Road an access road for a Sandleford development.
At a planning meeting in November, Wash Common councillor David Marsh, speaking as a member of the public, said: “The developer needs a six-metre road for the 500 homes he wants to build on the Sandleford site – and lo and behold this is an application for a six-metre road.
“The application is about Sandleford, it’s not about the occasional HGV or whatever driving to New Warren Farm.
“This scheme has been dragging on for years, blighting the lives of people who live there and it’s high time they ditched this foolish, outmoded and inappropriate plan.”
Roger Hunneman (Lib Dem, Wash Common) said: “I’m very aware that all the residents in the area steadfastly oppose this particular aspect of Sandleford and the use of Warren Road.
“There’s no justification for this work to be done for the purposes of Warren Road Farm – it’s clearly something to do with improving access to a possible development in Sandleford.
“If this road needs to be approved as part of Sandleford then let’s have that discussion as part of that application.”
The application has now been withdrawn.
