Practical advice for Pincents Hill campaigners

Alex Gore • Published 20 Nov 2008 10:45 0 Comments

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Letter: Young families still need homes

CAMPAIGNERS fighting to save 37 acres of picturesque green land were given practical advice on how best to organise their opposition.

Speaking at a public meeting in Little Heath School, Tilehurst, Reading West MP Martin Salter told residents that as a planing application was yet to be submitted by Blue Living, which wishes to build up to 900 homes on Pincents Hill, they needed to stay ahead of the game and oppose the idea of any development of the site.

Mr Salter said residents must call on West Berkshire Council to exclude the site from the Local Development Framework, a list of sites earmarked for development due for approval in February 2009, and object to any breach of the existing settlement boundary.

This boundary is a council imposed planning regulation which stops Reading sprawling into the countryside.

Residents were urged to write to West Berkshire's planning policy manager Bryan Lyttle outlining their opposition and were even given pre-written letters which they could sign and send to Mr Lyttle as well as tips for those wishing to draft their own.

Mr Salter said: "We want to ensure that Bryan Lyttle gets more letters than Father Christmas. I went into politics to give ordinary people a voice and property developers are not ordinary people.

"I am fed up with how houses are dumped on the side of Reading. Blue Living can design eco-chimneys and solar powered wigwams but it is not acceptable to allowing existing communities to sprawl and sprawl and sprawl.

"This will be a hard fight but I am determined we can stop this."

The Labour MP added that West Berkshire did not need to develop Pincents Hill in order to meet it's housing target of 10,500 new homes by 2026 and had thanked Blue Living for holding a design enquiry in September and bringing its plan to the public's attention.

Other speakers included Tilehurst Parish Council chairwoman Jean Gardner, who reassured residents that the parish council owned land next to Pincents Hill was not for sale despite Blue Living stating interest in acquiring it, and West Berkshire ward councillors Tony Lindon, Joe Mooney and Emma Webster.

Also speaking was Bryan Lyttle, who explained the planing process, and members of the Save Calcot campaign group including John Betteridge who spoke about the rich and varied wildlife at Pincents Hill and appealed for help in building up a catalogue of wildlife pictures taken at the site.

He added: "The turn out this evening shows you just how many people care about Pincents Hill."

Save Calcot also appealed for donations to help cover the cost of the campaign.

For more information visit www.savecalcot.co.uk/

This article appeared in Reading Chronicle 20 Nov 08

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