Decision on 750-home plan

Alex Gore • Published 24 Feb 2010 12:00 0 Comments

AN eagerly anticipated decision on whether 750 homes can be built on the town's edge will be made tonight (Wednesday).

Opponents of Blue Living's proposal for Pincents Hill, Tilehurst, are being urged to turn out in force at West Berkshire Council's planning committee meeting, which will take place in Little Heath School's main hall from 6.30pm.

Officers, who received more than 1,400 letters of objection, have recommended the committee throw out the outline planning application saying it is an inappropriate and unjustified development on a greenfield site outside a settlement boundary.

Joan Lawrie, founder of Save Calcot Action Group, which has fiercely opposed the plans, said: "Just because it has been recommended for refusal does not mean it will necessarily be squashed.

"The committee could go against the recommendation fearing an appeal which is an extremely costly exercise, so we still need to fill that hall to ensure that public opinion is known to help the planning committee make their minds up in our favour."

Tory candidate for Reading West, Alok Sharma, added: "Local people are overwhelmingly opposed to any development on this site. I hope their views will prevail."

Earlier this month Blue Living wrote to district planning officer Clive Inwards saying the council had been uncooperative and refused to meet with the developer to help it resolve problems surrounding the proposal's impact on surrounding roads.

Blue Living's director of planning Simon Smales said the council's actions went against the spirit of a Planning Performance Agreement which was signed by the developer and council officers last month and said they would ensure all technical matters were resolved as far as possible.

Mr Smales also called for tonight's meeting to be put off until April and said: "The applicants and I are very disappointed that the process of arriving at a mutually agreeable series of highway mitigation and improvements will not be allowed to be concluded before the application goes to committee."

Objectors include Tilehurst, Theale and Holybrook parish councils, Reading Borough Council, Highways Agency and Campaign for the Protection of Rural England.

Mr Inwards' reasons for recommending refusal include the proposal going against the district's emerging panning strategy, which fails to earmark the site for development, and the adverse impact it would have on road safety and transport infrastructure.

For a full report of tonight's meeting visit www.readingchronicle.co.uk

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