JAMES SUNDERLAND says he has found common ground with the new leader of Wokingham Borough Council in a bid to reduce housing numbers.
Cllr Clive Jones in the process of meeting with all four of the borough’s MPs as part of his campaign to protect Wokingham’s remaining green spaces from development.
The Bracknell MP, whose constituency includes parts of Crowthorne, Finchampstead and Wokingham Without, held the meeting shortly after a similar gathering with Sir John Redwood. Cllr Jones will meet Theresa May and Matt Rodda in coming weeks.
And he is calling for a meeting with Michael Gove, the government minister for levelling up, to have his case heard.
“We can explain the real problems that the Government’s policies are causing in places such as Wokingham borough,” he said.
“It is obvious to everybody living here that we don’t need massive commercial housing development that blights our countryside, clogs our roads and overloads our schools and doctors’ surgeries.
“We do need some new homes, but these need to be genuinely affordable social housing. We also need a planning system that works in the interests of local communities, not the interest of the development industry.”
Following the meeting, Mr Sunderland said: “‘I welcomed the opportunity today to meet with the new Leader of Wokingham Borough Council and his team.
“We agreed on several issues and found that we have common ground in facing the challenges ahead.
“My overriding interest as the local MP lies in supporting my constituents and I am confident that the new administration in Wokingham will support me in doing exactly that.”
And Mr Sunderland has also met with opposition leader Cllr Pauline Jorgensen, to discuss the potential Rocks Nest development in Finchampstead. It was listed in the Local Plan Update prepared by the previous administration and is currently being reviewed by the new one.
He said: “I welcomed the opportunity to meet with Pauline, we had a productive meeting discussing the issues facing my constituents.”
And Cllr Jorgensen said: “In our discussion, we both agreed that it is vitally important to save Rooks Nest Farm from any development, as the Conservatives had always been clear we would.
“The Lib Dem-led coalition administration must commit to keeping Rooks Nest Farm out of any Local Plan.”
“We made clear that the Lib Dems either would have to put Rooks Nest Farm into a Local Plan because they’ve promised to take so many other sites out, or else they would drag their feet on the Plan and cause speculative development there.
“I sincerely hope that the Lib Dems prove us wrong. Finchampstead residents deserve better than having the coalition break promises to them already.”
