HOUSING numbers in Wokingham borough continues to be an issue raised at council meetings.
On January 19, Cllr Pauline Heliar-Symons (Con) said the previous administration had had a 99% success rate in winning appeals on planning applications, and wanted to know what the figure was for the Lib Dem-run council.
Cllr Lindsay Ferris, the executive member for planning and the local plan, said there had been 53 decisions since May last year, of which 21 appeals were allowed, 31 were dismissed and one was a split decision. This compared to 74 appeals the pervious year. Of these, 19 were allowed, 52 were dismissed and three were split decisions.
There were five appeals dealt with by public inquiries since May 2022, with costs reaching £127,000.
Cllr Heliar Symons said: “The lack of local plan is allowing developers to win these appeals. What are you going to do to prevent the building of the proposed additional 835 houses which are in the threatened area of my ward in Wokingham Without.”
Cllr Ferris said it was an interesting situation, as the council had been lobbying about the borough’s housing numbers with the government, this could see a reduction of 2,500 homes on the figures needed to 2036. This meant the council had to make a decision as to whether to stick with current draft of the local plan or create a new one.
“We have gone through an assessment of the largest sites,” he said, adding that the council was going through all the required stages.
