A plan to get 49 homes built near a church and sports clubs in a rural area of Berkshire has been rejected by a government-appointed planning inspector.
Maverick Properties had a project to build the homes on unused land to the rear of St Sebastian’s Church off Nine Mile Ride.
The site is situated off Heathlands Road, next to Crowthorne and Crown Wood Cricket Club and Crowthorne Tennis Club.
The project would have provided 29 market and 20 affordable homes, representing 41 per cent of the development.
Of those, Maverick Properties would have provided four four-bed homes, six three-bed homes, eight two-bed and two-bed properties as designated affordable housing.
However, the application was rejected by Wokingham Borough Council’s planning department as the site is not allocated for development within its Local Plan.
The planning officer who recommended refusal wrote: “The proposed development would have an adverse impact on the landscape and character and appearance of the area by reason of the loss of an open green field in the countryside to an urbanising, large scale development.”
The project was therefore refused in August last year.
Maverick Properties attempted to get this decision overturned in an appeal to the government planning inspectorate, with David Prentis being appointed to decide it.
Mr Prentis did acknowledge the benefits of the project, particularly the amount of affordable housing suggested and the provision of new housing in general in Wokingham Borough.
But ultimately, he judged that the benefits of the project were outweighed by its shortfalls.
Although he conceded that the council’s Local Plan, defining where new homes can be built is out of date, he did note that the project would still conflict with it and the pattern of development in the area.
Mr Prentis wrote: “The proposal would be poorly located in relation to the existing pattern of development; harm to the character and appearance of the area, to which I attach significant weight because, although the impacts would be localised, this is a valued landscape.”
He dismissed the appeal on September 24.
Welcoming the news, councillor Marc Brunel-Walker (Liberal Democrats, Wokingham Without) said: “This is a great result and a fantastic community effort by residents, the parish councillors and borough councillors.”
You can view the refused application by typing reference 240831 into the council’s planning portal, and the appeal using reference APP/X0360/W/25/3359928.
