READING EAST MP Matt Rodda also has reservations over the Government’s white paper on planning.
“I am concerned about these new proposals, I think they could make things a lot worse,” he said. “The priority should be on building on brownfield land before the greenfield is used.
“There are some great examples in Reading of that happening – I thought we had a sensible approach here.”
Mr Rodda, whose constituency includes parts of Earley and Woodley, cited the Woodley Airfield development as a good repurposing of land no longer in use.
“It really is an attractive place to live,” he said. “That used to be an airfield and now it’s housing – there are places like that in Berkshire where you can build on without building on the countryside.”
He also highlighted projects such as the redevelopment of the former Homebase and Toys R Us site in Reading’s town centre.
“We should try and find disused bits of industrial land and build on those first rather than green areas,” he added.
And the MP also raised concerns about infrastructure.
“I’ve yet to be convinced,” he said of whether the white paper went far enough to create roads, schools and doctors’ surgeries.
“The government has a poor track record on this,” Mr Rodda continued. “There are lots of new developments which are built without proper surgeries and roads.
“In densely populated areas, we should be trying to get high quality public transport available so that people can use the train, or the bus, and take traffic off the roads.
“If everybody tried to use the roads at the same time that would be impossible. We have to provide good quality public transport and better investments in stations. We need more investment and support for buses so that people who do have to drive have a bit more road space to use.”
Mr Rodda is hoping that residents will get behind Wokingham Borough Council’s campaign.
“I’m happy to work with the council on a cross-party basis to try and preserve green space and encourage brownfield development and a sensible mixture of housing so that there’s some council housing, and starter homes as well as big executive homes.
“This means that there’s a range of different houses for people on different income brackets to purchase.”
