Wokingham’s council leader has expressed his “disappointment” after a government inspector overturned a decision to build hundreds of homes on farmland.
Housing developer David Wilson Homes won an appeal on February 5 to build 230 homes at Riverways Farm between Twyford and Charvil.
The plans, which first emerged in 2022, were refused by Wokingham Borough Council in June 2024. Councillors argued the new homes would be ‘an incongruous urban extension’ to the village.
Members of the authority’s planning committee argued the development would effectively create a new settlement cut off from Twyford, making daily travel difficult for potential residents.
Councillor Wayne Smith said it had taken him 30 minutes to walk from the site to Twyford train station, with colleagues agreeing that it would make future residents too reliant on cars.
But developers argued that it was an ‘“ideal location” for commuters using Twyford Railway station, with easy links into London on the Elizabeth Line.
Planning inspector Christa Masters said the farmland was “an appropriate, sustainable location” for new homes which was ‘well served’ by public transport options.
In her appeal decision, Ms Masters said the council’s contention with the site being physically separated from the rest of Twyford was “misleading”.
Leader of Wokingham Borough Council, Cllr Stephen Conway, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service he was ‘disappointed’ at the result of the appeal.
Cllr Conway, who is also in charge of planning and development, said: “We had hoped that our concerns about unsustainable development, too far and too physically separated from Twyford to allow access to local facilities apart from by car, would have carried more weight in the inspector’s mind.”
The ward member for Twyford and Ruscombe added that the council’s lack of a five-year land supply would have influenced the inspector’s decision.
This requires local authorities to have specific deliverable sites sufficient to provide 5 years’ worth of housing, as set out in a local plan.
Wokingham Borough Council is still in the process of passing through its local plan for housing, having been approved by councillors in September.
The homes will consist of 14 four-bed, 18-three bed and 28 three-bed houses, along with 14 two-bed and 18 one-bed flats. Some 40% of the homes will also be affordable.
The homes will replace farmland, covered by polytunnels according to satellite images, with one main road entrance and exit to the site onto the New Bath Road.
Ms Masters said the plans consisted of no adverse impact which would significantly outweigh the benefits of planning permission.
