Wokingham borough council will appeal to the government over new housebuilding targets over fears it will ‘change the character and nature of Wokingham forever’.
Wokingham must build 560 more homes every year under new housing targets set by the Labour government, taking the total from 748 to 1,308.
Conservative councillor Charles Margetts introduced a motion at last week’s full council meeting, calling for a cross-party campaign to reduce the targets which he branded ‘not deliverable’.
Councillor Margetts said: “Since I was elected in 2016, the number one issue our residents have raised with me has been the level of new housebuilding expected in the borough.
“Wokingham’s population increased by 15% from 2012 to 2022.
“Based on my experience, residents are not opposed to new housing but are firmly against new developments occurring without the necessary infrastructure growth.”
The member for Finchampstead said greater development would be ‘harmful’ on the town, claiming ‘no commitment to funding the necessary infrastructure to support it’.
He argued that targets should be set by local authorities rather than national government.
But Labour members of the council said they were ‘disappointed’ by colleagues’ stances.
Councillor Marie-Louise Weighill said people in the borough were in ‘constant and agonising worry’ over housing.
She said: “I’m going to make the controversial suggestion that housing is good, actually – we should have more of it.
“We often hear about the threat of housing.
“Housing is presented very often as something that is imposed by an external force.
“But the character of the borough for many people is a constant and agonising worry.”
Fellow labour member Alex Freeney pointed to the 1,337 people on the social housing register in Wokingham, branding the motion as ‘completely tone deaf to the problems people in this borough are actually facing’.
He said with current waiting lists, it would take 38 years for the council to satisfy demand for affordable housing.
The Liberal Democrats, who lead the council, proposed an amendment to the plans saying they would ‘lobby the government for changes to the planning system to give councils more control’.
The party also opposes the higher housebuilding targets and says more ‘reasonable and realistic’ ones are needed for all boroughs.
Conservative members accepted the Liberal Democrat amendment to write to the government appealing and asking for more control over planning.
