A public meeting has been held in opposition to a project to build thousands of new homes just south of Reading.
The meeting was held to inform residents about the proposal to build 3,900 homes in the Loddon Valley between Shinfield and Winnersh, on land that is currently known as Hall Farm.
The proposal involves creating a garden village on the sprawling stretch of land emerging in the Wokingham Local Plan update process.
The event was jointly hosted by Save Our Loddon Valley Environment (SOLVE) campaign group and the Conservative Party.
Councillor Pauline Jorgensen (Conservative, Hillside), the leader of the opposition on Wokingham Borough Council said: “The meeting was mainly held to make sure residents in Winnersh knew what was going on with Hall Farm.
“There were 55 people there, which was a decent turnout. Most people in Winnersh don’t know about it.
“A lot of people said it’s complete news to them, so it was a useful, factual meeting, especially as the proposed development will affect residents.”
The event took place at the Winnersh Community Centre on Saturday, January 25.
The meeting was held in the context of the Winnersh by-election, which was triggered following the death of Liberal Democrat councillor Paul Fishwick last November.
It was attended by the Conservative candidate Nick Kilby, who faces off against Chetne Jamthe for the Liberal Democrats, Parvinder Singh for Labour and Samuel Langlois, the Green Party candidate.
Conservative campaign manager Spencer Farmer said: “First of all, as the Conservative group were opposed to the Hall Farm, we don’t think what’s been proposed is sound since the proposal emerged in 2021 and after consultation in 2022.
“The responses came back, we looked at the input, and we listened to what the public said.
“Unfortunately in 2022 the Conservatives lost the council – ironically Lib Dems campaigned against it [Hall Farm] during the local election.
“What we’re saying quite simply, contrary to our political opponents, from 2022 we were opposing it.”
During the meeting, Paul Stevens of SOLVE argued the Hall Farm development would create a ‘town’ the size of Winnersh ‘where there is currently no existing infrastructure’.
The Conservatives have been accused of hypocritically opposing the Hall Farm garden village, which first emerged as a suggested site when the Tories were in power in November 2021.
The meeting was attended by cllr Prue Bray (Liberal Democrats, Winnersh), who accused cllr Jorgensen of misleading attendees.
She said: “I was very disappointed that cllr Jorgensen chose to make a number of inaccurate statements at the meeting – I’m not sure if she is ill-informed or was intentionally misleading.
“Other Conservative councillors are publicly admitting that they put Hall Farm into the local plan and they cannot stop the development, whilst the candidate in the by-election is claiming it is ‘not a done deal’.
“Residents deserve better than cynical politicking over such important issues.”
Meanwhile, Andy Croy, a representative for Wokingham Labour said: “It was a Conservative campaign meeting, it was the Conservatives trying to get votes, it wasn’t a serious meeting.
“Hall Farm is pretty much a done deal – it’s absurd and it’s ridiculous to suggest it isn’t.
“It’s absurd, it shows how desperate the Conservatives are – all they’ve got to offer is something that can’t be stopped.
“The Conservatives put Hall Farm into the plan, the Lib Dems opposed it – there was a switch, it’s like a sitcom where they have the same actors playing different characters.
“If people weren’t taking it seriously, it would be hilarious. The people of Winnersh deserve better.”
The Local Democracy Reporting Service has contacted the Greens for a statement.
