By Cllr Lindsay Ferris
Over the last 12 months, right in the middle of the Pandemic, at a time when most of us were concerned about other issues, the Government consulted on a number of planning reforms.
The Government is now proposing to introduce a number of these proposals, but I doubt if many of you reading this are aware of these reforms.
We did hear about proposals to double the number of homes being proposed for Wokingham Borough (up to 1,635 properties from circa 800 per annum over 20 years), which have I acknowledge been scrapped. However, linked in with this were reforms that are nothing short of a developers’ free-for-all.
These reforms would stop local communities from protecting cherished green spaces and do nothing for first-time buyers in areas like Wokingham Borough.
These reforms would also remove requirements on affordable homes, take power from local communities even to have a say on planning applications, and hand it to wealthy property developers instead. You have not heard anything about this from the local Conservatives, who I believe have tried to keep this issue low-key.
What is so worrying for our area is that we are in the middle of developing a new Local Plan (to take us to 2036). We already have a far too high housing target (circa 800+/- per annum for 20 years) which means the new Local Plan has to accommodate for circa 15-17,000 new properties during this period, although some have already been built.
This is on top of the over 13,500 that have already been built, or in the pipeline from the current Local Plan which runs until 2026. When this is taken into account we will be forced to take an increase of circa 25% in new properties in this area. I believe these numbers would destroy the semi-rural nature of our area and turn it into sprawling inner and outer suburbia.
We have already seen the impact of the existing 2026 Local Plan, thousands of houses have been built in North and South Wokingham, Winnersh, Barkham, Arborfield, Wokingham Without and Shinfield, while other areas like Woodley, Earley and Twyford are already almost covered in housing, with few green open spaces left.
If we are to receive the volume of housing mentioned, then other areas of the Borough will be under threat.
I heard a Tory MP over the weekend, say that voters in Amersham and Chesham misunderstood the planning reforms as most homes were to be built on Brown Field Sites.
Well in Wokingham Borough, the developers have their sights on many of our green spaces, including valuable farmland and some areas that have strong connections with the local community.
Very little of the land identified in Wokingham Borough is Brown Field sites. These have already been built on.
I ask readers to contact/lobby our four local MPs who cover the Wokingham Borough, especially the three Conservative MPs, to get these proposals scrapped. If we do not then our area will be overrun with thousands more houses, which I fear the current administration is likely to deliver with few objections.
“Expect homes to be dumped near you” is my warning message.
We in the Lib Dems want a community-led approach, one that puts local residents at the heart of the system and where residents are taken notice of and listened to, not taken for granted, or even worse simply ignored and certainly not a free-for-all for some landowners and developers.
We would also ensure that the Climate Emergency was fully taken into account when proposals for any new homes were being proposed. Without such action we could be in a far worse situation in a few years’ time, but with less green spaces to meet these urgent requirements.
We have to plan for your Children and Grandchildren otherwise they will have little left to protect.
Cllr Lindsay Ferris, Leader of the Liberal Democrats on Wokingham Borough Council and member for Twyford
