Just over six months ago the Liberal Democrats voted to approve its Local Plan for future housing development, with the support of some Labour members.
This Plan, which took the Liberal Democrats over two years to produce, is flawed. Worst of all it has been built on the back of broken promises made by Liberal Democrats to the people of Wokingham Borough.
Conservative councillors have raised serious and legitimate concerns regarding the impact on existing residents and traffic levels of developments at Barkham Square, Arborfield, Wokingham Without and Hall Farm. The plan ignores the fact that Hall Farm will tip all the traffic from nearly 4,000 houses onto existing roads such as the Lower Earley Way or Mill Lane and Mole Road. The plan contained vague promises of road improvements, but some were not costed and there was a lack of clarity. The Hall Farm development as set out in these plans will never be sustainable. It has poor public transport links and is miles from the nearest station.
Now it seems we are not the only ones who think the Local Plan lacks detail.
Planning Inspectors, who will make the ultimate decision about where the Liberal Democrats’ Local Plan can go ahead, have written to the Council to express “concerns” about what is being proposed. In particular, they have questioned the viability of plans for infrastructure and whether the house building rate is achievable. The Inspectors have requested further information from the Council.
The frustrating thing is that it didn’t have to be this way.
Rather than engaging with the Conservatives on any of the concerns we raised, the Liberal Democrats have accused us of “trying to whip up opposition.” Firstly, this only goes to demonstrate how out of touch with the residents of this Borough.
It also ignores the fact that we have repeatedly said that there are some things in the draft Local Plan that we do agree with. When the Liberal Democrats presented their plan to councillors, I welcomed the commitment to protect Green Belt and urban green spaces, the inclusion of affordable housing, the protection of the route for a third Thames bridge, and the commitment to physical segregation of cycle ways from roads to protect cyclists.
The Conservatives tried to get the Liberal Democrat administration to pause and take some additional weeks to reconsider their plan, especially so it could look at alternative options to Hall Farm. We had had just a week to go through 1,600 pages of complex policy documents, and when we sought clarity, Liberal Democrat councillors simply dismissed us. Sadly, our request for a brief pause was voted down by the Liberal Democrats and Labour.
It’s welcome that the administration is now required to produce the evidence that underpins their draft Plan, but it’s deeply worrying that it’s taken until consideration by the Planning Inspectorate for this to be brought out.
The Liberal Democrats have repeatedly said that Hall Farm is a done deal, but the doubts expressed by the Planning Inspectors show this isn’t the case. The Conservatives know that residents don’t want it, it will be highly damaging, and it doesn’t even appear to be deliverable. We will continue the fight against this seriously flawed Local Plan.
