When the Liberal Democrats took control of Wokingham Borough Council in May 2022, progressing and publishing a Local Plan for future development should have been their top priority. Instead, delays left the Borough exposed to speculative development.
Despite this, the Liberal Democrats delayed for two years, only publishing a draft Plan after two elections and after the new Labour Government announced it would almost double Wokingham’s housing target.
When the Plan was finally published, councillors had just one week to review more than 1,600 pages of complex policy documents, leaving insufficient time for proper scrutiny or meaningful amendments.
Conservative councillors identified significant flaws and highlighted public opposition to the unsustainable development. Traffic congestion was a major issue, yet mitigation proposals were inadequate, and uncosted. Conservatives proposed removing Hall Farm and Barkham Square from the Plan, and asked officers to explore alternative brownfield sites and make the case for exceptional circumstances to reduce housing requirements. Liberal Democrat and Labour councillors voted this down.
The Liberal Democrats repeatedly claimed their Local Plan would protect residents from Labour’s higher housing targets. However, that claim was contradicted last month by Planning Inspectors.
Following the Plan’s approval with Liberal Democrat and Labour support, the administration suggested the Conservative position was inconsistent. In reality, there’s no contradiction in arguing that the Plan should have been produced sooner and that the version eventually presented wasn’t up to scratch.
Thanks to the Liberal Democrats’ failure to act, a Planning Inspector ruled last month “the Council cannot demonstrate a 5-year housing land supply”, a situation that will continue until the Local Plan is adopted. As such, even if the Council refuses large housing developments, those decisions are more likely to be overturned on appeal.
The Inspector also set out that even when the new Plan is adopted, the insufficient number of houses included under the new method from the Labour Government will trigger an immediate review of Wokingham Borough’s housing allocations. The Government has already required the Council to have commenced work on a new plan by last month.
This contradicts assurances given by the Liberal Democrats. Only weeks ago, the Council Leader said: “we will be meeting our housing target, under the transitional arrangements – that’s the housing target that applied before – we will then have three years to formulate a new Plan which will have to meet the higher target”. As the Inspector’s report sets out, this just isn’t the case. I challenged the Leader’s statement, as well as the claim that we will have three years to formulate a new Plan.
It is tempting to put this misdirection down to Liberal Democrat incompetence. At last week’s Planning Committee, the Executive Member for Highways raised meaningful concerns about the impact of a development in Arborfield on the road network, despite the Highways department he oversees raising no objections to the addition of 135 homes. Planning officers also acknowledged that, despite their concerns over the principle of development, the absence of a five-year housing land supply creates a presumption in favour of approval.
The Borough’s current position is the direct result of the Liberal Democrats’ decisions. Given the circumstances, Conservatives will work constructively on the next Local Plan to secure sustainable development in the right locations while protecting residents and local infrastructure.
By Cllr Pauline Jorgensen, leader of Wokingham Conservatives
