Plans to build nearly one hundred homes in the village will not go ahead after opposition from residents.
Developers Mactaggart and Mickel Strategic Land wanted to build up to 99 homes on land between Lodge Road and Tape Lane in Hurst, Berkshire.
The new housing development would have ‘green infrastructure’ alongside open space, pedestrian and cycle links and recreational facilities for potential residents and would be made up of 40% affordable homes.
It comes as the latest in a long line of plans for the same land refused by Wokingham Borough Council. for the land.
Proposals proved unpopular with residents, with 216 letters of objection being received over the plan by Wokingham Borough Council. Many argued the rural character of the village would be ‘lost’ if the development went ahead, while others raised concerns about flooding and biodiversity.
The greenfield site had been subject to six previous attempts for development.
Most recently in 2022, developers wanted to build double the amount of homes on the land. That plan was taken to appeal after refusal from the local authority, where a government inspectorate ruled it against the plans.
Before this, various plans to build an equestrian centre, a mobile home, agricultural buildings and a farm shop were all refused.
Now, plans for 99 homes have been refused on the basis that it would be ‘significantly out of scale with the neighbouring small village of Hurst’.
Wokingham Borough Council said that it would not be suitable alongside the existing infrastructure in the village.
Developers said they would deliver a ‘comprehensive sustainable transport offer’ for residents, which included a bus service towards Twyford and Piggot School.
But bodies, including the NHS and Thames Water, said that existing facilities could not cope with extra homes.
The regional NHS also said it would raise objections to the plans as the existing GP surgery in the area ‘would not have the capacity to accommodate any new patients’.
Thames Water added that there is an ‘inability of the existing water network infrastructure to accommodate the needs’ of the development.
In its decision notice, the authority said the homes would result in a loss of greenfield and agricultural land.
Council planning officers wrote: “The application site is within an unsustainable location where residents would be reliant on private vehicles for basic day-to-day needs… [with] distances to facilities and services, limited public transport links and poor quality of the walking/cycling environment.”
Officers refused the outline planning application on November 29.
