A vision for healthy, sustainable growth across Wokingham Borough is taking its next step towards becoming a reality – having been released as part of the agenda for next week’s full council meeting.
Wokingham Borough Council is moving forward with its new Local Plan, a high-level strategy document which sets out all aspects of how the borough should develop to meet residents’ needs until 2040.
This includes accommodating the new homes it needs to plan for, the type of housing and the places where it should or shouldn’t be allowed, as well as the accompanying infrastructure, education and employment opportunities.
Subject to full council approval, the new plan will go before an independent planning inspector, who will consider all feedback before deciding whether the council can formally adopt it.
Before this happens, a final process known as a Regulation 19 consultation on the proposed submission plan, will run for six weeks.
During this stage, residents can only comment on matters like whether the correct legal procedures have been followed in preparing the plan, and whether it meets the specific tests of “soundness” set out in national planning policy.
The content and proposed policies have already been shaped by comments from previous consultations – most recently the revised growth strategy consultation, which took place between late 2021 and early 2022.
Once adopted, the new Local Plan will play a crucial role in the council’s decision-making process, including how it decides planning applications.
New community proposed at garden village
New housing is needed, as are the jobs and new amenities that come with it, to help ensure future generations can live and work in the area where they grew up.
The new Local Plan proposes to provide the majority of housing in large scale strategic developments.
By doing this, instead of scattering a greater number of smaller-scale developments more widely, the council can make it viable for developers to provide affordable housing and improve infrastructure.
Crucially, it can require them to do so under legal agreements attached to their planning permissions.
This approach helps to secure a wealth of high-quality schools, roads, parks, community buildings and more, again funded by the developers.
The new Local Plan still proposes allocating a major new community at Hall Farm, on land to the south of the M4 between Shinfield, Sindlesham and Arborfield.
The land, partly owned by the University of Reading, would be developed as the Loddon Valley Garden Village – a settlement of 3,900 homes with a wealth of amenities that could include new primary and secondary schools, a large new country park and a new bridge over the M4.
This was one of three possible locations for large-scale growth and was chosen for several reasons, including the opportunity to create sustainable transport links and its closeness to employment opportunities at sites like Thames Valley Science Park.
The plan also proposes additional growth at the borough’s Arborfield Garrison and South Wokingham major developments, both of which are being developed through the existing Local Plan, and a range of additional smaller-scale growth elsewhere in the borough.
Protecting our environment and securing affordable homes
The new plan improves protection for treasured green spaces by designating more than 100 locally important sites as Local Green Spaces. and 13 areas as “valued landscapes” of borough-wide significance.
It sets ambitious policies on affordable housing, which seek 40% provision on the largest developments, up from the current 35 per cent, and proposes high environmental standards for all new buildings.
Both residential and commercial development will have to be zero-carbon where viable – and where it isn’t, developers will have to reduce carbon emissions as much as they can. This will support the council’s plan to tackle the climate emergency and, by requiring more energy efficient housing, reduce residents’ living costs.
The new Local Plan also establishes a strategy to reduce the need for vehicle journeys and make it easier to travel through active means like walking or cycling. As well as improving air quality and reducing emissions, this will help people live healthier lifestyles.
This approach follows, and builds upon, the successes of the existing Local Plan, which is set to provide almost £1 billion in developer-funded infrastructure and affordable housing over the 2006 to 2026 period.
Much of this is already completed, including major new roads, primary and secondary schools, nature parks, community spaces and more, and planning permission has either been granted or is now being sought for many of the remaining projects.
But with the current plan period coming to an end, it’s crucial that the council prepares a new Local Plan. This will allow it to keep defending the borough from speculative and less suitable development proposals, in less sustainable locations, and without the supporting infrastructure.
Best way forward after looking at all options
Cllr Stephen Conway, the leader of Wokingham Borough Council, said: “We’re thankful to everyone who has taken part in previous consultations on our new Local Plan and we’ve done our utmost to take their views into account where we can.
“We know the provision of new homes is an emotive topic because it inevitably results in the loss of some open countryside. However, we have to prepare for the future, and this is the best possible plan given the demand for homes and the constraints we face.
“The Loddon Valley Garden Village proposal will not only provide new homes, but everything its community needs to affordably enjoy a high standard of living.
“The high-quality accompanying infrastructure will be funded or provided directly by the developers, rather than local taxpayers meeting the cost.
“We can’t meet our future housing needs on previously developed brownfield land, as some have suggested, because there’s nowhere near enough. In any case, land used for employment needs to be kept for commercial use to support businesses and ensure the next generation have jobs as well as somewhere to live and bring up their own families.
“Additionally, our housing need is set by the Government and there are no circumstances that allow us to refuse these numbers or build fewer than we’re proposing. This would simply result in us losing our planning powers, leaving us vulnerable to far less suitable development proposals.
“The Government is also consulting on changes to national planning policy which, if approved, would significantly increase the number of homes we have to plan for. This would require us to start looking at the whole Local Plan again, at significant cost of time and effort.
“By moving it forward now, we can ensure development comes forward in the right places, supported by the right infrastructure, while working to the existing housing numbers.
“This will give us time and space to plan for any changes in national planning policy, including any change in the number required of us in future.”
Find out more about what’s happening next
The next steps will be discussed at a full council meeting on Thursday, September 129. For more information, including full details of the proposal, see the meeting agenda.
If the plan is approved for consultation, a survey will launch on the council’s Engage Wokingham Borough website at engage.wokingham.gov.uk.
Only comments on the plan’s legal compliance and soundness can be considered at this stage.
