Documents published by Wokingham Borough Council appear to throw cold water on plans for 475 homes on land at Body’s Farm, off Basingstoke Road in Spencers Wood.
Marrons Planning, the agents for developers Richborough, issued an application for a ‘scoping opinion’ to determine the exact requirements of an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the development.
In its reply, officers for Wokingham Borough Council said: “The site is located within the Detailed Emergency Planning Zone (DEPZ) for the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) Burghfield.
“The DEPZ is the area where the council needs to have planned, in detail, how it, along with many other responders, will respond in the event of a radiation emergency arising from the AWE site.
“As the DEPZ stretches across multiple local authorities, they all have a responsibility to control development within this zone.
“An Off-Site Emergency Plan is required and is in place, although this is prepared by West Berkshire Council (as the authority where the AWE facilities are situated).
“Within Wokingham Borough, policy TB04 of the Managing Development Delivery Framework applies.
“This policy controls development in the vicinity of AWE Burghfield.
“It states development will only be permitted where the applicant demonstrates that the increase in the number of people living, working, shopping and/or visiting the proposal (including at different times of the day) can be safely accommodated having regard to the needs of “Blue light” services and the emergency off-site plan for the Atomic Weapons Establishment site at Burghfield.
“The applicant will need to provide this information where the proposal exceeds the scale of development detailed below for the consultation zone as defined on the Policies Map.
“In relation to the second point, the scale of development in the DEPZ is all residential or non residential applications where one or more additional persons may live, work, shop and/ or visit.
“This proposal would see a significant population increase, owing to residential and commercial occupation along with a school, as well as the development potentially attracting visitors owing to the local centre and areas of open space/ sports facilities.
“Impacts on human health and topic chapters on the proposal’s location within the DEPZ would be required to be scoped into the Environmental Statement.
“However, officers want to make clear that upon consultation with the Wokingham Borough Council’s emergency planning officer (EPO) and the West Berkshire emergency planning officer, they have said that they would advise against the granting of planning permission for this proposal due to directly being contrary to public safety and implications on the Off-Site Emergency Plan.
“They have advised that the proposal cannot be accommodated in the AWE Off-Site Emergency Plan.
“As such, officers consider this proposal would not be acceptable in principle owing to the site’s location within the DEPZ.”
