We’re halfway through July but Summer has barely broken through. An English Summer is unpredictable but a few drops of rain is hardly likely to put us off!
We are fortunate in Wokingham Borough to have access to green open spaces within a mix of bustling towns and vibrant villages. In the more rural parts of the Borough, farms and woodland crisscrossed with public footpaths can be enjoyed by all.
It is also important to remember that many people in the Borough have actively chosen to live here because it is comparatively less built up. Residents want to preserve our semi-rural character and are concerned that this will be lost.
Young people today should have the same chances of home ownership as previous generations, but there is a balance to be struck. Other areas need to take their fair share of housing too.
To do this more opportunities need to be created outside of the South East and London.
Last week, I called on Labour MP for Earley and Woodley, Yuan Yang, to distance herself from the Labour Party’s policy on development which includes a return to centrally mandated targets.
Concerningly for us, the new Labour Government has promised an historic shake up of planning laws which will see local people’s concerns dismissed in favour of Whitehall decision making.
The failure by Wokingham Borough Council’s Liberal Democrat administration to produce a new Local Plan has resulted in planning applications being recommended for approval in areas outside designated development. Such areas are rural in character and don’t have bus routes or other infrastructure to support an influx in residents.
Five months into the Liberal Democrats’ leadership of the Council, more than 18 months ago, officers warned “The Council no longer has a five-year housing land supply and so an increase in appeals for speculative housing development is expected.”
During the previous Conservative administration, we had meetings with the Secretary of State for Local Government, Housing Ministers, and our local MPs to press the case for cutting Wokingham Borough’s housing numbers whilst being honest with residents about what was achievable. This strategy worked.
We got the Government to slash the Borough’s housing targets in half.
Following promises to save the Borough from development, the Liberal Democrat/Labour Council and their former leader, now MP, failed to engage with Ministers on this issue in any meaningful way despite boasts about fleeting contact with ministers. I offered to work with them, but my offer was ignored.
We can’t trust what the Liberal Democrats say. Nationally they call for more houses to be built contrary to what their local candidates promise here. In the general election Liberal Democrats committed to building 1.9 million more houses over the next five years, compared to Labour’s 1.5m houses.
In their election literature Liberal Democrat council candidates proclaimed that Conservatives were planning to build on Rooks Nest Farm, under a heading that declared “Save Rooks Nest” but now they’re going to build on it.
In contrast to Lib Dem party policy to build more houses, when in opposition the Liberal Democrats’ Leader, now MP, campaigned against building on Hall Farm, as Council Leader he then had the opportunity to make good his promises and act but chose to do nothing.
Liberal Democrats have also promised to fight development at Barkham Square.
We will have to see what is in their new local plan when it is eventually published.
Liberal Democrats have the power to keep their promises. For over two years, they have controlled the Council and now they have a local MP. They have left us without a new Local Plan exposed to Labour’s new house building zeal.
The Conservative Group will continue to fight to protect green fields and open spaces across the Borough even if Labour and Lib Dems won’t.
Nevertheless, make the most of the outdoors this Summer, because development is coming and it’s coming to a green space near you.
By Pauline Jorgensen
