A verdict is due on a plan for 75 homes in a village in Berkshire near Reading and a stop for the Elizabeth Line.
The project would see new homes built in the village of Charvil, which is located between Reading and Twyford, both of which have stops for the Elizabeth Line trains to and from London.
The village is also located along the A4, a major road link between the Reading suburbs of Woodley and Earley and Maidenhead.
Now, a housebuilding company is driving forward with a project to build 75 homes off Park Lane, on land ‘sandwiched’ between The Hawthorns estate and Canberra Lake Way.
The principle for the project was established in December 2024, when applicants Hicks Developments won outline permission from Wokingham Borough Council, the planning authority for Charvil.
The permission has since been purchased by Bellway Homes, which submitted detailed plans for the development in December last year.
Bellway will honour planning conditions to deliver 30 affordable homes on the site, which complies with the council’s policy of 40 per cent of developments being designated affordable.
Of those, 10 two-bed, 12 three-bed, six four-bed and two five-bed houses will all be made affordable, with 21 of these being available at social rent levels, seven designated as ‘First Homes’, with two being shared ownership.
The remaining 26 four-bedroom and 19 five-bedroom houses will be sold at market rate.
The detailed plans will be decided on by Wokingham council’s planning committee after the application was listed for councillors to determine by councillor Leon Cook (Conservative, Thames).
The plan has received 197 objections from neighbours, relating to a lack of landscape buffer with Canberra Lake Way and the creation of a public footpath.
Neil Barber, a neighbour to the site, argued construction traffic and trips generated by future occupants would create an “unacceptable safety hazard” for cyclists and people going to and from The Charvil Piggot Primary School located on the opposite side of Park Lane.
Planning officer Kieran Neumann has recommended that the application be approved subject to conditions, with the amount of affordable homes provided and its design weighing in its favour.
A pedestrian footpath linking the site with Canberra Lake Way was removed from the project following a letter from a Thames Valley Police Designing Out Crime Officer.
The council’s highways officer has judged the travel arrangements to be acceptable.
A decision is set to be made by Wokingham council’s planning committee on Wednesday, August 12.
You can view the application by typing reference 253071 into the council’s planning portal.
The project proved controversial when the outline plan was approved in December 2024.
Rob Jones, a member of Charvil Parish Council at the time, argued residents ‘felt ignored’ by Wokingham Borough Council’s planning department.
