WHILE Wokingham Borough Council’s planning department rejected plans to build 250 homes off Finchampstead Road, it lost an appeal this week to build a SANG in land next door to the proposed scheme.
Last November, the planning committee of Wokingham Borough Council voted down a proposal from Gladman Developers to build a Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspace (SANG), saying that it should be considered as part of the same application as the 250 homes.
However, Gladman appealed and the Planning Inspectorate ruled on Monday that WBC was wrong to dismiss the planning application.
The Inspector, J Ayres, ruled: “I do not agree with the Council’s position that the two applications must be considered jointly, and that the submission of this proposal unduly influences the proposed residential scheme on the adjacent site.
“The Council has suggested a number of planning conditions which I have considered against the advice contained in the Planning Practice Guidance.”
And the planning inspector ruled that Wokingham Borough Council should pay Gladman’s costs.
The decision disappointed the council.
Cllr Simon Weeks, executive member for planning and enforcement, said: “We have refused the application for 250 homes at Woodcray and the inspector’s decision to allow the Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspace (SANG) associated with it does not change our determination to resist this inappropriate housing one iota.
“The application for the homes was refused because the development would have had a negative impact on the countryside and area as whole, and the proposed highway solutions would have added pressure to surrounding roads.”
“The inspector’s decision to allow a nature park – which is effectively what a SANG is – makes no difference to our reasons for rejecting the application for homes.”
The campaign group Save Woodcray Countryside said it was disappointed with the decision.
Senior committee member Chris Benham said: “In light of last weeks positive decision by Wokingham Borough Council to REFUSE the application for 250 houses (planning application 170261) it is obviously disappointing to hear that an Independent Inspector – after 400 Wokingham Residents objected – has granted planning permission for the use of the land to Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspace (SANG), however, we can’t say we are surprised by the SANG decision.
“We were expecting the Inspector to approve it as we were never convinced that WBC had really sound planning reasons to reject it in the first instance.
“We must stress that the Inspector’s decision doesn’t mean that we will lose the housing appeal (assuming that Gladmans will appeal). The only real effect it has is to ensure that they have ticked the SANG box, obviously, if the Inspector had rejected the appeal, Gladmans could not have succeeded with the housing unless they could create or use another SANG nearby to mitigate their houses.
“Any appeal on the housing application from Gladmans is going to rely on WBC digging deeper in their pockets to protect their right to determine where house are built rather than being forced by speculative developers, otherwise no part of Wokingham is safe from the developers bulldozers and the subsequent increased traffic levels and high levels of air pollution.
“The residents of Wokingham need to understand this so that hopefully it will result in the wider community of Wokingham applying more pressure to the council to fight as hard as possible to protect our increasingly precious greenspace.
Gladman Homes was contacted for a comment.
