Update 18th September 2023
It seems that we were a bit over optimistic last year when we said “Central Government are now proposing that the centrally produced housing targets for Local Planning Authorities will not be considered mandatory but only “advisory””. There is no mention of such a change in the summary of changes between the current and previous versions of the National Planning Policy Framework. Also, the presumption in favour development remains which will provide a means of forcing through unwanted developments.
The Council are pushing on with the Local Plan that will replace the current one when it expires in 2026. Their interactive map of the Borough shows that there is little or no change to the areas earmarked for development in 2022, particularly in our area. Currently the Council are consulting on their draft Statement of Community Involvement. This document defines how and when the Council will consult the community on a wide of planning topics. The consultation runs until 5:00PM on 16th October and can be view here Project • Shaping local development: our Statement of Com… (wokingham.gov.uk).
Summary
WBC’s current Local Plan for housing development runs until 2026. The Council previously consulted on a new Local Plan, covering development until 2038, in March 2020. However, this plan had to be revisited when the Ministry of Defence’s objected to the proposed “new town” at Grazeley due to its proximity to the AWE at Burghfield.
Details of a revised plan were approved by WBC executive in Nov 2021 and were consulted on in January 2022.
Since then we have had a change of the Political Party in charge at Wokingham. Also, Central Government are now proposing that the centrally produced housing targets for Local Planning Authorities will not be considered mandatory but only “advisory”. So it would seem that we can look forward to a second revision of the proposed local Plan but with reduced housing numbers, which is what the Council have been lobbying Central Government for.
The following is a summary of the current (2022) proposed Local Plan: The revised plan included: a garden village of about 4,500 homes at Loddon Valley/Hall Farm, south of the M4 between Shinfield, Arborfield and Sindlesham, with at least 2,200 to be built by 2038. Approximately 800 homes within our existing South Wokingham major development area and another 2,700 or so across 46 smaller sites. Around 700 of those additional 2,700 houses are spread across 7 sites in or near Emmbrook. ERA’s response to the consultation focused on those developments and can be found here.