IMPORTANT UPDATE: Public Consultation

In the recent press release from Wokingham Borough Council where the council announced that they were pushing ahead with the Arborfield Garrison SDL after “a firm commitment” from the MoD (actually a letter from Defence Estates – the Army requirements are still under review and will not be known before the spring) the council highlighted that they were expecting outline planning applications for the whole of the SDL in the new year.

As part of this process the main consortium representing Defence Estates, the landowners of Dovecot Nursery and Westwood Farm are intending to mount a public exhibition and consultation in order to show local residents their plans for the site and get their feedback. GVA Grimley have been appointed by the consortium to prepare and co-ordinate the submission of the planning application.

1500 residents will get invites by letter to attend shortly, but we at AG-RAG feel that the consultation and exhibition are being deliberately timed such that there will be the minimum response from residents. We however feel that as many people as possible should be able to attend and let the developers know exactly what they think of their plans.

The exhibition will be held at the Arborfield Garrison Community Centre on Thursday 9th and Friday 10th December (yes that is next week). The exhibition will be open from 12pm to 8pm on the Thursday and from 8am to 2pm on the Friday. Consortium representatives will be on site to answer questions and take your feedback in person.

If you can’t make the exhibition (and we know many cannot) the consortium will put their proposals on a website at www.gvagrimley.co.uk/consultarborfield from Thursday 9th December onwards, and will be accepting e-mail responses at consult.arborfield@gvagrimley.co.uk up to Friday 7th January 2011.

We cannot stress how important it is to participate in this consultation – it is your one opportunity to speak directly to the developer consortium before the formal planning application processes commence in the new year, and to see in detail what they have planned for our community.