Whilst we await the planning application from the Arborfield Garrison Landowners Consortium, now expected in April, the council has continued with it’s ongoing consultations.
This week Wokingham Borough Council held the first “Shaping our New Communities Workshop” which brought together people who had expressed an interest in the community facilities across the strategic development locations in the recent survey of community needs, in particularly what could be put in the new community facilities at the centre of the developemnt. The group consisted of a real mixed bag of people including representatives from churches, the local uniformed organisations, local drama groups, plus a couple of parish councillors. Sadly when it came to the discussions specifically about Arborfield there was no representation from either Arborfield Parish Council or Barkham Parish Council with only the local churches and Lauraine Newcombe a parish councillor from Finchampstead in attendance. The council is intending to run the workshop again, so to ensure you get an invitation please fill in the SINC Consultation on the council website, it is important to get these requirements done early as quite often with new developments leaving this kind of infrastructure results in them not being completed. If you are directly involved, or you know anyone locally who may be involved with any sort of local group that might want to use the potential new community centre, or you have an interest in ensuring we get a library in the new development for example it is important to make your voice heard.
Borough councillors, parish councillors and ourselves continue to meet with Wokingham Borough Council officers monthly to discuss the ongoing progress of the strategic development. The minutes of the most recent meeting can be found here. If there are any particular issues you wish to raise at these meetings we are happy to do so, please let us know through our contact page.
There are a couple of public meetings that may be of interest coming up this week. Firstly tomorrow night the Finchampstead Society are holding a special meeting at the Memorial Hall in Finchampstead where Matt Davey the Head of Highways and Transport at Wokingham Borough Council will be giving a presentation on the Traffic in Finchampstead related to the Housing Development at Arborfield. Those of you who attended the special highways meeting last month will be familiar with Matt, but for those concerned with the effects of the development particularly around the California Crossroads, and the Reading Road down into Eversley this will be an ideal opportunity to come and talk particularly about the potential traffic problems that the development will produce in these areas. The society was formed in 1976 when urbanisation was threatening Finchampstead, and their website includes an interesting document produced at that time that is worth reading given the current development! A flyer for the meeting tomorrow can be found here.
The other public meeting of interest is the Finchampstead Parish Council Annual Gathering for Parishioners, this is to be held on Wednesday 27th March, 2013 at 8pm at the FBC Centre in Gorse Ride. This is an open meeting for all Finchampstead Parishioners and is your opportunity to ask any questions you wish about the parish council and its work.
In terms of what happens next, the Arborfield Garrison Landowners Consortium is expected to put in their planning application in April, the official line from the council with regards to an application on the southern part of the site on the land owned by the Finchampstead based Marino Family Trust is that they don’t know when they might receive an application. It is worth noting from the minutes of the steering group meeting that the council can’t refuse the AGLC application if Marino don’t put in an application of their own.
