Whilst the news of the withdrawal of the planning application may seem like good news, there is no time for a breather. Although the current planning application may have been withdrawn, Arborfield Garrison is still adopted as a Strategic Development Location by Wokingham Borough Council, the army is still moving out in two years time, and Crest Nicholson and the rest of the consortium are intending to build exactly the same number of houses as before, it’s just that with a new planning application they’ll potentially be building them in slightly different places. Residents of the Garrison will have seen over the past few days that the developers are pressing on with a team of surveyors making a detailed topographical survey of the site whatever the weather.
As a result we are effectively back to square one. Until we’ve seen the developer presentation on Monday, we have little idea what new ideas the developers are going to bring to the table. What hints and rumours we have heard so far include:
- School locations: After the many discussions on school locations at the Community Planning Weekend back in January that led to the current proposed school locations we understand that the developers are once again considering alternative sites.
- Density: A number of responses highlighted the high densities on parts of the development, so the new plans have lower density housing, however it should be remembered that with the same number of houses required, and the same overall area this will most likely mean that there will be less green space, and perhaps a renewed threat to area B and the existing playing fields used by the existing residents.
- “A More Village Like Feel”: We believe that the new plans will have a redesigned district centre, facing outwards rather than inwards, however the elements of the district centre will remain the same.
- A Revised Traffic Plan: One of the main reasons for WBC asking for withdrawal of the planning application was over their ludicrous traffic plans, where putting a large number of intelligent traffic lights across numerous local junctions would mitigate the impact of 3,500 new houses and their occupants. The vast majority of responses to the planning application highlighted traffic problems, so the new planning application will have to better address these issues for the surrounding villages of Arborfield, Barkham, Finchampstead, Farley Hill and Eversley.
Just to reiterate, the process begins again this coming Monday, 11th November, at 7pm, in the Henry Street Garden Centre, so it is very important that as many people as possible attend the forum. Whilst the developer consortia have attended all of the community forums so far, they have attended as observers. This is an opportunity to talk to them directly, and give them immediate feedback on their new ideas for our communities.
