Last night was the next in the regular series of Arborfield Community Forums held once again at the Henry Street Garden Centre in Arborfield.
There were perhaps two key items on the agenda for many residents, the first being an update from Roger Bullworthy on the Marino Family development plans, and the second being a more detailed review of the Arborfield Bypass/Relief Road consultation and details of the next steps. Alongside this the meeting also included more general updates on the development, an update on the ongoing secondary school consultation process, and details of the My Journey and Green Ways projects that are aiming to reduce car use across the borough.
Going through the agenda in order, the meeting started with Wokingham Principal Planning Officer, Matt Melville updating the meeting on current progress. Effectively this is that they still expect the planning application from the Arborfield Garrison Landowners Consortium for their 2,000 houses (of the total 3,500) in the autumn, and that there is a significant amount of work being done by the consortium to ensure a much better application is made this time around. Matt also highlighted the regular steering group meetings on which we are represented, and as mentioned by Matt we are happy to take any particular concerns residents may have to those meetings and report back.
Moving on, next to speak was Roger Bullworthy.
If you’ve attended a number of forum meetings, or the community planning weekend last year, Roger may well have been familiar to you, as although he hasn’t spoken publicly up to now he has been a regular attendee at the majority of the meetings relating to the development.
Roger highlighted firstly that the Marino Family are local, having lived in Finchampstead for a number of years, and intend to continue to live here once the development is completed, as such they are concerned to get the development right as just the same as other local residents they will have to live with the consequences of a badly designed development. In terms of design and layout they are intending to follow the modified version of the master plan as set out during the feedback from the community planning weekend last year.
Roger committed to the Marino Family delivering the Nine Mile Ride extension immediately development commences – this is of course important from the point of view of access to the district centre from the Finchampstead side. Another key point he made is that they are not going to be selling their land holding to a developer in one go, but will instead release land parcels over the whole development period, and whilst the individual developers who buy these parcels will specify their own house types, Roger assured the meeting that the Marino Family would sell the parcels such that anything that was built would conform to the overall master plan.
With regards to questions, the first questioner highlighted a common confusion that surrounds the SDL development in that he hadn’t realised that the Marino family land would hold an additional 1,500 houses. This is a point we have made on a number of occasions particularly to local media, the 2,000 houses on the MoD land are part of a total development of 3,500 – many local residents fail to realise that there are two separate land holdings and assume the reported 2,000 is the total!
Another key question that was raised was over the expanded Hogwood Lane Industrial Estate, and the extra traffic that would be generated. Roger took this to be concern that the expansion would include office blocks, and stated that the expanded industrial estate would all be classified as B2 General Industrial. However we are aware that a concern for many residents is the existing access to the site for HGV’s, some of which attempt to drive up Park Lane rather than come in on one of the slight less unsuitable roads such as Biggs Lane. As we have highlighted on a number of occasions, the industrial estate is really on the wrong side of the development and should really have direct access from the A327 – all HGV traffic for the estate currently has to go around on Biggs Lane, and once the Nine Mile Ride extension is complete will probably come in on that road, straight through the middle of the new housing development. The industrial estate expansion is being placed where it is because that is where the industrial estate is already, not because it is a good place on the overall development to put an industrial estate!
Moving on, next to present was Piers Brunning who updated the meeting on the ongoing consultation process with local parents on provision of a school in the South of the Borough. He also highlighted the next meeting specifically focusing on planning for the new school that takes place tomorrow night, Wednesday 19th March, at 7:30pm at the Finchampstead Baptist Centre. We understand that Wokingham Borough Council may be making some more announcements with respect to the school at the meeting tomorrow, and will report back anything that affects the SDL development.
After Piers had spoken, Steve Bailey gave a presentation on the My Journey and the Green Ways projects. Of most interest will probably be the Green Ways project that is looking to create a network of cycle, footpaths and bridleways away from major roads across the borough, connecting the new strategic development locations with other areas of the borough. The routes will make use of existing footpaths and byways where available, and in others will put in new paths.
We understand that there was some concern with the maps presented, as in a number of places they showed new paths going across land where the council has yet to speak to the affected landowners. There are other places where what are now simple footpaths are to be widened and upgraded to take cycle traffic and horses, again the landowners have yet to be consulted. As was noted in the questions from the floor, the planned network connects together the SDL’s, but misses key connections such as Wokingham Station, and secondary schools – connections that are key if we’re wanting to encourage students to cycle or walk. We’re certainly keen to see such a network come to fruition, however as with the initial stages of the bypass/relief road consultation it causes a good deal of concern from landowners if the first they hear of changes on their land is at a large public meeting such as the forum, and would urge the council to talk to the landowners before such announcements in future.
The final major item on the agenda was a more detailed review of the consultation results on the Arborfield Bypass/Relief Road.
The first and most important point is that thanks to the overwhelming response during the consultation period, the council is now actively pursuing route B. Steve presented a more detailed breakdown of the figures that indicated that route B was the overwhelming choice with everybody apart from respondents from the Farley Hill area. Given the level of response, this has pushed back the schedule for the building of the road, as the council is now going into an additional period of design work that is expected to be signed off at the next council executive meeting when route B is formally adopted as the preferred route. We must congratulate our colleagues on the Arborfield Action Group and our friends at Lockey Farm for the excellent campaign they launched which was highlighted by Steve Bailey as being key in mobilising responses and changing the council plan.
In response to questioning Steve highlighted that any plans would also show what changes would be made to the existing road through Arborfield and Arborfield Cross once traffic had been diverted away.
One particular point that was raised, which wasn’t adequately addressed was whether the developers would still be restricted to less than 750 houses until the road opened. The less than satisfactory answer was that currently this wasn’t going to be the case as the road would be built later as a result of the extra design time needed – as a result we could be looking at over 1,000 houses or more being built before the road would be finished assuming the current timings for planning are met. This led to a discussion about where the lorries to and from the SDL site would be routed, to which the answer is that they will probably come up and down the A327 either through Eversley or Arborfield. Little comfort for those who live on the road.
One bit of good news that was confirmed during the question and answer is that whilst the planned Arborfield Bypass doesn’t meet the new Shinfield relief road, leaving the stretch of road across the River Loddon exactly as it is currently, as a result of the major flooding that occurred this winter and the resultant closures of the A327, that stretch of road has been prioritised for flood alleviation measures, paid for by central government so we should get an improved road over the whole stretch of the A327 after all.
Whilst we are pleased that progress is being made on the A327, we continue to be concerned that this is not the only problem area, chief among the unaddressed areas is the next section of the A327 through Finchampstead and over the bridge into Eversley. Although it hasn’t been closed for long periods over the winter, the chaos caused by one set of temporary traffic lights and the resultant gridlocked traffic at peak times shows that this is a problem that needs to be addressed with more than just a change to the junction with the A30.
The next forum is on Thursday June 5th, at 7pm, again at Henry Street Garden Centre. We would also urge anyone with an interest in the school provision to attend the meeting tomorrow at 7:30pm at FBC.
Arborfield Community Forum – Monday 17th March
Last night was the next in the regular series of Arborfield Community Forums held once again at the Henry Street Garden Centre in Arborfield.
There were perhaps two key items on the agenda for many residents, the first being an update from Roger Bullworthy on the Marino Family development plans, and the second being a more detailed review of the Arborfield Bypass/Relief Road consultation and details of the next steps. Alongside this the meeting also included more general updates on the development, an update on the ongoing secondary school consultation process, and details of the My Journey and Green Ways projects that are aiming to reduce car use across the borough.
Going through the agenda in order, the meeting started with Wokingham Principal Planning Officer, Matt Melville updating the meeting on current progress. Effectively this is that they still expect the planning application from the Arborfield Garrison Landowners Consortium for their 2,000 houses (of the total 3,500) in the autumn, and that there is a significant amount of work being done by the consortium to ensure a much better application is made this time around. Matt also highlighted the regular steering group meetings on which we are represented, and as mentioned by Matt we are happy to take any particular concerns residents may have to those meetings and report back.
Moving on, next to speak was Roger Bullworthy.
If you’ve attended a number of forum meetings, or the community planning weekend last year, Roger may well have been familiar to you, as although he hasn’t spoken publicly up to now he has been a regular attendee at the majority of the meetings relating to the development.
Roger highlighted firstly that the Marino Family are local, having lived in Finchampstead for a number of years, and intend to continue to live here once the development is completed, as such they are concerned to get the development right as just the same as other local residents they will have to live with the consequences of a badly designed development. In terms of design and layout they are intending to follow the modified version of the master plan as set out during the feedback from the community planning weekend last year.
Roger committed to the Marino Family delivering the Nine Mile Ride extension immediately development commences – this is of course important from the point of view of access to the district centre from the Finchampstead side. Another key point he made is that they are not going to be selling their land holding to a developer in one go, but will instead release land parcels over the whole development period, and whilst the individual developers who buy these parcels will specify their own house types, Roger assured the meeting that the Marino Family would sell the parcels such that anything that was built would conform to the overall master plan.
With regards to questions, the first questioner highlighted a common confusion that surrounds the SDL development in that he hadn’t realised that the Marino family land would hold an additional 1,500 houses. This is a point we have made on a number of occasions particularly to local media, the 2,000 houses on the MoD land are part of a total development of 3,500 – many local residents fail to realise that there are two separate land holdings and assume the reported 2,000 is the total!
Another key question that was raised was over the expanded Hogwood Lane Industrial Estate, and the extra traffic that would be generated. Roger took this to be concern that the expansion would include office blocks, and stated that the expanded industrial estate would all be classified as B2 General Industrial. However we are aware that a concern for many residents is the existing access to the site for HGV’s, some of which attempt to drive up Park Lane rather than come in on one of the slight less unsuitable roads such as Biggs Lane. As we have highlighted on a number of occasions, the industrial estate is really on the wrong side of the development and should really have direct access from the A327 – all HGV traffic for the estate currently has to go around on Biggs Lane, and once the Nine Mile Ride extension is complete will probably come in on that road, straight through the middle of the new housing development. The industrial estate expansion is being placed where it is because that is where the industrial estate is already, not because it is a good place on the overall development to put an industrial estate!
Moving on, next to present was Piers Brunning who updated the meeting on the ongoing consultation process with local parents on provision of a school in the South of the Borough. He also highlighted the next meeting specifically focusing on planning for the new school that takes place tomorrow night, Wednesday 19th March, at 7:30pm at the Finchampstead Baptist Centre. We understand that Wokingham Borough Council may be making some more announcements with respect to the school at the meeting tomorrow, and will report back anything that affects the SDL development.
After Piers had spoken, Steve Bailey gave a presentation on the My Journey and the Green Ways projects. Of most interest will probably be the Green Ways project that is looking to create a network of cycle, footpaths and bridleways away from major roads across the borough, connecting the new strategic development locations with other areas of the borough. The routes will make use of existing footpaths and byways where available, and in others will put in new paths.
We understand that there was some concern with the maps presented, as in a number of places they showed new paths going across land where the council has yet to speak to the affected landowners. There are other places where what are now simple footpaths are to be widened and upgraded to take cycle traffic and horses, again the landowners have yet to be consulted. As was noted in the questions from the floor, the planned network connects together the SDL’s, but misses key connections such as Wokingham Station, and secondary schools – connections that are key if we’re wanting to encourage students to cycle or walk. We’re certainly keen to see such a network come to fruition, however as with the initial stages of the bypass/relief road consultation it causes a good deal of concern from landowners if the first they hear of changes on their land is at a large public meeting such as the forum, and would urge the council to talk to the landowners before such announcements in future.
The final major item on the agenda was a more detailed review of the consultation results on the Arborfield Bypass/Relief Road.
The first and most important point is that thanks to the overwhelming response during the consultation period, the council is now actively pursuing route B. Steve presented a more detailed breakdown of the figures that indicated that route B was the overwhelming choice with everybody apart from respondents from the Farley Hill area. Given the level of response, this has pushed back the schedule for the building of the road, as the council is now going into an additional period of design work that is expected to be signed off at the next council executive meeting when route B is formally adopted as the preferred route. We must congratulate our colleagues on the Arborfield Action Group and our friends at Lockey Farm for the excellent campaign they launched which was highlighted by Steve Bailey as being key in mobilising responses and changing the council plan.
In response to questioning Steve highlighted that any plans would also show what changes would be made to the existing road through Arborfield and Arborfield Cross once traffic had been diverted away.
One particular point that was raised, which wasn’t adequately addressed was whether the developers would still be restricted to less than 750 houses until the road opened. The less than satisfactory answer was that currently this wasn’t going to be the case as the road would be built later as a result of the extra design time needed – as a result we could be looking at over 1,000 houses or more being built before the road would be finished assuming the current timings for planning are met. This led to a discussion about where the lorries to and from the SDL site would be routed, to which the answer is that they will probably come up and down the A327 either through Eversley or Arborfield. Little comfort for those who live on the road.
One bit of good news that was confirmed during the question and answer is that whilst the planned Arborfield Bypass doesn’t meet the new Shinfield relief road, leaving the stretch of road across the River Loddon exactly as it is currently, as a result of the major flooding that occurred this winter and the resultant closures of the A327, that stretch of road has been prioritised for flood alleviation measures, paid for by central government so we should get an improved road over the whole stretch of the A327 after all.
Whilst we are pleased that progress is being made on the A327, we continue to be concerned that this is not the only problem area, chief among the unaddressed areas is the next section of the A327 through Finchampstead and over the bridge into Eversley. Although it hasn’t been closed for long periods over the winter, the chaos caused by one set of temporary traffic lights and the resultant gridlocked traffic at peak times shows that this is a problem that needs to be addressed with more than just a change to the junction with the A30.
The next forum is on Thursday June 5th, at 7pm, again at Henry Street Garden Centre. We would also urge anyone with an interest in the school provision to attend the meeting tomorrow at 7:30pm at FBC.
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