A Garrison Resident who Can’t Write to Wokingham Borough Council

Posted on July 22, 2011 by admin

Here is a picture snapped earlier today of a Garrison resident who has no voice, and cannot write and comment on Wokingham Borough Council’s plan to bulldoze over green fields at Arborfield Garrison. The picture was taken from Tyler Drive, looking into land that under the plans would disappear under houses along with many more acres of land to the south of the garrison. As residents will tell you, deer are quite a common sight crossing these fields currently – they won’t be when Wokingham Borough Council and their developers are finished with the area.

Also living around the area are badgers – with previous developments having had to take special account of their presence. You can also often see bats flying around the area at dusk.

Time is fast running out on what is expected to be the final consultation on the plans. With the council ruling out any extension to the consultation period the deadline for interested parties to submit their comments is next week, on the 27th July. You can find details of the council plans and details of how to submit comments on our recent post about the re-consultation.

Make your voice heard, before it is too late.

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Defence Transformation Announcement

Posted on July 19, 2011 by admin

Yesterday Dr Liam Fox, announced details of the Defence Transformation. Whilst the newspapers are concentrating on other aspects, part of his statement directly affects us in Arborfield.

“RAF Lyneham is the preferred location for future defence technical training. This confirms that the Department will withdraw from Arborfield in Berkshire and Bordon in Hampshire, releasing the sites for sale by 2014-15 at the latest.”

However the statement says later that detailed planning work has yet to start and the dates might change, and of course RAF Lyneham was in the process of closing (due to be completed in 2012), hence why repatriations moved to RAF Brize Norton recently, which once again highlights that MoD plans change.

Therefore it is vitally important that as many people as possible get their comments into the ongoing Wokingham Borough Council consultation by 27th July. Aside from the many specific issues with the plan, with Wokingham councillors again talking about the certainty of the decision to move we need to highlight that MoD plans change, RAF Lyneham being a prime example, and therefore they cannot assume that the MoD will leave until they have actually gone.

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Eversley village produce Road Safety Leaflet

Posted on July 14, 2011 by Darren

With the prospect of a new town being built at Arborfield and on the door step of the quiet Hampshire village of Eversley, the local residents have been trying to inform people of the current state of the A327 through their village and also the new dangers that will be heading their way.

Eversley Road Safety Leaflet – July 2011

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Latest Newsletter

Posted on July 14, 2011 by Darren

Please find below our latest Newsletter to be delivered to our members as a reminder of the consultation taking place.

AG-RAG Newsletter – July 2011

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Expect congestion at Barkham Bridge

Posted on July 12, 2011 by Darren

The photograph below shows Barkham Bridge taken on a quiet Sunday morning. A single carriageway bridge on the edge of Arborfield on the main road between Arborfield to Wokingham. Any takers on what the traffic is normally like on this road in rush hour? Any thoughts on what it would be like with a potential extra 7,000 cars in the area?

Residents need to be aware that the SDL planning as it stands does not include any provision for upgrade of this bridge at Barkham or on the other side of Aborfield roads through Eversley.

Single Carriageway Bridge at Barkahm

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Disgust at Council’s Failure to Consult

Posted on July 12, 2011 by Darren

Arborfield Garrison -Residents Action Group (AG-RAG) chairman, Martin Rutter, has expressed his anger and disgust at Wokingham Borough Councils failure to carry out ‘thorough and meaningful’ consultation with thousands of residents who will be affected by plans to build a 3,500 mini town in Arborfield.

A Council Planning Officer has confirmed to the Group it will not be making any direct contact with local residents to inform them the consultation is taking place and have said people will have to find out the information themselves.

Martin says. ‘This is absolutely outrageous. The Council are making it incredibly hard for people to have their say. They have said that only those who made previous comments about the plans will be written to. Well, we are aware that many of our members, who wrote letters objecting to the original proposals, are still waiting to hear from the Council, so they are even failing to fulfil this promise. It is only through AG RAG’s banners, posters, website and newsletter that people are aware the consultation is taking place at all and time is running out to comment.’

He adds. ‘The Council has already faced a legal challenge over their failure to consult properly and it is blatantly clear that they have not learned any lessons from this. Furthermore, this is before they actually start considering any of the comments and objections from residents which they totally disregarded first time around’.

Martin concludes.’ We are convinced Wokingham Borough Council are making a mockery of the whole process and their failure to carry out a thorough consultation exercise is simply because they do not want to hear the truth about people’s outrage and vehement opposition against their badly thought out and unwanted proposals’.

Continue reading →

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Have your say on Wokingham SDL’s – AG-RAG Survey

Posted on July 6, 2011 by Darren

Wokingham Borough Council (WBC) have asked the public to comment on the latest Masterplans to build 3500 houses in Arborfield, Finchampstead and Barkham.   Full details of these plans can be found on the WBC website and this website here.

What you need to do:
1) The consultation period is from 15 June 2011 to 27 July 2011.  No previous comments count.  Please submit your comments to spd@wokingham.gov.uk. See below for further details. This is the ONLY way your views will count.

2) In addition, please complete our 10 question survey (1 minute to complete), noting that this survey will help support your comments submitted to WBC.

Single Carriageway Bridge at Barkahm

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Arborfield SDL out for Re-Consultation

Posted on May 27, 2011 by Darren

In response to a legal challenge logged with the High Court from six of the local Parish Councils (Southern Parishes Group – SPPG) Wokingham Borough Council have decided to re-consult on the plans for Arborfield Garisson.

Wokingham Borough Counci’s website states “We have taken advice and considered this challenge. In order to retain the most robust policy position on the Strategic Development Locations – SDLs and as a precautionary measure (given the current pre-application, application and appeal processes in train) it has been decided to consult on 5 new draft SPDs for North and South Wokingham, Arborfield, South of the M4 and Infrastructure, with a view to likely adoption in early Autumn 2011. In the interim the existing adopted 3 SPDs (North and South Wokingham and Infrastructure) would stand for Development Management purposes and the draft documents would be afforded appropriate weight thereafter. Key differences with previous versions are listed in the report to the Executive dated 2 June 2011.”

The consultation will take place between 15 June 2011 and 27 July 2011

The important document relating to the Arborfield development is the Arborfield Master Plan – 24 May 2011 which gives details of the master plan and likely layout of the development. It is important that anyone living in or around Arborfield takes the opportunity to read this document and makes their representation to WBC between 15 June 2011 and 27 July 2011. It is unlikely there will be any other opportunity to have your say! There are some important changes in the latest and current document which you may wish to comment on.

How to comment on the consultation / supplementary planning Document

Representations much be sent in writing to: Cris Lancaster Masterplanner, Policy and Partnerships, PO Box 157 Shute End, Wokingham, Berkshire, RG40 1WR. Email: spd@wokingham.gov.uk

You may also wish to copy your correspondence to your local councilors and MP:
Mr John Redwood MP – Conservative MP for Wokingham: redwoodj@parliament.uk
Mr Gary Cowan – Conservative Councilor Wokingham Borough Council: gary@cowan24.freeserve.co.uk
Dr. Philip Lee – Conservative MP for Bracknell Constituency (including Bracknell, Crowthorne, Sandhurst, Finchampstead and Wokingham Without): phillip@phillip-lee.com

Further information on the consultation can be found on WBC’s website at: Wokingham Borough Council: Arborfield Consultation

Arborfield Master Plan 24 May 2011

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Latest Newsletter and Update

Posted on February 25, 2011 by admin

Below is a copy of our latest newsletter that will be being delivered door-to-door shortly. If you have any spare time over the next few days to help with the delivery please do let us know.

As you can see, although the council has postponed a decision over the site awaiting a decision from the Secretary of State for Defence, and the consortium similarly has not moved forward on a planning application things have still been happening. Chief amongst these is the news that six parish councils have taken Wokingham Borough Council to court over the way the process has been managed. There has been much argument in the local press since the story broke – you can see the parish councillors open letter of 13th December here.

The other important bit of news is that we are having a public meeting and our AGM on Tuesday 22nd March at 7pm at the Royal British Legion Hall in Arborfield. We have invited both David Lee and Angus Ross to attend the meeting and answer residents questions about the development.

Newsletter February 2011 – Final

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Have You Submitted Your Comments Yet?

Posted on January 9, 2011 by admin

With the busy Christmas period over, did you remember to put in your comments for the consultation? If you haven’t done so yet, you have only a few days left as the consultation closes at the end this week – the next stage being for the consortium to apply for outline planning permission for the development.

The content of the exhibition and the details on how to submit your comments can be found on the consortium website at http://dataroom.gvagrimley.co.uk/arborfield/.

Our open letter in response is shown below, and includes a list of other people you might like to copy in on the response. These include either John Redwood or Dr Phillip Lee depending on whether you are in the Wokingham or Bracknell constituency parts of the SDL, key local council Executive Members David Lee, Angus Ross, Rob Stanton and Gary Cowan (some of whom you may have seen touring around the SDL yesterday) and the Wokingham Times. The list also includes Susan Law, Cris Lancaster and Mark Cupit who are Wokingham Borough Council staff involved with the process and Arborfield Parish Council.

Alongside the official response e-mail address, you might also consider e-mailing Richard Nelson from Defence Estates who many of you will have spoken to at the exhibition, and Sarah Jones who is the Assistant Estates Surveyor collating the written responses.

Last but not least, we’d love to see your responses if you wish to share them with us through our contact page above or via e-mail to Martin.

Letter to Richard Nelson Dec 10 – Final PDF

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