Deadline Approaches for Key Housing Plans

A plan that will transform farmland south of Reading into thousands of homes is moving forward as neighbours have just days to make comments.

A plan to turn farmland south of Reading into thousands of homes is moving forward — and neighbours have only days left to comment.

University of Reading-owned Hall Farm in Arborfield Parish is the 580-hectare site behind the proposed Loddon Valley Garden Village: 2,800 homes, two primary schools, a secondary school, a ‘district centre’ and repurposed green space.

The land is currently a dairy farm with a herd of about 550 cows and houses the Centre for Dairy Research (CEDAR).

The university has submitted the scheme as a ‘hybrid application’ to Wokingham Borough Council, seeking outline approval for the homes, schools and community facilities, with detailed plans for vehicular, pedestrian and cycle access.

Access plans include bridges over the M4 and the River Loddon, and new roads connecting to Lower Earley Way and Thames Valley Science Park designed for cars, pedestrians and cyclists.

Full permission is also being sought for 40.4 hectares of Suitable Natural Greenspace (SANG) and an 18.35-hectare ‘SANG link’. SANGs are country-park style spaces intended to mitigate impacts on protected nature sites.

Planning documents say the university aims for a 20 per cent biodiversity net gain, with ecology measures including ‘rewilding’. Creating the SANG would mean demolishing the CEDAR buildings and three existing houses.

You can view the hybrid application on Wokingham council’s planning portal using reference 252498. A statutory public consultation is live and ends on Friday, January 16 — roughly 300 comments have been made so far.

The land sits in the Arborfield & Barkham ward and the Wokingham parliamentary constituency. The university has partnered with Gleeson Land and Hatch Farm Land Ltd on the project.

If outline planning permission for the 2,800 homes is approved, it is understood that ‘parcels’ of land will be sold to housebuilders, who will draw up detailed plans and handle construction.

Early ideas for a Loddon Valley Garden Village first appeared in 2021 as part of Wokingham council’s Local Plan update. The council’s adopted Local Plan expires this year, so an update is required.

The Local Plan update process began partly after a proposed 15,000-home ‘garden town’ in Grazeley was torpedoed when the Ministry of Defence objected because of the site’s proximity to the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Burghfield.

James Aldridge, Local Democracy Reporter