Plans for 850 Homes Approved Amid Concerns

Plans for up to 850 homes at Priors Farm on the Wokingham/Bracknell border have been approved despite concerns over road safety, congestion and pressure on local services.

Wokingham Borough Council's planning committee voted eight to one on Wednesday (November 11) to approve outline permission for the 56-hectare site west of Old Wokingham Road and either side of Easthampstead Road. The scheme could include up to 340 affordable homes, a neighbourhood centre, public open space and land for a primary school.

Priors Farm is the largest part of a proposed extension to the South Wokingham Strategic Development Location, where the borough's draft plan earmarks land for around 1,100 extra homes.

The proposals drew 218 objections and a formal objection from neighbouring Bracknell Forest Council, which said a safe and deliverable transport strategy had not been shown. One public speaker said there had been 48 recorded collisions on Easthampstead Road and that road safety and drainage issues should be resolved first.

Wokingham's highways officer acknowledged the corridor had a "long history of accidents", adding there had been around six personal injury accidents in the previous three years, including a cluster near the Easthampstead Road junction, but said he was satisfied solutions could be found and described the proposals as a reasonable balance.

Several councillors warned issues remained. Wokingham Without ward councillor Séona Turtle called for the application to be refused or deferred, saying safe road access needed to be "demonstrated, not assumed".

Councillor Rebecca Margetts said: "I am concerned. We are potentially looking to grant access for people living in 850 dwellings, people could have two cars per dwelling. You are asking us to agree a substantial development without these issues being addressed." She also asked whether walking and cycling routes would offer a real alternative and added: "I just wish you'd brought this to us [with] an agreement with Bracknell in place."

A senior planning officer told councillors: "I have absolute sympathy with you all as councillors, it's a near impossible situation we face as central government has made building homes a greater priority." He said councils can only refuse on highways grounds where the cumulative impact would be severe.

Councillor Wayne Smith said: "We are helpless as a planning committee. We have no tools in our armoury to do anything." Councillor Moses Iyengunmwena added: "I don't have confidence in this, full stop."

The applicant's representative urged approval, calling it "the right scheme in the right place and ready to deliver". Lightwood Strategic says the site would be split into eastern and western neighbourhoods around a central park, with a Market Square for shops, more than 20 hectares of Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspace south of Easthampstead Road, new walking and cycling routes and a new roundabout on Old Wokingham Road as the main access.

The land is currently countryside and not allocated in the adopted Local Plan, but officers say Wokingham can only demonstrate a 2.5-year housing land supply and the scheme would make a significant contribution to housing needs, notably affordable homes.

The decision, the council's first planning committee meeting since new national rules came into force on October 31, approves outline permission subject to a Section 106 legal agreement securing infrastructure contributions. Detailed matters such as layout, appearance, scale and landscaping will be decided in future applications.

The plans can be viewed on Wokingham Borough Council's planning portal under application 241933.

Katie French, Local Democracy Reporter