Villagers have objected to a planning application from Antler Homes to build 32 homes on 3.83 hectares of land east of Osborne Lane, in Newell Green, Warfield village, Bracknell.
Ten of the houses would be three‑bedroom, five will be two‑bedroom, one will be a one‑bedroom home and five will have four or more bedrooms.
A previous application to build 37 dwellings, including 13 affordable dwellings, was refused and an appeal dismissed in 2023.
A significant part of the site is wooded, and the woodland would need to be cut through to provide access to the houses — a major concern for locals.
The parish council has objected, saying the new application does not address the reasons they previously refused it and recommending the borough reject it again. They add that, while the applicant refers to the failure of Bracknell Forest to earmark enough land for houses, that does not justify the “harm” they say this scheme would cause, especially as other applications are said to meet the need.
The council says the proposal would develop woodland and kill valued and protected trees either immediately through deliberate removal or later by cutting through roots. It also argues the site is outside Warfield’s boundary, so does not comply with Bracknell Forest or Warfield plan policies and would be urban development in an established countryside area.
They warn the development would threaten a ‘local gap’, blurring Warfield and Newell Green into neighbouring communities and damaging the setting of nearby Grade II listed buildings — St Michael’s Grange and associated Grade II barns — as well as Grade II listed Newell Hall, risking encircling Newell Hall and diminishing its setting.
The parish council also says biodiversity will be lost as habitat is disturbed and reduced during and after development, with wildlife’s grazing, feeding and roaming paths diminished, and that the proposed buildings and their design are out of keeping with Osborne Lane and would urbanise an ancient lane.
By contrast the developers say no loss or deterioration of irreplaceable habitats would be caused and that the site is “entirely grass and currently used as paddocks”.
Ted O'Neill, Local Democracy Reporter
