Twyford 230-home plan will soon go to appeal

Next week will see the beginning of a full planning inquiry into a sweeping plan for 230 homes in Twyford.

These plans were rejected by a Wokingham council committee in June – and the applicant, David Wilson Homes (Southern) Ltd, appealed the decision.

Set for land north of New Bath Road, the proposals are for a 16-hectare patch of land excluding Loddon Park Farm in the middle.

This application fetched many objection letters and instilled a great ‘strength of feeling’ from residents, councillors noted at the June planning committee.

One of the major issues was the possibility of flooding in the area, as well as concerns over the eroding of a valued buffer between Twyford and neighbouring villages.

Something that may work in the developer’s favour is that Wokingham borough cannot demonstrate a five-year housing land supply.

In other words, it has not shown a clear a plan for where houses will be built in the next five years.

This is a problem because local authorities are expected by central Government to reach certain housing targets, and allocate land in their local plans to accommodate this.

Without the five-year supply, for any planning appeals against Wokingham council’s decisions, the inspector is likely to look more favourably on proposed housing developments.

This is called a ‘tilted balance’. Unless there would be significant, demonstrable harm that outweighs the strengths of the scheme, the council’s rejection could be overturned.

Though councillors at the June committee mainly concluded that the harm did outweigh the benefits, some did see a storm cloud brewing on the horizon.

Cllr Rachelle Shepherd-DuBey (Lib Dems, Winnersh) raised concerns over the possibility of an appeal – whereby WBC wouldn’t be able to defend its position if it refused these homes.

If the developers are able to successfully argue that Wokingham’s decision was unreasonable, they could apply to make the council to pay for their appeal costs.

Cllr Shepherd-DuBey noted central Government’s drive to build housing – a drive that has only increased since the General Election, which happened a month after the committee meeting took place.

The new Labour Government has made it clear that it has an agenda to get houses built in Britain.

However, there is no indication that Deputy PM Angela Rayner is stepping in personally to decide this Twyford application, as she is doing elsewhere for some large projects, like Holyport Studios.

Whether an appeal goes to a full planning inquiry depends on the case. In this instance, the appellant felt an inquiry was the most appropriate course, given the complexity of the issues.

The main matters in this appeal are:

• If the appeal site is an appropriate location for residential development
• If the proposal adequately provides for sustainable transport measures including pedestrian and cycle movements
• If the proposal adequately addresses the infrastructure needs arising from the development.

The planning inquiry begins on November 26 and could be sitting for several days.

Wokingham council is likely to call one witness, and the appellant three – possibly up to six dependent upon scope of evidence received or matters not agreed.

There are a whopping 688 documents relating to this case. See them by entering reference number 223455 into Wokingham’s online planning portal at planning.wokingham.gov.uk/FastWebPL