Amen Corner
Land Adjacent to Amen Corner North of London Road and East of A 329(M)

View HVS letter of objection to Application - 19 September 23

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Planning Application 232026 has been formally submitted to Wokingham Borough Council and as part of the public consultation, which lasts until 21st.September 2023, is available in full on their planning portal.

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It is an "Outline application for the erection of up to 45 residential dwellings, Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspace (SANG), public open space, landscaping and associated infrastructure, means of access will be considered (with Appearance, Landscaping, Layout and Scale to be reserved)."  

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Members may find it useful to read The Planning Statement  which is available here. As an introduction this is an application which has been submitted on the basis of a presumption in favour of sustainable development as Wokingham Borough Council (WBC) cannot currently demonstrate a five year land supply and therefore the applicants are making the case that the policies most relevant to determining this application are considered out of date.

Whilst that might be the case the comments made by the Planning Inspector at the recent Tape Lane Inquiry are worthy of note; that whilst in terms of The National Planning Framework they may be "considered" out of date that doesn't necessarily mean they can't still be given some weight.

It is important to note that this site is included as a draft residential allocation within  WBC's emerging Local Plan Update (within the Revised Growth Strategy Consultation 2021-2022, Site reference 5HU051), and was supported by Hurst Parish Council as part of that consultation exercise. The applicants are making the case that because of the size of the site there is no argument of prematurity in them bring forward this site now for development rather than waiting until the Local Plan Update has been adopted.

The indicated access to the site is in Bracknell Forest Borough Council and it will need them acting as the Local Planning Authority to agree to any such access as shown.

It can be seen that consideration of this planning application will involve a number of  technical planning issues, but HVS is looking at all the documentation which forms part of the application and will be submitting a response as part of the public consultation process. If you have any views or comments you wish to bring to our attention please don't hesitate to do so at  planning@hvs.org.uk