Local Green Space for Winnersh
Liberal Democrat Councillor for Winnersh ward Learn more
by Prue Bray on 9 February, 2011
More than 4 years after it was first submitted, Wokingham Borough Council have announced they have enough paperwork to allow them to consider a major planning application by Bovis and Persimmon for 433 houses, a primary school and a new road linking Lower Earley Way and King Street Lane in Winnersh.
The delay was caused by the need for detailed analysis of how to deal with flooding issues, given that a large part of the site floods due to the River Loddon.
The plans include a road from King Street Lane by the motorway bridge up to Lower Earley Way, coming out about halfway between the Moat House Hotel and the Loddon Bridge Roundabout. At the Earley end the land is all prone to flooding, so nothing can be built there. At the Winnersh end they propose 433 houses, accessed via a couple of turnings to the right off the link road. The houses will be next to Jersey Drive, the Bovis / Persimmon development off Chatsworth Avenue. In the middle, between the houses and the flood plain, the plan is to put a new primary school, which will replace Bearwood School. On the left of the road, the land will be left as what is being described as a “country park”. That’s because it runs down to the Loddon – and is liable to flood.
This is a complicated scheme. It already has the go-ahead in principle, because the council has allocated the land for this number of houses. But whether this particular application should be approved is a different matter.
You can see what’s planned for yourselves at http://www.wokingham.gov.uk/planningcontrol/planning/planningapplications/searchplanningapplications/ by searching for O/2006/8687. There are a LOT of documents attached to the application. The best one for getting an overview is the one called Revised Masterplan.
If you want to send in comments to the Borough Council, you have until 7th March. It will probably take you until then to read all the 200+ documents!
Please get in touch if you want to raise any specific questions about the application. I will post more about it and about the flooding and traffic implications in the next few days.
2 Comments
I am ablsolutely frurious at this ill considered approval. Winnersh has been for too long the dumping ground for houses Wokingham don’t want. The land is flood plain, the houses are right by a very noisy motorway. Winnersh school is still not in full use so I cannot see why another school is needed, without all these houses on a lovely open space [the only one left] we would not need the school. The road decants onto King St Lane {already at saturation point. hundreds of houses have been built in Winnersh in the last 20 years and there has been no improvement in the infrastructure. The houses newly built on Jersey way suffer flooding as does Greenacres and AlbanyDrive and Loddon Bridge roundabout and the Park and ride flood regularly.There appears to be no provision for the senior schools in the area, many of which are over subscribed. Losing these fields will cause a major problem for dog walkers , at least 50 dogs a day who will now have to take them by car to Dinton or the Coombes.
Ancient woodlands will be affected on the site and the wild deer and other animals will be lost. Glennys Dodge
Whilst I share your fury, having fought these houses ever since I became a councillor 15 years ago, I cannot lie to you and say they can be stopped. The way planning works and the fact that the councl has allocated the land for housing (and had already done so at the point I became a councillor) makes it inevitable that at some point it will get built – if a developer thinks they can make it pay. So all we can do now is fight for the best possible development we can get for Winnersh, to avoid as many of the flooding and highways problems as we can. Unfortunately, residents living near Longdon Road are going to get clobbered by the relief road as well.