Press release from the North Hampshire and West Berkshire Joint Action Groups
For local government and environment desks
‘Democracy’ at West Berkshire District Council
Residents who fought Newbury District Council through to a planning appeal at which the development of the ‘Capability Brown’ Sandleford Park for housing was rejected are girding themselves for a battle against the latest proposed intrusion. The park forms an important boundary to the southern edge of Newbury and is once again under attack, this time from West Berkshire District Council the successor when Berkshire was divided into unitary authorities.
The council is faced with implementing the national waste management strategy to become self sufficient by 2015. Part of their strategy is to close a civic amenity centre [HWRC] located in a well screened gravel pit and to open a new one [Abbotswood] alongside the A339 at the southern green gateway to the town. This stretch of the A339 is part of the road which was recently designated ‘the third most congested road at school hours in the country’ and has a 500 pupil school almost opposite the proposed site entrance. Newbury College [FE] lies adjacent to the north of the site and a small housing estate immediately opposite.
The new site will be located partly on an unused farmyard but will mainly intrude into green belt land. It lies outside the local plan boundaries. It comprises 2.75 ha of which .75 ha will form the new HWRC and will be transferred to the council, the balance, including the green belt land, will remain in the hands of the developer. To achieve this they are prepared to release 2.5 ha of land allocated to waste management with a capacity of 150,000 tonnes of waste handling a year in favour of an isolated HWRC in the green belt. As a resident commented "Most people keep their bins at the back door, Newbury will have theirs at the front".
The developer Rivar Ltd owns the gravel pit at Pinchington Lane which is the site of the present HWRC and which also has planning permission for two additional waste transfer sites. The site is designated within the overall Berkshire waste management plan and lies outside the settlement policy boundary. Rivar have applied to build 64 houses on the Pinchington Lane site and have offered developer’s contributions of over £3m provided they are not required to erect any affordable houses. WBDC proposes to use £3m of the contribution to pay Rivar to build the new HWRC.
Residents have seen evidence that, despite claims that the whole scheme is developer led, there have been discussions behind closed doors for at least three years and that WBDC is the driving force behind the scheme. They appear prepared to lose existing waste management sites, enabling the developer to build prime housing and at the same time to leave the developer with an almost equivalent land bank in the green belt.
Action Group Chairman and Greenham Common Commissioner Mel Gatward commented: "Not only did the council fail to make any public consultation over the development of waste management plans but it is now about to allow a developer to breach the green belt defences to the south of Newbury, despite the outcome of a Public Enquiry to the contrary. It is reprehensible and a gross dereliction of duty to the people of West Berkshire!"
The local Council claims that a new site is necessary in order to achieve Government targets for recycling, but the existing one has greater capacity and could easily be upgraded to the required standard.
A West Berkshire District Council meeting to approve the proposed HWRC was held on 21 February and a local school hall was packed out with over 300 residents. The debate was highly politicised and the final decision was made on the vote of the chairman. The second meeting to consider the redevelopment of Pinchington Lane will be held on 7 Mar despite arguments that this should have been held first. It appeared from comments made by councillors during the meeting that they were under the impression the audience was composed of ‘nimbies’ fighting against the new site whereas the overwhelming view was in favour of the present one.
After the meeting many angry attendees complained at what they saw as a ‘done deal’. A particularly angry group came from residents of a new development just across the A339 from the new site on land which was owned by Rivar Ltd and completed in the last two years by an agent company. They are enraged that WBDC did not reveal the proposals in their legal searches.
The decision will have to be forwarded to the Secretary of State as it lies outside the local plan area and residents are now calling for it to be rejected.
For further information please contact:
Peter Woodman peter@pwoodman.co.uk or telephone 01635 297144
