Wokingham Local Plan Submitted for Inspection

Wokingham Borough Council has submitted its Local Plan for inspector’s examination.

The timing of the submission is important, for it enables the council to realise the benefits of the new plan quickly, rather than entering a protracted period of uncertainty whilst we replan against new rules and higher housing targets.

A Local Plan is required to manage the process of development; it protects the borough against speculative and inappropriate new building and provides a planned approach to delivering the new housing numbers required by central government. A new Local Plan is also needed in order to  provide infrastructure at the level required to support new development.

Wokingham Borough Council’s new Local Plan sets out a clear strategy to deliver a vision of thriving, green, and inclusive communities.

The Plan is based on the allocation of sites included in the draft Local Plan, reinforced by further assessment and evidence gathering. Preparation of the Plan involved engagement with statutory bodies, neighbouring boroughs, and town and parish councils, as well as public consultation.

While the new Local Plan owes much to the draft Local Plan, the Lib Dem led council has included some important improvements including: our new higher targets for much-needed Affordable Housing and the new cutting-edge energy efficiency and environmental standards that we will be requiring developers to meet in new homes.

The new Local Plan also sets out to preserve key areas of the borough from inappropriate development. It includes significant new areas of valued landscape in the countryside and sites of urban landscape importance, in which any development will be limited. It also designates over a hundred Local Green Spaces, which have a level of protection analogous to the Green Belt in open countryside.

Leader of the Council, Councillor Stephen Conway said:

“All Local Plans involve difficult choices. I understand why people living near development sites may feel unhappy. But the council has a duty to protect the borough from unplanned and speculative development and we can only do that by having an up-to-date Local Plan that allocates enough land for new housing.

“I thank all those involved in preparing this new Local Plan, especially our planning officers, but also my predecessors as executive members for Planning and the Local Plan. With a new plan in place, we will be better able to control development and to prepare for the future in a considered and orderly way.”