CONTROVERSIAL plans to build 400 homes and a 'learning village' at Binfield's Blue Mountain Golf Course have been given the green light. 

Plans put forward by owners Luff Development, to create new houses alongside a 1,077 sq m community facility and new open space at the golf course site in Wood Lane were given the go-ahead by councillors at a planning meeting last night.

The project also includes an all-through learning village providing facilities for a nursery, primary and secondary school, post-16 and Special Educational Needs schooling, 13 hectares of green space and two new access points from Temple Way.  

The planning application was 'hybrid' meaning plans put forward for the 400 homes, community facility and open space are outline and details are not yet fixed while the full application refers to the learning village.

In 2014, councillors voted to lift a Section 52 agreement, signed in 1990, which had protected the site from development for 125 years.

Residents and organisations such as the Binfield Village Protection Society have fiercely objected to the plans, which they fear will spell the end of a green gap between Binfield and Bracknell. 

See this week's Bracknell News for more information.