A councillor has raised fears that the possibility of building over 300 homes in Winnersh could cause a traffic nightmare and endanger the wellbeing of future residents.
Over 300 homes could be built on farmland in Winnersh in the coming years.
The village falls under Wokingham Borough Council, which has applied to build 87 homes on land to the east of Woodward Close.
A further 250 homes could also be built at on farmland bound by the M4 and the A329M.
READ MORE: What happened to ambitious Grazeley 'garden town' plans for 15,000 homes
But councillor Rachelle Shepherd-DuBey, a Liberal Democrat representative for Winnersh, has raised serious issues over nearby roads already being at capacity and the health concerns relating to asbestos contamination in the area.
Voicing her concerns about the 87 homes that have been applied for, Cllr Shepherd-DuBey, who sits on the council’s planning committee, said: “I have a problem with it because it’s going to put a three-storey block of flats up against the motorway practically.
“It would be too loud for the people living there and there are no three-storey buildings within the immediate area.
“It’s outside the residential curtelage, they found asbestos buried in the allotments, they found asbestos in the mobile home park on the other side of that area.
“On two sides there is asbestos buried, what’s the probability there is asbestos buried somewhere in the middle of the area?”
You can view the plans for the 87 homes by typing reference 212404 into the Wokingham planning portal here: https://planning.wokingham.gov.uk/FastWebPL/welcome.asp
Approval was given to build a 150 place school for pupils with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Winnersh on Wednesday, September 8.
READ MORE: School for SEN pupils in Wokingham and Reading approved
Cllr Shepherd-DuBey has also cast serious doubt on long term plans for approximately 250 homes on Winnersh farmland that has been identified as a site for potential development in the Wokingham Local Plan Update.
One of the functions of the plan is to allocate land for development to steer the progress of future development in the borough.
A number of sites all across the borough are being considered which can be found on an interactive map of sites here.
The land that Cllr Shepherd-Dubey has raised concerns about stretches across site references 5WI004, 5WI006 and 5WI010 on the interactive map.
Cllr Shepherd-Dubey said: “The 250 homes is being worked on as part of the Local Plan update proposed last year, but I was not on the Local Plan update committee at the time so I don’t know what happened.
“The roundabout for the Winnersh Relief Road is at 100 per cent capacity right now and I don’t understand how they’re going to put more capacity into the roundabout. There is no extra room in Woodward Close, there’s no land, so how are you going to put more cars coming up the same road – you can’t add capacity, it’s not possible.
“More than 300 homes are going to have at least 600 cars and probably closer to 750 cars, and if it’s already capacity, it’s just going to get worse. It’s already a traffic jam.
“I will look at the application when it’s actually in front of me, but based on the evidence I’ve seen so far I can’t understand how it can be done. There may be something they can do, I don’t know what it is, it’s always possible, it’s also possible they’ll fix the social care system, and we’ll all move to Mars because of climate change.
“It’s a two way road and it’s already at capacity. There’s no place to put any more roads unless they take out a house and redesign everything from there.
“They could do, but no one’s said anything about that.”
READ MORE: What is the Wokingham Local Plan update that could see thousands of homes built across the borough
She conceded that proposals for 250 homes “won’t come up for a while”, and added plans on the land have been turned down by the planning committee over the unsuitability of the land.
Cllr Wayne Smith, the executive member for planning on Wokingham Borough Council (Conservative, Hurst) said: “Planning application 212404 is currently under consideration, including the access and transport arrangements.
“We are unable to comment on current applications.
“All comments submitted during a consultation for a planning application will be considered by the planning committee along with relevant policy and all material considerations when they determine the proposals.
“In terms of the local plan, we have a duty to consider all promoted sites and will give careful consideration of the impact of proposals on the surrounding areas including access and traffic implications.”
Sites that are considered suitable for development will be revealed when a report on the local plan updates revised spacial strategy is presented at a meeting of the council’s executive committee on November 12.
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