The fate of a controversial plan to build a Lidl and 43 homes in Lower Earley will be decided this week.
Earlier this year, developers Lower Earley Properties submitted a plan to build a new Lidl and 43 homes on greenfield land off Meldreth Way in Lower Earley.
The developers argue the scheme would provide much needed jobs, homes and better grocery opportunities in the area, and that a consultation it ran received support from “over 600 residents.”
But the plan has faced stiff opposition ever since neighbours caught wind of the plans prior to them being submitted last year.
READ MORE: Showdown looms over plan for new homes and Lidl in Lower Earley
Contractors provoked anger last November when they engaged in clearing works at the land which opponents said amounted to “deforestation”.
Members of Wokingham Borough Council’s planning committee visited the site on Friday, December 3.
Photos by councillor Pauline Jorgensen show the ground cleared to a degree, with dead tree shavings lying on the earth.
The plan has been recommended for refusal twice by Earley Town Council, and now the borough council’s planning team has suggested that it should be rejected as well.
Planning officer Senjuti Manna has recommended refusal, arguing it would have a detrimental impact on the visual character of the area, and will ‘fail to maintain the quality of the environment’.
She also argued the new Lidl and homes would have a negative impact on neighbours in Witcham Close and Chatteris Way due to traffic coming to the supermarket and the proposed homes.
The plan also received a blow from the Wokingham Local Plan update, which puts Swallows Meadow within a swathe of land called ‘Lower Earley Meadows B’, which has been identified for protection as Local Green Space in the plan update.
Although the plan update has not been put into force yet, the potential for Swallows Meadow to be designated as Local Green space could hamper the use of the site for building development.
A spokesperson for Lower Earley Properties commented: “Our plans will deliver a new Lidl store serving fresh, quality and incredibly good value produce, as well as 43 beautifully designed homes – 40 per cent of which will be affordable.
“We are delighted that over 600 residents have written in support of the application.
“Ultimately, councillors must now decide between new jobs, new homes and new investment or the site remaining in private ownership with no public access.”
Lower Earley Properties is a subsidiary of Janson Property development company.
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Of the 43 homes, 10 will be detached, 18 will be semi detached, and eight one-bed and seven two-bed flats will be contained in a one block building.
Of the homes, 17 will be affordable.
You can view the scheme by typing in reference 211686 into the council’s planning portal: https://planning.wokingham.gov.uk/FastWebPL/welcome.asp
In August, the developers and the neighbours clashed over competing surveys.
The developers conducted a survey which showed 662 messages of support and 117 objections to their plan.
However, in a poll of members of the Earley Residents Discussion Board Facebook group, 518 people voted against the scheme, and 159 people voted in favour of it.
The fate of the plan will be decided at Wokingham Borough Council’s planning committee at 7pm tomorrow (Wednesday, December 8).
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