Plans for more homes in Greenham set for green light

Final scheme of 'preferred' housing in the area to be discussed tonight (Wednesday)

MORE homes in ‘the Greenham gap’ look set to be given the go-ahead tonight (Wednesday).

West Berkshire Council has recommended approving plans for 36 dwellings to the west of New Road and north of Drayton’s View.

Access to the properties will come via New Road and 14 of the homes will be affordable.

The site was one of the council’s preferred options for housing in its Development Plan Document (DPD).

But the plans are being called before councillors at the western area planning committee tonight because more than 10 people have objected.

The objections range from a loss of open space to the impact on drainage and from traffic to the loss of the ‘green gap’ between Greenham and Newbury.

Newbury Town Council and Greenham Parish Council both lodged objections to the scheme.

In its reasons for recommending approval, the council said that the development “forms a relatively small, but nevertheless important, component of the council’s overall housing strategy to 2026, to accommodate a growing population”.

It said: “It is considered to be acceptable in both principle and detail.”

In its application, developer Rivar said the scheme would “secure major community benefits, in addition to making an important contribution to meeting the district’s future housing requirements”.

The site is the third identified in the council’s DPD for the area between Greenham and Newbury.

The council approved plans, submitted by Rivar, for 157 homes to the east of Newbury Retail Park, between Equine Way and Greenham Road, earlier last year.

It also passed plans for 71 homes on land east of Greenham Road and south of Ascot Close, submitted by David Wilson Homes.

The meeting to discuss the plans will be held in the council’s Market Street offices at 6.30pm.