Examination in Public
now completed
Loddon Valley Garden Village (Hall Farm) has now been given the green light by the Planning Inspectors
Following on from two sets of public hearings on the Local Plan 2040, which has at its core the proposal to build 3,930 houses at Loddon Valley Garden Village, the Planning Inspectors have published their initial findings.
Whilst the inspectors will require WBC to make some significant modifications to the Plan, they found that “the Plan is likely to be capable of being found sound and legally compliant”
As regards Loddon Valley Garden Village, the inspectors will require changes in some of the policy wording relating to the development, but in overall terms the LVGV plan was found to be sound. One point that they raised was that the projected housing delivery for the site was optimistic and they believe that the first of the 3,930 houses won’t be delivered until early 2029.
The next steps will be an updated Local Plan 2040 incorporating the issues raised by the inspectors. This is likely to be finalised and adopted by WBC around the end of this year. Planning applications from the three main landowners (University of Reading, Gleeson Land and Hatch Farm Ltd) will then be considered by the WBC Planning Committee in Q1 2027. Thereafter, the work on the site will probably start towards the end of 2027 or early 2028.
It is hugely disappointing that the LVGV development has been given the green light by the planning inspectors, but this result was expected. It remains the case that the LVGV site will present huge challenges for the developers, a fact reinforced by the projected infrastructure cost of £424m or more than £100,000 per house. Trying to ensure that this required infrastructure is effectively delivered on a timely basis is the next challenge.
Proposed M4 bridge
Below is a CGI video, created by friends of SOLVE Hall Farm: LOOMA. It takes the viewer from the roundabout on Meldreth Way and Lower Earley Way over the M4 and into the "Loddon Garden Village" site via the proposed new bridge over the M4. Since the video was produced the EIP clarified some of the proposals for the bridge, possibly reducing the width to save on costs for what will undoubtedly be a very expensive piece of infrastructure.
Interactive Map
Courtesy of our friends at Looma is an interactive map that allows you to look at "before and after" the development by using a "split view". LINK TO MAP HERE.
What next?
The University of Reading are meeting regularly with local "stakeholders", and a number of key issues have been identified going forward. For example:
How will the shared community "assets" be managed, once they have been built? A Stewardship Strategy still needs to be agreed and set up.
The Design Code is still a "work in progress", what will it include?
CIL (Community Infrastructure Levy) is proposed to be replaced by S106 Payments. This (it is hoped) will prevent issues like inflation making infrastructure projects unaffordable (as happened with the Arborfield green Community Centre)
Will money be "ring fenced" for Parish Councils?
The first houses are proposed for 2028? With the global economy in a mess, largely courtesy of wars in Ukraine and the Middle East that remain outside the control of the UK government, will people be able to afford these houses once built?
44% "Affordable" houses is a great target, but is it achievable, and can anyone locally really afford to buy them, assuming they get built?
The NEXT Local Plan is already underway, with a "Call for Sites" from Wokingham Borough Council going out to local land owners. We have seen how WBC view the South of the Borough as the preferred place to build houses, even when other sites might be considered by many of us as more sustainable. Will the Local Plan 2044 be more of the same or will we see some greater fairness and balance in the way new houses are distributed?