“The houses have to be built somewhere” is a common response that we have heard over the past few years as we have campaigned against the University of Reading/WBC plans to build 4,500 houses at Hall Farm. WBC claims that it considered two other Strategic Development Locations (SDL) at Twyford and Ashridge, before choosing to put Hall Farm into the Local Plan Update (LPU). Whilst the Twyford site has the complication of being partially on the green belt, there appears to be no fundamental reason why the Ashridge site is not a workable solution.
Ashridge Wokingham Limited, the promoter of the Ashridge site, has recently updated its plan for 3,000 homes between the M4 and the A329(M) and distributed its proposal to all WBC councilors and the local parliamentary candidates. The Ashridge plan, which can be found here Ashridge (green4grow.org) has a number of key advantages over the Hall Farm proposals:
The Ashridge site can be developed over the 15 year period that the next LPU has to cover. In contrast the Hall Farm site, with its larger number of houses and extensive infrastructure requirements, stretches out over two plan periods or 30 years of building in our area.
Ashridge is not an area with high flood risk, whilst Hall Farm is on a flood zone and the area around this site regularly floods at both Shinfield and Winnersh.
Ashridge is close enough to Wokingham for walking and cycling to be a realistic option for residents wanting to access the town centre. A north-south ‘Greenway’ for pedestrians and cyclists would run through the middle of the site, linking directly to three ‘active travel crossings’ over the A329(M) for those continuing their journey on foot or by bike into Wokingham. Hall Farm is not close enough to a town centre to encourage walking and cycling in this way.
Householders at Ashridge would have lots of public transport options. New, viable bus services would connect Ashridge to Twyford, Wokingham, Bracknell and Reading, providing access to the railway network from four different railway stations. In contrast the nearest station to Hall Farm is Winnersh, which does not have a single parking/drop off space.
The Ashridge site already has the local road infrastructure to accommodate the development, including roads across the site, bridges over the A329(M) and the M4, and a connection to the wider road network via the North Wokingham distributor road. The promoters have also successfully tested options for either an East facing slip road on the A329(M) or a new full junction on that road if wanted by WBC. The challenge of managing traffic in/out of the Hall Farm site is such that a £30m bridge over the M4 will be required, but all that will do is add even more traffic to the Lower Earley Way. Roads around Hall Farm are already clogged with traffic at key parts of the day.
We understand that the updated LPU will be published soon by WBC, with Hall Farm still the chosen SDL, rather than Ashridge. But take a look at the Ashridge plan Ashridge (green4grow.org). It seems to make far more sense as a sustainable development than building at Hall Farm, with its major flooding and traffic problems and a complete lack of current infrastructure.
Written by Colin Watts. Logo used with permission of Ashridge Wokingham Limited
You mention that the updated Ashridge Manor plan was distributed to councillors and MP candidates. I don't recall any of them saying there is an alternative to Hall Farm at Ashridge.