Blog

Editors note.

The green4grow blog has been running since September 23rd 2021. (Scroll down far enough and you can still find all of them). In the past we have covered a wide range of related subjects, but in the run up to the Examination in Public (EIP) we will be focussed exclusively on the proposal to build houses at Hall Farm. If you would like to have your writing considered for publication then please submit it using the link below

Any views expressed here are the authors' own and are not necessarily shared by SOLVE Hall Farm, or by the editors of this website.

Readers may comment on any of the posts on this site, there is a comment section at the bottom of each post. Commenting requires you to give an email contact address.

Thanks.

Paul Stevens on behalf of SOLVE Hall Farm.

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What now for the Loddon Valley at Hall Farm?

I see in the Reading Chronicle that a “local councillor” has been asking Steve Barclay M.P. “When will the new Royal Berkshire Hospital...

paulstevens24

May 31, 20232 min read

How will the housing numbers change?

This blog has strongly opposed building 4,500 houses in the Loddon Valley countryside area around Hall Farm, and has suggested an...

Pat Phillipps

May 18, 20234 min read

After the local elections, what next?

The local elections are over, but the local issues remain. Especially, what is to happen about the local housing plan update that the...

paulstevens24

May 10, 20233 min read

Can someone please explain "eco-savvy"?

"SEVEN Reading schools got eco-savvy at a University of Reading event which challenged students to explore ways of tackling one of...

paulstevens24

Apr 28, 20232 min read

Election prospects-another hung Council?

It's time to look ahead and think about what the future might hold for our rural environment in the Shinfield-Arborfield area. We are...

Pat Phillipps

Apr 28, 20234 min read

Reflections on the Liberty of Newland.

The Parish of Arborfield and Newland is 75 years old today. On the 21st March 1948 the first meeting of the new Council elected Brigadier...

paulstevens24

Apr 21, 20232 min read

Reading University and its ‘Environmentally Focused Decisions’

Pat Phillipps At a lavish ceremony at St James’s Palace last year, the University of Reading received the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for...

Pat Phillipps

Apr 16, 20234 min read

Are you an interested party?

In January, WBC Leader Clive Jones heralded a ‘new approach’ to the way the Borough Council draws up its strategy and policies....

Pat Phillipps

Apr 8, 20234 min read

Changing the draft Local Plan: How Difficult?

Pat Phillipps The SOLVE group tried again earlier in March to have a constructive dialogue with Wokingham LibDem leaders, this time in...

Pat Phillipps

Mar 26, 20233 min read

Why John Halsall did nothing wrong.

In a recent post, I highlighted former Wokingham Borough Council leader John Halsall’s enthusiastic public support for the Shinfield...

Pat Phillipps

Mar 7, 20234 min read

Did Borough Council ‘predetermine’ planning application?

On 24th March 2021 Wokingham Borough Council’s Planning Committee granted Shinfield Studios planning permission to set up in Thames...

Pat Phillipps

Mar 3, 20234 min read

Sustainable Transport and the Local Plan Update

Let’s look at some facts related to Reading University’s proposal to build 4,500 dwellings on the countryside around Hall Farm. • ...

paulstevens24

Feb 23, 20232 min read

Local plan consultation - what’s happened?

The WBC Local Plan was put out for consultation again after the failure of the Grazeley scheme two years ago. A fair number of sites were...

Pat Phillipps

Feb 16, 20233 min read

SOLVE Politics

How many times in recent days, months or even years have you sighed in despair at the parlous state of politics in this country? Would...

paulstevens24

Feb 10, 20232 min read

Our neglected infrastructure: Schools and surgeries

Over a decade ago, the south of the borough was targeted for massively increased house building. But what infrastructure was put in...

paulstevens24

Jan 30, 20233 min read

Watch this space!

The Green Belt is an area of land surrounding urban areas in the UK that is protected from development in order to preserve the...

paulstevens24

Jan 25, 20235 min read

Brownfield not Greenfield, please!

In a recent edition of the Daily Express was an article headlined “Rural villages 'under assault' by greenfield property development”. In...

paulstevens24

Jan 17, 20234 min read

"Trying to make housing sound popular"

Reading University’s ‘Garden Village’ Pat Phillipps The University of Reading wants to sell off the fields between Shinfield, Arborfield,...

Pat Phillipps

Dec 30, 20223 min read

Bob de Builder wins Greenwashing Award!

No disrespect to the hard work of many at the University of Reading (UoR) in their highly commendable efforts to reduce the carbon...

paulstevens24

Nov 12, 20224 min read

How Woke is Wokingham?

Suella Braverman is much in the news, although Matt Hancock seems to be doing his best to knock her off the front pages! Matt is free to...

paulstevens24

Nov 2, 20224 min read