ALL of the quotes below are taken from the Campaign for the Protection Of Rural Wokingham website (http://cprwok.co.uk/what-are-the-issues/) of which John Halsall is the founding member and remains as a director. My emphasis is in bold italics.
"Our Future Plan for Wokingham promotes a new way of thinking where the needs of local residents come first, genuinely affordable homes(which an individual on a median income or below can afford to rent or buy) are built in urban areas near shops, services and public transport which will also help to regenerate our town centres through the people who live there."
"As well as the Green Belt there are other key pieces of land which help to preserve the area’s rural history and prevent the towns and villages from merging into each other. Farming is still important here. Allowing the type of ribbon development along the A4 which we’ve seen joining Bracknell to Wokingham would completely change the environment for residents, and we’d become a suburb of Reading/Maidenhead (and possibly eventually London)".
"Traffic congestion locally has reached crisis point, so we cannot keep developing homes in areas which mean that every adult needs a motor vehicle. This is what the last local plan did with four large sites (Strategic Development Locations – SDLs) taking the majority of housing. These huge estates have been built with inadequate parking, and whilst some infrastructure has been built it has been much less than planned which has not included shops thereby ensuring that a car journey is necessary for every requirement of life."
"The bulk of homes are being built for incomers to the Borough, who are typically selling homes in London and buying with change a family home in Wokingham. Figures in Reading show that a high proportion of new homes are being bought by people from London. In the meantime, our children, those on median incomes, service workers and older people wishing to downsize are having to leave the Borough for housing. "
All good points that I wholeheartedly agree with. It's just a bit of a shame that none of these principles are being applied to the so called "Loddon Valley Garden Village". WHY NOT JOHN?
