STOP PRESS: Join our next Protest Walk across Sandleford Park on Sunday morning at 11.30am.

Check our Events Page for full details.

Sandleford: The WRONG solution

The Wrong Solution

West Berkshire Council is planning to build 2,000 homes on greenfield land (Sandleford) by Newbury College.

We believe that this is the wrong solution for Newbury's future housing needs.

There are other options, and it is clear that West Berkshire Council has not properly considered them.

Rather, it seems that West Berkshire Council decided several years ago that Sandleford was their preferred solution, and has been working backwards from that position ever since.

When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do?

- John Maynard Keynes

But West Berkshire Council seems to be blind to this, and worse, has forgotten what happened in Thatcham in the 1970's and 1980's when road after road of new houses were built with no infrastructure. The result was endless traffic problems for years.

West Berkshire Council is ignoring the lessons of the past and pressing ahead with plans to repeat the mistakes of Thatcham, this time in south Newbury.

Fortunately, the Planning Inspector (who in effect has the final say) has seen some possible flaws in the Council's approach and has directed the Council to re-submit the documents that justify their choice of Sandleford as the primary housing site in West Berkshire for the next 30 years.

The revised documents have been approved by the Council and were consulted on last year. The consultation closed on 16th December 2011. The next step is a Full Council meeting, scheduled for 14th February 2012, to discuss the results from the Consultation.

The issues are technical, and the process for responding to the consultation was complex - and that is why this website is here. This is just about the last chance to stop Sandleford Park from being covered in concrete, and we are here to ensure that you are not bamboozled by planning parlance and council-speak, and to help you respond to the Council. Or if you prefer, we will collate your views and build them in to our responses as a campaign group.