You spoke. Find out what happens next…

Arborfield and Barkham Neighbourhood Plan Consultation Update

Earlier this year we asked a simple but difficult question: if more housing growth was coming to Arborfield and Barkham, how should it happen?

The survey has closed and the responses were analysed. Thank you to everyone who filled in a form, came to an event, or stopped us for a conversation.

The number of written responses was very low. The conversations at our in person events were genuinely valuable, and they pointed in the same direction as the written responses received, but this exercise did not spark the wider parish conversation the Parish Councils had hoped for.

That matters, and not in the way you might think. A thin response does not mean people are content. It usually means people have concluded that decisions of this kind are made elsewhere, by other people, and that having their say makes little difference. That was the mood running through many of the responses we did receive.

The truth is that the national and local picture mean that some new development is inevitable. Wokingham will need a new Local Plan before long, and a new Neighbourhood Plan is the strongest tool the two parishes have to influence this. If the community chose to do nothing, and have no neighbourhood plan, new homes would still be built in the area, but the community will have had no say in how, where and what type of housing that was.

Without an up to date Neighbourhood Plan, sites come forward one at a time, each too small to fund anything meaningful, and the gaps between our settlements will close by accident rather than by decision. With an up to date Neighbourhood Plan, the parishes can set the terms and tie housing growth to the improvements this area is owed.

The day-to-day conversations we have with residents and local businesses told us that having a say in these things matter to people. In particular, people want to influence how community needs, local infrastructure and services are provided alongside new housing.

All of this means that the Parish Councils are confident that although the number of responses was small, it was reflective of the general views of the community, and the Councils should proceed with the Neighbourhood Plan project with those views and the wider context in mind.

We care passionately about hearing from those residents who did not take part in the consultation – if you were interested in the neighbourhood plan project and have feedback about why you did not respond, please email us at: parishclerk@arborfieldparish.gov.uk

What those who responded told us

The tone was cautious, and in many cases negative, about further development. However, very few people told us they were against all housing growth in principle. Far more told us they were frustrated at how housing growth had been managed so far. Homes have arrived faster than the roads, GP capacity and community facilities needed to support them. A key concern was that infrastructure had to be delivered in a planned, accountable way.

Many respondents did not want to rank priorities. Four priorities: protecting heritage, woodland and green space; keeping our settlements separate and rural in character; sorting out traffic; and getting proper access to healthcare were considered to be one connected problem. As several people put it, green space and rural identity couldn’t be recovered once lost, whereas infrastructure could at least be improved over time.

Of the three “what if” scenarios, the most support went to Scenario 3, which concentrated development at higher density in order to make better transport and services viable. Support was conditional on delivery of that infrastructure.

What others told us

We also heard from organisations who would shape what was deliverable:

The NHS Thames Valley Integrated Care Board was candid about the difficulty of collecting developer contributions for healthcare, and about the mismatch between the pace of housebuilding and the pace of health provision. Overall, they felt that larger, coordinated, strategically planned housing growth was significantly more likely to support viable healthcare than development arriving at small scale.

Other responses were received from:

• Ward Councillors who felt the area needed time to absorb the development that was already underway.
• The local PCSO team whose response focused on design quality and community safety.
• Wokingham Borough Council engaged with the exercise and confirmed our infrastructure assumptions matched its own.
• An independent environmental assessment found constraints in every scenario, with no easy options.

Overall, the consistent theme of responses was that how housing growth is patterned and delivered matters more than the total number of homes.

What happens next

The Parish Councils need to gather more evidence, which will include a review of available land to meet necessary tests, and will agree a policy strategy for the Neighbourhood Plan Review. There will be further consultation stages, further decision points, and more open and honest conversations with the community before the final plan is submitted. The last stage of plan making will be a local referendum – you will decide whether the final plan should be approved or not.

We will publish the next steps at www.arbarplan.co.uk and to our email list. If you have not signed up, now is a good moment.

Shaping our parish. Together.

Link to Land Review

Link to Previous Survey