 Welcome - and a happy new year
Welcome to the second edition of your South Wokingham major development newsletter, which comes to you on Tuesday evenings every eight weeks.
This is a quiet time of year but we still have plenty to share - including the imminent completion of part of this vibrant new community. Construction of Montague Park began in 2013 and the finishing touches are being applied to the last of the new homes in this area, while a section of a major new road has also opened.
Meanwhile, we've just finished consulting on a revised growth strategy for our Local Plan Update, which proposes continuing our approach of building major new communities so we can secure high-quality infrastructure funded by developers.
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 First phase of new community almost built
Construction of new homes at the Montague Park development, off London Road, is almost complete.
Contractors for David Wilson Homes are putting the finishing touches to the area's neighbourhood centre, which consists of shops and a community space plus 54 flats - the last of 636 homes which we gave planning permission for. Several of these flats, of which 18 are affordable, are already occupied.
The premises off William Heelas Way, a short distance north of Floreat Montague Park Primary School, will contain about 600 sq m of retail space, more than half of which will be occupied by a Co-op food store. This is being fitted out with a view to opening in early March.
There will also be about 200 sq m for community usage and we're still in talks about the best way to use this. We'll update you as soon as we know more.
The complex will house the last of three pieces of community art by sculptor Thrussells, of Liskeard, this time celebrating Wokingham town's history in a series of panels. The other two are at the entrance to Montague Park, at the northern end of William Heelas Way, and on the nearby Buckhurst Meadows nature park.
All these amenities and more were funded by developer contributions, which highlights the benefits of building new communities from the ground up and is why we're suggesting a similar approach in our updated Local Plan.
Montague Park has been under construction since 2013 and is named after Henry Montague, who ran a grammar school in the 1600s at what is now Montague House in Broad Street, Wokingham town.
William Heelas Way, the main road through the neighbourhood, is named after an 18th-century textiles trader who lived and worked in the town, and whose successors ran the Heelas department store in Reading before John Lewis took over.
It's part of our wider South Wokingham major development, which is set to take about 2,500 high-quality homes with infrastructure including another primary school and a larger neighbourhood centre, both south of the railway line.
 New road opens with another around the corner
We opened a new road yesterday (Monday, 24 January) to improve access to planned new homes in our South Wokingham major development.
The Eastern Gateway links William Heelas Way in Montague Park, which was completed in 2015, with a new roundabout on Waterloo Road on the other side of the railway line.
It includes a new railway bridge to replace the level crossing further west at Clay Lane, which will be removed, and will reduce congestion while providing a safe, high-quality route for pedestrians, cyclists and public transport.
Work started in July and the new roundabout and accompanying ponds were finished last year before our contractor Balfour Beatty linked the new road and bridge.
The Eastern Gateway and William Heelas Way are both part of the South Wokingham Distributor Road project, which will relieve pressure on town centre roads and offset the impact of new housing.
This will also include a new central road running westwards from the new Waterloo Road roundabout and across Easthampstead Road to join Finchampstead Road near the Tesco superstore.
Access at that end will be via the planned Western Gateway, which we're hoping to start work on as soon as we can. To prepare for this, a small number of properties on the corner of Finchampstead Road and Molly Millars Lane will be demolished from February 7 to eventually make way for a new roundabout.
Meanwhile, we've almost finished building the project's counterpart, the North Wokingham Distributor Road, with the last remaining section to the west of Old Forest Road due for completion very soon. For the latest updates on our highways projects, visit our major new roads website.
 Local Plan Update - thanks for your feedback
We've just finished consulting on a revised growth strategy for our Local Plan Update, which will outline where new housing and other forms of development - including ample community infrastructure - should go until 2038.
Many thanks to everyone who shared their views on the proposal, which includes a garden village of about 4,500 homes at Hall Farm/Loddon Valley between Shinfield, Arborfield and Sindlesham, as well as about 800 homes within the existing South Wokingham major development plus 2,700 or so across smaller sites.
This is similar to our current Local Plan, which allocates about 13,000 homes across four major developments at Shinfield parish, the former Arborfield Garrison and North and South Wokingham. It's due to provide about £1 billion in roads, schools, public green spaces and more.
We'll go through feedback and make some amendments, subject to a range of conditions including national planning policy, then put a revised proposal before our full council over the summer to prepare for another public consultation in the autumn.
This will be sent to a planning inspector, along with residents' comments, for independent examination.
We know not everyone is happy with the idea but we have to take new homes to meet Government requirements as well as allowing some natural growth to keep our borough vibrant and give future generations a chance to remain local.
To find out more about the pressures we face - and what we've done to meet your needs, while trying to keep development at a reasonable and sustainable level - visit our Building Communities the Wokingham Borough Way information page.
 School sets example in teaching climate change
Pupils at Floreat Montague Park Primary School took part in a climate change and sustainability day in partnership with the University of Reading last week.
The children were filmed enjoying lessons and activities about weather and the environment, then interviewed alongside teachers about what they had learned.
The footage will be used in a case study as part of an online course to help teachers explain the subject to young audiences.
Floreat Montague Park has been working with Professor Helen Bilton, an outdoor learning and play expert at the university, for several years.
Sustainability is a significant part of its curriculum and one of its six "big ideas" along with inequality, beliefs, democracy, diversity and power.
The school is one of seven new primaries to be secured in our new communities through developer funding. Two others are up and running: the relocated Farley Hill Primary School at Arborfield and Alder Grove Primary School in Shinfield.
Our strategic approach also delivered the Bohunt School at Arborfield, the borough's first new secondary in more than 50 years, and will provide another primary at South Wokingham to accompany new homes south of the railway.
 Nature parks spotlight: Buckhurst Meadows
This 12.5-hectare beauty spot, previously in the grounds of Buckhurst Farm and now part of Montague Park, was landscaped by the developers as a condition of their planning permission for new housing.
It's a thriving, popular green space with a community orchard, sustainably surfaced footpaths including a 1.7km circular walk and meadows and copses attracting all sorts of wildlife including birds, dragonflies and amphibians.
The Thames Basin Heaths Partnership says it is a nicely maturing meadow with a treasure trove of habitats – and an ideal visit for nature lovers with a beautiful mosaic of grasses, wildflowers, native trees and ponds.
The partnership says the site’s reedbed as a particular highlight, adding that the surfaced paths allow good access all year round with plenty of space for dogs.
Free parking, including disabled spaces, is available off William Heelas Way, north of Drew Crescent.
As we reported in our last South Wokingham newsletter, we're still in talks about taking over its management and look forward to announcing more soon.
Buckhurst Farm is one of many public green spaces measuring some 120 hectares, or more than 170 football pitches, created across Wokingham borough as a result of our strategic approach to development.
 Drainage improvements under way
David Wilson Homes' teams are now finalising essential works on the three drainage ponds on the public green spaces at Montague Park.
This is to make sure they work effectively by draining surface water like rainfall at a carefully controlled rate to offset potential flooding in the surrounding area.
Residents may notice the ponds' water levels are lower than before and more of the banks may be exposed but this will improve as vegetation grows.
The ponds may also attract a different mix of wildlife but will still play a valuable role in maintaining and improving biodiversity.
This is a key consideration whenever we allow new housing and we always require developers to include measures to protect local flora and fauna.
 Homes plan still in pipeline
Plans to build up to 171 new homes at the western end of our South Wokingham major development are expected to go before our planning committee in the next month or two.
We're discussing the details with Charles Church Developments, the applicant, and hope it will move forward to committee very soon. The proposal is for land to the south-east of Finchampstead Road with suitable public open space.
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