 More than £84m invested in past two financial years
As you're probably aware, our long-standing approach to allocating land for new homes in Wokingham borough has centred on major developments like those at Shinfield parish, the former Arborfield Garrison and North and South Wokingham.
By doing this, rather than encouraging more widespread development, we can build carefully-planned communities with all the infrastructure they need - and, crucially, we can make the developers foot the bill.
As residents of these major new communities, we thought we'd share some great news on how this strategy is continuing to work for your benefit.
 Millions spent on wealth of improvements
More than £84 million in contributions from developers building new homes in Wokingham borough will have been spent on new roads, schools, leisure facilities and other vital services between April 2020 and the end of March this year.
We secured the money through legal agreements to offset the impacts of development and have invested £40.2 million on these projects over the 2020/21 financial year. We expect to have spent another £43.9 million by the end of this one.
This is part of a total investment of almost £1 billion in all community infrastructure, funded by developers, over the course of our Local Plan to 2026. The figure includes about £250 million on roads, £240 million on affordable housing and £100 million towards schools.
 Keeping traffic moving: more than £40m
Over the two-year period, we'll have invested more than £40 million in major highways projects including £16 million in the North Wokingham Distributor Road.
The scheme, which is set to open this year, will relieve congestion in Wokingham town centre by providing an alternative route between Reading Road, off Old Forest Road, and London Road near Coppid Beech Roundabout.
It will serve homes being built as part of our North Wokingham major development, one of four large new communities allocated in the Local Plan.
We're also set to invest £12 million on extending Nine Mile Ride, which should open in the summer to serve the major development at the former Arborfield Garrison.
A further £8.9 million will go towards the South Wokingham Distributor Road, serving new homes in the South Wokingham major development while providing additional relief.
The latest phase, the Eastern Gateway joining William Heelas Way with Waterloo Road via a new bridge over the railway, has just opened, and the next stage, the Western Gateway at Finchampstead Road and Molly Millars Lane, is being drafted.
The Shinfield Eastern Relief Road, which has served our Shinfield Parish major development for several years, received a £2 million investment in funding returned to the University of Reading, which led on building it several years ago.
Another £1.3 million was spent on the Winnersh Relief Road, which opened in May last year, while more than £50,000 went on widening Lower Earley Way to accommodate extra traffic from this project.
 Educating the next generation: more than £15m
Meanwhile, more than £9 million has gone to the new St Cecilia’s Church of England Primary School at Matthewsgreen in North Wokingham, which will open as soon as possible. A share of this has gone towards a community centre on the site.
We also invested £5.2 million in Farley Hill Primary School at Arborfield, which reopened in purpose-built premises last year and is set to expand in September, subject to Government approval, plus more than £1.1 million on a new sixth form building at Addington School in Woodley.
This allowed the latter to accept 50 additional students with special educational needs or disabilities, boosting its total capacity to more than 250, while almost £220,000 went towards improvements at Alder Grove Primary School in Shinfield.
 Sustainable living, play and travel: more than £9m
Another £5.6 million went towards the ongoing regeneration of the Gorse Ride housing estate at Finchampstead, which will see old and outdated homes demolished to make way for new high-quality units with input and support from the community.
We allocated more than £3 million towards affordable housing in 2020/21 at locations including Gorse Ride (£1.3 million), Finch Road in Earley (almost £500,000) and Middlefields in Twyford (almost £465,000).
The redevelopment of the former Carnival Pool in Wokingham town, which is being replaced by a state-of-the-art Carnival Hub with swimming pools, a spa, café, fitness studios, a sports and arts performance hall, a library and more, is set to receive £2.8 million.
About £1.5 million was spent on the new School Green community centre at Shinfield, which opened shortly before Christmas, and the same will be spent on our network of greenways, which are eight generally traffic-free routes linking the major developments.
These sustainable travel routes will be open to pedestrians and cyclists, as well as horse riders in certain sections, and are part of a wider investment in green infrastructure across the borough including cycleways, which have received £1.2 million since 2020/21.
We've invested more than £1 million on parks and open spaces including £313,000 on the destination play area at California Country Park in Finchampstead and almost £130,000 improving Cantley Park in Wokingham town including new flood lights, artificial pitches and another play area.
 Where the money comes from - and how it adds value
About two-thirds of all money comes from legal agreements struck when planning permission was granted, while the rest comes from a statutory, non-negotiable charge agreed by the Government called the community infrastructure levy (CIL).
In 2020/21, the council collected £6.6 million in CIL including £3.4 million from an application for 249 homes on land south of Cutbush Lane in Shinfield parish.
It has banked £44.8 million from this from 2016/17 up to April 2021 and, in the same period, has passed on more than £6.8 million to town and parish councils to spend on projects which address the demands imposed by new development.
Meanwhile, the council has received £179 million through legal agreements since 2016, including £26.8 million in 2020/21 with contributions from developments at Keephatch Beech (£8.1 million), the former Matthewsgreen (£5.2 million) and Kentwood (£2.6 million) farms in north Wokingham, plus Church Lane in Shinfield (£4.3 million) and land at Arborfield (£1.8 million).
Over the last two years, the value of homes in Wokingham borough grew faster than any other in Berkshire, with the average rising from £408,822 in March 2020 to £445,488 a year later, an increase of almost nine per cent and far above London’s figure of 3.7 per cent.
|
