 Revised plans for district centre plan go public
Following an initial exhibition in April, Crest Nicholson will again be consulting on revised plans for a district centre with a supermarket, shops, a pub, village green, relocated community centre and more.
These will be displayed in the main hall at the community centre off Princess Marina Drive between 3pm and 8pm on Thursday, 8 December. They've been revised since last time, based on your feedback and talks with our planning officers.
The scheme will still be built in the same place off Nine Mile Ride Extension, near Bohunt School and Arborfield Green Leisure Centre, but the layout and access have changed slightly including new pedestrianised areas.
Application expected in new year
Crest is arranging and running this exhibition, and we are pressing the developer to submit a planning application to us once it has taken feedback on board.
The development is acceptable under an outline permission we gave for housing in this area, with only finer details to be agreed. Crest is required to provide it, as well as restoring the former military stables and opening them for community use.
It will also provide, through a separate application, a new pavilion at Arborfield Green cricket ground to replace the outdated one plus new cricket and football pitches, allotments, a multi-use games area and two play areas.
 Pushing for results as quickly as we can
We know there's been frustration at how long this has taken, and some of you have recently petitioned us to take a stronger line with Crest.
Some of our senior councillors recently met the developer's representatives to discuss these delays and they have promised to keep the pressure on them.
We recognise that Crest are in breach of their planning conditions, which required them to provide 25 per cent of the commercial floorspace at the district centre by the time that 1,000 homes were occupied.
However, we also have to recognise that this project fell behind, in part, due to reasons beyond their control - mostly financial viability at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic and for a long time afterwards.
A challenging, unexpected crisis for retail
Until recently, Crest couldn't attract interest from a supermarket to serve as an "anchor" tenant attracting others to the site. This is because of uncertainty caused by covid and Brexit, making retailers reluctant to open new branches.
Under national guidelines which all councils have to follow, it would have been unfair for us to penalise them. There was no benefit in trying to forcing a shop to open when there was a risk it might have to close again.
We'll always have the right to take enforcement action, but this is at our discretion and we're expected to act proportionately in situations like this.
As time moves on, however, we've insisted that Crest explain how they're going to push this forward as quickly as possible. They've now shared these plans with us and we'll be monitoring the situation closely.
 New road, footway and cycleway open to everyone
We've opened a new road, with a separate footway and cycleway along both sides, to improve access for all users and encourage active travel through this development.
Nine Mile Ride Extension runs between the A327 Eversley Road roundabout to the west and the junction with Park Lane to the east, forming a 2km route to help residents travel to local amenities and further afield.
Where possible, we hope as many journeys as possible will be made on foot, or by bicycle or bus. We have lots of other measures in the pipeline to make this safer and more convenient, both in this area and across the borough.
The project was funded and partly built by developers building new homes in the area, under legal agreements we reached when we awarded planning permission. This means it isn't costing us as we seek to make savings and protect vital services.
 Successful completion of a long and complex project
The northern half, between the A327 and the Bohunt secondary school and Arborfield Green Leisure Centre, was built by developers and has been open for some time.
This will also serve a district centre with shops, a community centre and more, which Crest Nicholson should submit a planning application for soon - as outlined above.
Our contractor Balfour Beatty then finished work on the southern half. Opening took longer than expected because, as is common with schemes involving many parties including landowners, a number of complicated administrative issues had to be resolved and we’re pleased this is now done.
The route is part of our major new roads programme serving mostly the borough's new developments, and funded or built by developers, with features to encourage active travel including footways and cycle paths.
 A carefully considered approach to reducing car trips
Although it's sometimes necessary to build new roads to serve new housing, which is imposed on us by the Government, we're committed to helping you reduce car journeys in favour of more active and sustainable trips.
We're separately building a largely traffic-free greenway from Arborfield Cross to Wokingham town via Woosehill, which follows the provision of the existing greenway from the major development to Finchampstead.
As part of our long-term vision for improving walking and cycling facilities over the coming decade, we're proposing a wider, safer and better lit route for pedestrians and cyclists along the Observer Way relief road at Arborfield Cross.
We're also doing all we can to save our bus network as operators grapple with the ongoing impact of the coronavirus pandemic and rolling out new electric vehicle chargers with Government funding to reduce the impact of driving.
All of this is part of our efforts to tackle the climate emergency, improve air quality, help everyone get active and make it more affordable to get around.
Images courtesy of Balfour Beatty
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