Wokingham works on 11 green areas

I am strongly in favour of keeping as many green areas of woodland, meadow and nature reserve as possible in our hard pressed area.
Wokingham Borough points out the following eleven areas as part of their green plans:

Keep Hatch woods, Binfield Road
Kentwood Meadows Warren House Road
Old Forest Road Meadows
Eldridge Park, Bell Foundry Lane
Keep Hatch Meadows Binfield Road
Buckhurst Meadows William Heelas Way
Langley Mead, Hyde End Road Shinfield
Mays Farm Meadows Hyde End Lane Shinfield
Five Acres Field Shinfield
Clare’s Green field Ryeish Lane
Hazebrook Meadows Arborfield

15 Comments

  1. Ian!
    July 12, 2019

    Sir John

    That would be nice accept for one big blot on their landscape. The suggested housing development for the same small area is on green field and wooded areas.

    I was going to try to work out the land earmarked for development against the areas you have stated to be created or retained but once I got above 32 hectares to be housed over with still more to add I realized it just shows the devastation in the area.

    Wokingham has no proper infrastructure plan to meet demand. A roundabout isn’t a road improvement its the cause of pollution. Kicking pedestrians off very narrow pedestrian foot paths so the odd cyclist take the space, that’s an improvement according to the council. These aren’t plans, these are cross your fingers an hope for the best.

    Wokingham Railway station is already over capacity, the M4 with its new digital outlook is becoming clogged and dangerous. People getting knocked down in the town centre because of vague parking, strange traffic lanes and having to jump out of the way of speeding cyclists. Electric cycles seeing how fast they can get down the alley opposite the town hall, is just play silly and lazy on the councils part. Wokingham is devising something like a shoot-em-up arcade game.

    Not forgetting that all the development in the area for a long time is not satisfy the local population, but to attract incomers – hence the reason they need the infrastructure to get out as they work outside the area.

    I could write a book on how poor the management is of the area. It used to be one of those places so on top of everything it would be a place to come and call home.

    1. Narrow Shoulders
      July 12, 2019

      Importing people to drive GDP and taxing as many women in the workforce as possible takes precedence over England being a nice place to live.

      1. Anonymous
        July 12, 2019

        Spot on.

      2. agricola
        July 13, 2019

        Absolutely, I spelt it out exactly as it is yesterday, but our hosts blinkered racial views caused it to be scrubbed. Was it out of fear or does he approve of the situation created by his fellow MPs.

        Reply Housing demand and pressures comes from a wide range of sources and is mot a racial issue. I have always pointed out that high levels of inward migration require large numbers of new hones and have supported a party that promised to reduce net migration substantially.

      3. Oh Danny Boy
        July 13, 2019

        “Importing people to drive GDP and taxing as many women in the workforce as possible takes precedence over England being a nice place to live.”

        Hear, hear. England is becoming an ever more cluttered, confused, overpriced place to live. Our leaders have not taken the foot off the gas pedal when it comes to Blair-esque levels of unfettered mass immigration. Anyone that has lived or spent significant time in any one place for ten or twenty years can see how much busier and congested parts of the country have become. Circa 2.9 million more people added to the population in the ten years since Mr Cameron came to power (and that’s not counting those we don’t know about!). How long do we continue on this trajectory? 10 years? 30 years? 50 years? What kind of overcrowded, messy future are giving to the younger generations.

        With the exception of our good host and Mr Baker I cannot think of any good reasons to put an X next to the Conservatives at a local or national level again. Looking back we’ve little more than a continuity-Blair government. A serious reset is needed urgently.

  2. Fred H
    July 12, 2019

    What! only 11 green areas? I would have thought they could easily have listed 50.
    In other words they have conceded the Borough to concrete, bricks and tarmac….plus toxic pollution and chaos in education, health services, transport and employment.
    Well done!

  3. Shirley
    July 12, 2019

    Farmland is disappearing quickly in my neck of the woods. They are even building on land that floods, steep hills, and anywhere near a road. I guess people will then complain that we don’t produce enough food and we rely too much on imports.

    Our small towns and villages are merging into one big housing estate. Meanwhile, our local A&E was closed and we now have to travel miles to get to one. Banks have disappeared locally and the only thriving retail in the area appears to be cut price supermarkets! You can still buy food, but we don;t get any other additional infrastructure such as schools and hospitals.

    This is not the green and pleasant land I grew up in! What next …. once the farmland is gone will they start building on our moors and dales, tear down the New Forest, etc?

    1. agricola
      July 13, 2019

      So sir must have the last word. So be it if it makes you feel good , but it solves nothing. Burying your head in the sand is no answer, it only exacerbates the problem for the future.

  4. Prigger
    July 12, 2019

    Future generations will be surprised but will receive counselling, that the MPs in Parliament during the Reign of Terror 2016-2019 re-christened themselves each and every one Guy Fawkes, unashamedly and with aforethought.

  5. MikeP
    July 13, 2019

    Sir John, you say, “I have always pointed out that high levels of inward migration require large numbers of new homes and have supported a party that promised to reduce net migration substantially”.
    It’s an empty promise though, the high levels of net migration continue unabated and bring other challenges beyond our proven inability to build sufficient houses. In 3 of my last 5 visits to Reading I have witnessed appalling daytime violence in the town centre, how long before this comes to Wokingham? For every new house built, on average we can add 2 vehicles needing to park, visit, pass through and pollute the town. We can add say 3000 people for the 1495 new homes designated for the SE of Wokingham, adding to the shortage of school places, doctors, dentists, effective policing and road congestion. I often wonder how often you personally experience the traffic queues through the town from about 3.30-4pm every weekday? The town is all but screwed I’m afraid.

    Reply Yes, as a local resident I have sat in traffic jams and am well aware of congestion problems. I regularly lobby the Council as the Highways Authority to improve junctions and put in more capacity.

    1. Mike Wilson
      July 15, 2019

      Well, there will be one less soon. I can’t stand living in the area anymore so, after 30 years living here, I am moving to the West Country.

  6. Alan Jutson
    July 13, 2019

    Many of those you mention are small areas within a new development which have been set aside, which before becoming part of a building site were completely open and green areas.

    The Council have plans to allow 836 houses per year to be build until 2036, having already allowed that many over the past 20 years.
    Yes some infrastructure has been put in place, but it is far too little and far too late.

    The larger areas of developed green space out of Town which you do not mention, Dinton Pastures and California Park, are very popular but getting ever more crowded, and the Council now charge for parking, which is policed by wardens.

    A once attractive small market Town has now become typical urban spread with the usual parking fees, traffic jams and rising crime.
    The police station has been closed, and trying to get any sensible answer when in communication with the Council on any range of subjects is an absolute farce.
    Incidentally they have now removed the drop in enquiry/information desk at the Planning department, so now you now cannot even speak to anyone face-face to discuss or look at planning applications or seek advice, it all has to be done on line, with all of the frustration that entails.

    1. Mike Wilson
      July 15, 2019

      And, of course, you have to pay to speak to anyone.

  7. acorn
    July 13, 2019

    JR, please make sure that these green spaces in Wokingham are equipped with plenty of seats; free wi-fi; and, a not-for-profit Burger Van in each. This to accommodate the post Brexit unemployed in Wokingham Borough 🙂 .

  8. Mike Wilson
    July 15, 2019

    Well, as long as they don’t build on Elm’s Field. I read recently that green spaces in town centres are vital for air quality and quality of life.

    What? It’s being built on? Surely not! How did that happen?

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