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30/07/08 : Major Victory in Fight for Kennet Meadows
Campaigners for Kennet Meadows, the area between Reading and the M4, are celebrating after the Government overturned a recommendation from the Examination in Public into the South-East Plan that developers PRUPIM (part of the Prudential Group) should be allowed to build 7500 homes in the functional floodplain of the Kennet Valley.
The proposals were rejected by the Environment Agency as increasing flood risk to properties in Reading, and to the town centre, but the Panel had included the proposal regardless. So Martin Salter MP, together with Labour Councillors from Southcote and Minster in particular, started a campaign to persuade Ministers to overturn the Panel's recommendation.
Residents' groups, bird watchers, anglers, walkers and many individual residents wrote in, and Martin Salter presented a 2500-signature to Parliament. Finally, the Government announced this week that
``The strategic development area South West of Reading has not been carried forward because of concerns about its potential for flood risk.''
Reading West MP Martin Salter said ``This is a massive victory for our campaign and justifies all the hard work and lobbying of recent months. Government ministers such as Jonathon Shaw and John Healey took time out to visit the area and see for themselves just how crazy it would have been to concrete over the Kennet Water Meadows which serve as natures natural flood reservoir, holding back any surplus water and keeping our town safe from the flooding that causes so much devastation elsewhere.''
The fight to save Kennet Meadows from gravel extraction and development goes back to 1981, and local Labour Councillors have played key roles in a whole series of campaigns over the years. The Government having given a clear signal that it is really serious about stopping building on the flood plain, the Labour Council will now be exploring ways of getting the area dedicated to the public and giving it protection long-term.
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