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07/05/09 : Kennet Meadows : victory over the developers as campaigners get area axed from South-East Plan :
Martin Salter MP and Labour Councillors from Southcote and Minster have welcomed the scrapping of a reference in the South-East Plan, published on 6 May, to a "development zone" in Kennet Meadows, the area between Reading and the M4, which would have opened the way for an early planning application from developers PRUPIM to build 7500 houses in the Kennet flood plain.
The proposal had been put forward by the Panel appointed to review the plan, but as soon as it became public Martin Salter and local Councillors launched a campaign to persuade the Government the proposal was a nonsense.
Campaigners argued the proposal would destroy a green lung hugely valued by local people, destroy a major wildlife area (including one of the best nightingale sites in the country), put a huge burden of traffic on Burghfield Road and, according to the experts at the Environment agency, pose a serious risk of flooding the Oracle and other parts of central Reading.
The plan as published by the Department for Communities and Local Government no longer mentions Kennet Meadows, but does emphasise flood risk as a major issue to be taken into account when looking at any proposal.
Reading West MP Martin Salter said: "This is excellent news and the end of a long road for hundreds of people who have fought the developers tooth and claw for many years. It is difficult to see how the Prudential or any other big developer could win a planning battle to build on the water meadows now that the area has been specifically excluded from the South East Plan because of flood risks to Reading."
Long-term campaigner for Kennet Meadows Pete Ruhemann adds: "Over the last thirty years local people have seen off attacks on the meadows from Hoviland, Tarmac, ARC, RMC, Wimpey and now Prudential. But this is a landmark decision, and I hope it gives us a basis for securing the meadows in their natural state for all time. There've been too many battles, and it would be good to make the next one a battle on our terms."
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