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07/09/09 : Naz tells West Berks: first set your Core Strategy, then reject Pincents Hill :
Labour candidate for Reading West, Naz Sarkar, is urging West Berkshire Council to agree a Core Strategy to spread new housing around different settlements in the Eastern Urban Area, and then use that as a basis for rejecting Blue Living's controversial proposals for 750 homes at Pincents Hill.
"West Berkshire's consultation on its Core Strategy ended in July," he says, "and two of their five options for the Eastern Urban Area included building on Pincents Hill. But many respondents, including the Labour Party as well as local Parish Councils, want the Council to adopt Option 5 - A number of smaller developments throughout the Eastern Urban Area and including all service centres in the east : Burghfield Common, Calcot, Mortimer, Pangbourne, Purley on Thames, Theale, and Tilehurst - and if West Berkshire were to do that it would give it a good basis for rejecting the Blue Living application and winning if Blue Living went to appeal. I think it very likely the application will be decided by the Planning Inspectorate and a draft submission document would be a powerful 'material planning consideration' which would be a strong argument for the application to be thrown out on appeal."
"What Blue Living are trying to do is strengthen their position by bouncing West Berkshire into a decision on their application before the Local Development Framework is set, and the Council needn't and shouldn't allow itself to be bounced. Unless some of the Tories there want it to be bounced so they can dump all this housing on the borders of Reading and blame the Government, but I hope they are not going to be as cynical as that!"
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