Changes have been made to a plan for dozens of new homes on the northern outskirts of Reading that has been hit with objections.
The Fairfax land acquisitions company has recently made adjustments to its plan to add 70 homes to the Emmer Green Drive development in Caversham.
Fairfax won outline permission for Emmer Green Drive, at the former Reading Golf Course from Reading Borough Council’s planning applications committee in March 2022, despite it receiving more than 4,000 objections.
Earlier this year, the company applied to add 70 homes to Emmer Green Drive north of the development, which would bring the total to 293 homes.
The extended development would occupy land that falls within South Oxfordshire District Council’s jurisdiction.
The design has been adjusted this month following consultation with the council’s planning department.
A letter from planning agents Boyer explains that changes include the access being tweaked and more tree planting.
The adjustments to the plan come as a number of objections have been made.
Jennifer Leach, who lives in Emmer Green, wrote: “South Oxfordshire has a powerful chance to stand up for what is morally and ethically right, for the generations of all species that will follow us.
“We can keep laying waste to the land for profit, as long as we embrace the certain consequences – that our rivers will be poisoned sewage channels, that drought, heatwaves and floods will become the norm, that our farmers will not be able to grow crops to feed us, and that our children will suffer beyond comprehension.
“What short-term profit can ever justify this?”
The Keep Emmer Green group has encouraged its members to object to the project.
A post by a group member on Facebook states: “They have saved three trees and changed a road but still want 70 houses. They think we should be grateful.
“This application needs to be thrown out.
“It ignores the local plan and the developer says that doesn’t matter. But it does. This is our community. Our future.”
The post refers to the Kidmore End Neighbourhood Plan, which states that smaller villages in Oxfordshire are not required to deliver housing.
However, the agent from Boyer argued that the need for new housing and benefits of the development outweighed that policy.
The agent cited two recent appeals that have been allowed, where appointed planning inspectors concluded that the benefits of housing schemes outweighed the provisions of neighbourhood plans by parish councils.
The appeals cited were for 250 homes in Faversham and 95 homes in Fontwell, West Sussex.
A public consultation on the plan for 70 homes for Emmer Green Drive closes on Saturday, September 6.
You can view the application by typing reference P25/S1431/O into South Oxfordshire council’s planning portal.
