A verdict on a plan to add 70 homes to a new estate on the site of a former golf course has been given, as a decision on the project is due.
The Emmer Green Drive development of 223 homes is currently being built at the site of the former Reading Golf Course off Kidmore End Road in Caversham.
Last year, planning consultancy Fairfax and the Reading Golf Club, the landowner, submitted a plan to extend the development north into South Oxfordshire.
But the sole access to the site is a road that is being established within Reading Borough Council’s jurisdiction.
South Oxford District Council (SODC) rejected the project last December, with the developers appealing against the decision to the government’s planning inspectorate.
Members of Reading council’s planning applications committee recently decided on its recommendation that will be considered during the appeal at a meeting on Wednesday, February 4.
Reading councillors had requested that the developers pay it £150,000 to make safety improvements to the Last Crumb last November.
However, this was clipped back to £50,000 in a recommendation by Matt Burns, a principal planning officer, in the most recent report.
Members of the public encouraged councillors to ask for £150,000.
Nick Haskins, chair of the Caversham and District Residents Association, stated that £50,000 would be too low, given the impact that extra traffic would have.
Meanwhile, Dan Winchester, who was representing 70 households, argued that the highways impact would affect the neighbouring roads, not just the Last Crumb junction, which serves as the meeting point of Prospect Street, Henley Road, Westfield Road and Peppard Road.
He said: “We would love to see a more ambitious ask from Reading to mitigate not only the Last Crumb junction, which I absolutely accept the problems with, but also to look at the route to Caversham Bridge, that doesn’t even seem to be on the radar.”
The developers had submitted a travel plan determining potential car, bus and bicycle use for future residents.
Cllr Stephen Goss (Conservative, Emmer Green) said: “I’ve made the point that South Oxfordshire get the benefits and we get all of the headaches.
“I live in Lower Caversham, I frequently travel up to Emmer Green, it’s a bloody nightmare cycling up and down there!
“How we expect large numbers of people to do that is rather dubious.
“No amount of money that we request will satisfactorily solve the infrastructure problems, there just is not the capacity.
“There is no justification for us recommending this be approved for all the issues that this will cause on the roads.”
Cllr Micky Leng (Labour, Whitley) expressed frustration at the position that councillors were put in, as the site is right on Reading’s boundary.
Labour councillors felt unable to reject the plan, but did demand £150,000 for highways improvements from the developers, rather than the £50,000 suggested.
It was also acknowledged that the council tax from the 70 homes would go to South Oxfordshire, rather than Reading council.
In a vote, only councillors Goss and Kathryn McCann (Green, Redlands) voted against the project, with the remaining councillors voting for it.
You can view the application by typing reference PL/25/0691 into Reading council’s planning portal.
The appeal is due to be decided in March.
