Concerns have been raised about the impact of a plan for more than 2,000 homes on the edge of Berkshire.
While much traffic in the county runs on the west-to-east route of the M4, there is also a substantial amount of traffic running north and south between Reading and nearby villages to Basingstoke and other Hampshire towns.
A plan has recently surfaced to build 2,160 homes at Murrell Green between Hook and Hartley Wintney in Hart District, Hampshire.
The development, being pursued by the Lightwood residential planning promoter, requests three accesses from the A30 London Road and one access from the B3016 Odiham Road.
Because of the scale of the project, Wokingham Borough Council and Bracknell Forest Council have run consultations on it.
The nearest substantial settlements in Berkshire are Arborfield and Finchampstead.
Wokingham Borough Council has expressed concern about the impact it could have on traffic.
A letter states: “The council requests a forecast of how many vehicle trips will utilise Wokingham’s road network.
“The Transport Assessment sets out likely locations for future residents to commute to.
“On this basis, it appears that circa 15.7 per cent of future residents could commute using Wokingham’s road network.”
The transport assessment predicts that 5.3 per cent of people will commute through Wokingham, 4.9 per cent will go through Bracknell Forest and 1.4 per cent of future residents will go to Reading.
It also mentions that Wokingham’s road network could be utilised by 4.8 per cent of people from Wokingham, four per cent of people from Bracknell Forest and 2.1 per cent of people from Reading commuting to Murrell Green.
Wokingham Borough Council’s letter states: “The council has requested that junction capacity assessments are completed at any junctions in Wokingham where the development results in 30 two-way additional trips in a Peak Hour.
“Of particular concern is the A33/B3349 Basingstoke Road Roundabout, which is a key junction should residents of Murrell Green be driving to destinations such as Reading and Wokingham.
“Whilst this junction sits within Hampshire, the Wokingham Infrastructure Delivery Plan identifies a need for capacity improvements on the A33 Reading to Basingstoke corridor and identifies a particular need for focused capacity improvements near Wellington Country Park.
“Following the appraisal of the application, it is considered that the
council would presently object to the proposal on Highways grounds, due to the implication it would have on the highway network in and around Wokingham Borough.”
The council has therefore requested further information from Lightwood if it were to reconsider the objection on highways grounds.
The application has also appeared on Bracknell Forest Council’s planning portal, but no files have been submitted so far.
You can view the project by typing reference 26/01201/OUT into Hart District Council’s planning portal.
