HALLOWEEN has been and gone this year but that hasn’t stopped a controversial plan for 197 homes in the Warfield countryside coming back from the dead.

Developers hoping to build on Home Farm were rebuffed by the council back in October 2019 but now the plans have been re-submitted.

READ MORE: Why the council refused plans for 197 homes in Warfield

The initial rejection came after planning bosses said the new homes would:

  • Harm an area of open countryside
  • Harm Home Farm as a listed building
  • Be unsafe to access
  • Not adequately protect biodiversity at the site
  • Have ‘insufficient’ affordable housing
  • Create too much pressure on the roads and other services in the area

Home Farm Land Ltd appealed this refusal but withdrew their submission to the Planning Inspectorate in January 2020.

But now the proposals have re-emerged as applicants give planning permission another shot.

Bracknell News:

The major change, according to documents submitted by the applicant, is the provision of 35 per cent affordable housing (69 units) compared to the 30 per cent (59 homes) outlined in the previous proposal.

As this is an outline application, developers are seeking consent for access only currently and have submitted a red-line plan, the general arrangement of the new homes, details of the site access and layout, and the parameter plan.

Should this proposal get the go-ahead, more detailed plans would be submitted.

READ MORE: Plans for 305 homes in Warfield countryside approved

Access to the site would come from a new three-armed roundabout on Forest Road, the same designs as previously submitted.

Applicants also say the issue of settlement boundaries ‘attract little weight’ in planning considerations, with developers suggesting there is legal evidence to indicate countryside policies are ‘out of date’.

Bracknell News:

The last time Home Farm Land Ltd submitted an application to build 197 homes at the site, which is currently home to farm buildings and open fields used for horse grazing, 59 objections were submitted to Bracknell Forest Council (BFC).

So far, two have been sent in against the new application.

One resident, who lives on Forest Road, wrote: “I am absolutely flabbergasted at yet another planning application in West end, have we not had enough of our fields, wildlife and views stolen from us over many years?

“The extra traffic on this already busy road will be unbearable let alone more years of dust dirt and lorries.

READ MORE: Campaigners submit petition against plans to build 4,000 homes in Warfield countryside

“The wildlife such as the deer, owls, bats and birds which are slowly coming back will be heavily affected. we moved to this area many years ago because of the quiet semi-rural location, at one time you could not see another house from many houses in the West end.

“Now we are slowly becoming engulfed in a concrete jungle with everyone else enjoying the views we once had.”

Full details of the plan can be viewed by entering planning reference 20/00802/OUT at planapp.bracknell-forest.gov.uk.