A PATCH of land in Warfield has been included in a list of sites earmarked for future development despite councillors throwing out proposals for nearly three-dozen homes at the site just last month.

Developers were hoping to build 33 homes on land north of Herschel Grange, off Warfield Street, but were knocked back by Bracknell Forest’s planning committee in February after they refused the designs (despite originally granting approval in December 2019).

But it appears the site is not yet safe from development as it has been included in a list of 20 locations identified by Bracknell Forest Council where new homes could potentially go up.

Outlined in the latest version of the authority’s draft local plan, which sets out where development may take place in the borough up to the year 2037, the land is classed as a ‘large site’ which has the potential for 33 homes (including 12 affordable homes).

READ MORE: Bracknell Forest Council refuses plans for 33 homes at Herschel Grange

The News asked Bracknell Forest Council why the site had been included despite plans being refused just last month.

In response, Andrew Hunter, BFC’s development chief, said: “The planning application for 33 houses at Hershel Grange was assessed by the planning committee who considered the detailed proposal as set out by the applicant under existing planning policies.

“This is a separate process from developing a local plan which looks to identify future housing needs and how they might be met.

Bracknell News: Image via Maggie Stock. Image via Maggie Stock.

“The council uses evidence to assess the best sites available to meet those identified requirements, and Hershel Grange has been included in each step of the draft Local Plan as a future development location.

READ MORE: Re-examining plans for 33 homes at Herschel Grange saved Bracknell Forest Council £35,000

“Once the new plan has been adopted it will also have a different set of planning policies which would apply to planning applications in the future.”

Reacting to the site's inclusion in the latest draft local plan, Warfield Village Action group chair Maggie Stock said: "It appears that there are two arms to the Bracknell Forest Council planning process, which do not appear to communicate with one another and are therefore often not aligned, resulting in inefficiency and inconsistent and inappropriate decisions being made.

"It seems unbelievable that the Council planners continue to propose to include this site in the Draft Local Plan, given the very sound reasons for rejecting it for development as voiced by the Planning Councillors only a month ago. The fact is that the same grounds for refusal made by the Planning Committee on 11 February 2021 apply to the site, whether its inclusion for housing is being considered by the Draft Local Plan development arm of the Council or the planning application arm. It is the same piece of land, the same countryside, the same wildlife, the same heritage - and its development will cause the same harm.

"The inclusion of this site for development will be detrimental to the intrinsic beauty and value of the site and its surrounding countryside, as well as to the rural character and longstanding heritage of Warfield Street village as we know it today. A further cost to the community will be the heightened risk to road safety, as the local infrastructure is not designed to accommodate the levels of traffic that development of this site would generate.

"It is the property developers who gain - at the expense of wildlife and Bracknell residents and their future generations. On behalf of the Warfield Village Action Group, I urge all readers of Bracknell News to seek to preserve the remaining countryside to the north of Bracknell and outside settlement. The WVAG will be making further representations to the Inspector during the consultation period."

The latest version of the local plan also includes plans for 2,000 homes at Jealott’s Hill in Warfield — down from the 4,000 initially proposed in September 2019.

Councillors will vote to approve a consultation on the local plan at a meeting on Tuesday, March 16.

If the consultation gets the go-ahead, residents will be able to have their say on the proposals and policies within the draft local plan from Tuesday, March 23 to Tuesday, May 11.

Following an examination from a planning inspector over the summer and winter of this year, and pending any subsequent changes, it is expected the local plan will be adopted by Spring 2022.