Thousands of people have signed a petition against the redevelopment of the ‘much loved’ Pinewood Centre in Crowthorne.

The Pinewood Centre is a community facility located off Old Wokingham Road and is home to a number of different athletics and gym clubs, a miniature railway, a remote control car speedway, and the Pinewood Starr boxing gym.

But there are fears that the centre could be redeveloped and have homes built on the site.

The Pinewood Centre is in Crowthorne but falls within the Wokingham Without Parish governed by Wokingham Borough Council.

It has recently been identified for redevelopment in the Wokingham Local Plan update which was approved by the council’s executive on Friday, November 12.

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A petition has been signed by 3,607 people on Change.org speaking out against the possible redevelopment of the site.

The petition states: “We the undersigned call upon Wokingham Borough Council to remove from its local plan consultation Pinewood Centre on Old Wokingham Road form its development plans.

“To remove the threat of housing development from this much loved and well used site.

“It is an obvious ploy that Wokingham Borough Council plans to flatten Pinewood and concrete it over and move some or all of it to the Gray’s Farm facility which is now being proposed for community use as well as sports use.”

The petition was created by the Crowthorne Chaos Facebook group and addressed to councillor John Halsall (Conservative, Remenham, Wargrave and Ruscombe), the leader of Wokingham Borough Council.

You can view the petition here.

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Councillor Wayne Smith (Conservative, Hurst) executive member for planning on the borough council, attempted to allay neighbours concerns about the proposed redevelopment.

Cllr Smith said: “The Revised Growth Strategy does not propose any housing numbers to be allocated at Pinewood Leisure Centre.

"We are simply asking people for their views on the possibility of improving the facilities at the centre, if funding can be identified, and for their views on the principle that, if there were any development in the area, the proceeds would go to fund any improvements.

“Some of the misleading statements on social media about this are potentially damaging and distressing to the thousands of people who enjoy Pinewood.

“I want to reassure those users that we are consulting about the principle of improvements at Pinewood and would work directly with them if any proposals are taken forward.”

Gray’s Farm in Heathlands Road -which is mentioned in the petition- is located just two miles north of the Pinewood Centre and is also within Wokingham Without parish.

While Gray’s Farm has been earmarked for indoor and outdoor sports and community uses, the allegation that there is a desire to move facilities from the Pinewood Centre to Gray’s Farm is currently unfounded.

The Pinewood Centre has not explicitly been earmarked for new homes in the Wokingham Local Plan update.

However, the door has been left open for the possibility of new homes, as Pinewood has been allocated for H2 residential/mixed use in the plan update.

The text of the plan update document states: “Pinewood has been allocated for self-funded regeneration.

“Pinewood accommodates a number of valued community facilities but the premises on site are of varied quality and they would benefit from investment.

“Proposals would be drawn up in consultation with the existing occupiers.

“Some of the income from any housing achieved on the site would be invested back into community facilities onsite, or if appropriate, their relocation to a new home.”

There is currently housing located opposite Pinewood in the form of single-storey park houses.

A consultation is due to begin seeking residents views about the Local Plan update on November 22, but is not live yet.

The Crowthorne Chaos Facebook group is a volunteer group set up to oppose what they call ‘inappropriate development’ in the village.