A controversial plan for 50 homes in Warfield will go ahead despite fears that an affordable housing ‘ghetto’ could be created in the development.
Housebuilders Croudace Homes submitted detailed plans for 50 homes on a field north of Newhurst Gardens, a residential road off Warfield Street in the village.
Earlier this year, neighbours called for the plans to be thrown out as they claimed Croudace Homes did not meet a deadline for submitting the detailed application supposedly set on March 8, 2021.
However the developers were able to clear the hurdle and get a decision made on their plans, which were considered at a Bracknell Forest Council planning committee meeting on December 15.
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Details decided on involved the layout, landscaping and appearance of the new estate, after a government planning inspector approved the principle of homes being built on the field in an appeal decision from 2018.
Concerns were raised that the siting of the affordable or housing association homes in the estates would create a social housing ‘ghetto’.
Of the 50 homes, 13 (26 per cent) are designated affordable, made up of six three-bedroom, five two-bedroom and two four-bedroom homes.
But councillor Michael Gbadebo questioned the location of the affordable housing, he argued is ‘bunched together in the same place.’
Cllr Gbadebo (Conservative, Great Hollands South) said: “By doing this, is that sort of forming a ghetto in the centre of the development?”
In reply, planning officer Sarah Fryer said: “I think it’s quite positive that it is within the central element of the scheme instead of being tucked away in the corner.”
Cllr Dale Birch (Conservative, Little Sandhurst and Wellington) backed her up, saying having affordable and social housing bunched together makes it more attractive for an affordable housing association to take on.
Cllr Gbadebo was unconvinced by the argument, stating that life could be tough for those living in the affordable element if the housing association is behaves in a ‘lazy’ manner.
A neighbour called Clive Hobbs raised concern about the impact construction of the access road would have on an oak tree which would hang over the new road.
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Later in the meeting, council planning officer Sarah Fryer said concerns around the access road and the oak would be discussed as part of a condition discharge application attached to the 2018 appeal.
Zoe Wainwright, an architectural designer for Croudace Homes, argued the proposed homes would complement the character of existing houses in Warfield, and that the development has been well designed to incorporate the existing trees on the site.
Ultimately, the detailed plans for the 50 home estate were approved by the committee.
You can view the application by typing reference 21/00244/REM into the council’s planning portal.
The outline application achieved on appeal can be found using reference 16/01004/OUT.
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