Plan for new 2,000 home village north of Bracknell scrapped

At a recent meeting, the governing body of Bracknell Forest Council agreed to axe a proposal to build 2,000 homes at Jealott’s Hill from its Local Plan.

The council has been devising a Local Plan for years, which involves choosing sites where new houses can be built.

In recent years, a draft Local Plan was devised, which was submitted to the government’s planning inspectorate for review in December 2021.

The inspectorate held hearings about the plan to determine whether it was legal and viable.

Earlier this year, the examiners of the plan ruled that the plan was ‘legal but unsound’ and suggested a series of ‘main modifications’ which included the removal of building a new village at Jealott’s Hill.

READ MORE: Move to axe 2,000 home new village north of Bracknell from Local Plan 

Now, Bracknell Forest Council’s executive committee, which is occupied entirely by Conservatives, has agreed to delete the 2,000 home garden village proposal from the plan.

Councillor Chris Turrell (Conservative, Harmans Water) executive member for planning, said: “The decision before us is an important milestone for the Local Plan.

“The overall finding by the examiners that it can be made sound with modifications is an important tribute to the quality of the enormous amount of sustained work carried out on this by our planning policy team.

“It is by no means unusual for local plans to reach this stage to require some modification.”

He then particularly referenced the Jealott’s Hill scheme, which is on land owned by the agrichemical company Syngenta.

The plan involved removing the site from its protected status as part of the London Metropolitan Greenbelt, and redesignating it as suitable for development.

Jealott's Hill - which was earmarked for homes in the Emerging Bracknell Forest Plan, policy LP 7, which has now been scrapped. Credit: Bracknell Forest Council

Cllr Turrell said: “On greenbelt release, an important question has been asked and answered.

“While the examiners recommended that the Syngenta site be deleted, it is a significant strength of the plan that we have not been asked to include additional sites.”

The executive committee unanimously agreed to accept the main modifications, including the deletion of the Jealott’s Hill proposal, and hold a statutory consultation on the changes at the meeting on Tuesday, March 21.

The garden village concept was vigorously opposed from the outset by the Save Jealott’s Hill campaign.

READ MORE: Victory for campaigners as plan for 2,000 home 'garden village' dealt major blow

Reacting to the decision, Patrick Kennedy, the group’s chairman said: “Over a period of almost three years our campaign repeatedly warned the council that their plan would fail but with no success.

“Who knows, because the council will not reveal this, how much public money has been wilfully wasted in their pursuit of this irresponsible and wrong-headed project.

“Finally the council’s Conservative Party leadership, without so much as a word of apology to the local community for the stress, worry, and upset not to mention almost £100,000 cost to the community of fighting this have been forced to drop the proposal.”

Activists invested substantial funds in The Save Jealott’s Hill campaign, which involved paying for legal representation during hearings conducted by planning inspectors on determining the soundness of the Local Plan last year.

A consultation on the changes to the plan is set to be undertaken over six weeks in early summer.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service has asked the council how much it has spent on suggesting Jealott’s Hill as a site for development.