Worried neighbours are set to finally get a verdict on whether a housing development they fear could exacerbate flooding will get the go-ahead.

Plans to build 43 homes in Newell Green, near Warfield, are set to be decided on by councillors on Bracknell Forest Council’s planning committee.

Neighbours have said they fear the development will make already existing flooding problems even worse – while the new homes will block the sunlight and invade the privacy of some houses nearby.

But planning officers at Bracknell Forest Council say the plans will improve drainage in the area, and that developers have made changes to stop houses being overshadowed.

Councillors were supposed to make a decision in October – but had to put it off as they had been unable to visit the site to make an inspection ahead of their meeting.

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Jonathan and Emma Shrewsbury of Linthorpe wrote to council planning officers to object, providing photographs of flooding they say already happens in their garden.

They said: “We are highly concerned that a sustained rise in the ground water levels of our gardens could potentially kill off plants, trees, hedges, affect the local ecosystem and biodiversity as well as increase the possibility of property damage due to subsidence, which our property Linthorpe has already been subjected to.”

Albert and Brenda Brant of Albern said preliminary work had already caused their garden to become “saturated all winter.” They said that a trench on site apparently dug in 2021 had been constantly full to the brim.

They added: “We have lived in this house for more than 58 YEARS and although the garden has always been wet in the winter it has never been anywhere near as wet as it has been of late.”

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Meanwhile, Fiona Port of The Old Police Cottage said that proposed new houses would be so close to the end of her garden that it would look down on her house.

She said she knew that the land behind the cottage had been allocated for new housing when she moved in, and that she understood the need for new housing.

But she added: “There is no garden the other side of our garden, no space to soften the intrusion. I will literally look out of my windows onto a brick wall at the end of my garden, which isn’t long at all.”

Planning officers at Bracknell Forest Council say Redrow Homes’ plans include drainage that will improve the flooding situation in the area.

And they say Redrow has attempted to address neighbours’ concerns about overshadowing with plans for a smaller adjoining building, and by introducing vegetation between the buildings.

The committee is set to consider the application at a meeting on Thursday November 9.