The fate of long fought over plans to build 226 homes near Easthampstead Park Crematorium could finally be settled this week.

Plans to build the Beaufort Park development in between Nine Mile Ride and the Easthampstead Park crematorium were rejected by Bracknell Forest Council in 2022 – and then again by a government planning inspector last year.

Now the developer Southern Homes is trying again– and council planning officers are recommending that councillors approve them.

But more than 170 letters of objection have come from residents of Crowthorne, Bracknell and along Nine Mile Ride. Neighbours say the plans would mean destroying woodland and would put more pressure on an area already transformed by large housing developments.

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Andrew Allen of Greenwood Close said building near the cemetery would be ‘disrespectful to those mourning the loss of their loved ones'.

Sandie Slater of Holme Close was one of many people worried about the loss of woodland. She said: “Please stop this building. There is hardly any land left as woodland around Nine Mile Ride and we should be preserving the woodland not destroying them.”

Other neighbours said roads and services are already under pressure from new developments such as the 1,000 home Bucklers Park development, which is on the other side of Nine Mile Ride.

The new plans come after councillors on Bracknell Forest Council’s planning committee rejected a previous version in 2022.

The council supports the idea of building homes on that site as an ‘extension’ of Bracknell. But councillors on the committee said Southern Homes parking plans weren’t up to scratch.

A government planning inspector agreed with the council in July 2023, after Southern Homes appealed against the decision.

Now designers have made adjustments, and council planning officers are happy with the scheme.

Planning officers also say that as the new estate will be contained and screened from Nine Mile Ride by a ‘buffer’ of trees its impact on the appearance of the area will be ‘limited’.

They also this will help keep Crowthorne and Bracknell separate. Trees that will be cut down are mostly from plantation woodland. They are all of the same type, are not from ancient woodland and are not protected.

And officers say the cemetery is closer to housing in Great Hollands than it would be to the new homes at Beaufort Park.

Meanwhile council highways officers have no objection to the amount of extra traffic the estate will bring.

Councillors on Bracknell Forest’s planning committee are set to debate and vote on whether to approve the plans on Thursday, March 21.