Campaign News

1,761 new houses for Binfield

The Stage 3 Public Consultation on these proposals has now closed.

Many thanks to everyone who took the time and effort to participate in this consultation and especially those who told the Council what they thought of their 'preferred option'.

These responses should be taken into account when the next version of the document is produced. This will be the 'publication version' which will be subject to a further round of consultation scheduled for summer 2011.

BVPS will let all Members and Alerts Subscribers know as soon as there is more news on these plans and the final consultation stage.

Site Allocations - Preferred Option - Consultation

At the Executive Committee meeting of Bracknell Forest Council on Tuesday 19th October, the Executive members voted unanimously in favour of allowing the Site Allocation Development Plan Preferred Options to go forward for public consultation. This was very bad news for Binfield.

Bracknell Council's preferred option document recommends:

On Blue Mountain golf course
400 new houses, plus.....

Relocation of Bracknell Town Football Club from Larges Lane in Bracknell to the golf course.

And an Educational Village to be built on the golf course, comprising of a new secondary school, a new primary school and a special needs facility.

On land opposite the Coppid Beech Hotel another 400 houses, plus 725 new houses already planned for Amen Corner; behind the Coppid Beech Hotel.

In addition, they are proposing to build a further 28 houses at Peacock Lane, 75 houses on land north of Cain Road, and 35 houses at Farley Hall.

A TOTAL of 1,761 new houses will increase the size, population and road traffic of Binfield by more than 50%.

A public consultation on these proposals ran until 5pm on January 17th.

Click here to view copies of the responses submitted by Binfield Parish Council, Binfield Village Protection Society, Warfield Parish Council and the Northern Arc Action Group.

We are all concerned that the council's planners and executives think that it is perfectly acceptable to ignore their own planning policies (in the BFC Core Strategy) and build on green field sites and countryside, to turn Binfield into a sprawling urban extension of Bracknell, destroying the character and landscape of the area.

In our opinion:

Bracknell Forest Council should be following their own planning policies and redeveloping brown field sites (previously developed land) starting with some of the empty commercial premises, office blocks and waste land around the town centre.

Bracknell should be building affordable housing and starter homes for young couples and families, not building executive houses on our golf course and countryside.
Blue Mountain Golf & Conference Centre is an important amenity for Bracknell and is heavily used by local residents, societies and companies. It should not be destroyed when so many other alternative locations are available.
The housing targets themselves need revision as they are based on data and projections made prior to 2006, well before the 2008 banking collapse, recession, reductions in immigration and austerity measures.