The Council is planning to develop two Special Educational Needs Disability schools, a solar farm and a covid wood alongside Barkham Ride. There are also planning applications with the council for close to 100 houses to be built on a site on the same stretch of road. Much of this work is scheduled to take place in 2024/2025. Barkham Ride is a narrow secondary road. At the junction with Commonfield Lane a car driver has to stop if a bus / lorry is coming the other way as the road is not wide enough for two lines of traffic. The drainage system under the road is poor and based on figures from Wokingham Borough Council highways there have been 60 sets of roadworks on the drainage on this road since 2019. What work is planned to improve Barkham ride to manage this additional traffic?
Minutes:
The Council is planning to develop two SEND schools, a solar farm and a Covid wood alongside Barkham Ride. There are also planning applications with the Council for close to 100 houses to be built on a site on the same stretch of road. Much of this work is scheduled to take place in 2024/2025. Barkham Ride is a narrow secondary road. At the junction with Commonfield lane a car driver has to stop if a bus / lorry is coming the other way as the road is not wide enough for two lines of traffic. The drainage system under the road is poor and based on figures from WBC highways there have been 60 sets of roadworks on the drainage on this road since 2019. What work is planned to improve Barkham ride to manage this additional traffic?
Answer:
In the first instance, it is important to note that the Covid Memorial Wood will be provided as an extension to California Country Park which is not accessed from Barkham Ride. In addition, the solar farm, when operational, will generate few traffic movements.
Turning to the other matters you raise. The planning applications for housing are currently under consideration and, therefore, it is not appropriate for me to specifically comment on them. Notwithstanding, you will be aware that the impacts of a proposed development on the highway and traffic is an important consideration in the planning application process. Mitigation is requested where it is necessary to make the development acceptable in planning terms.
Whilst the planning application will consider matters in detail, I note that the sites on which the planning applications for housing have been received, were included as proposed allocations within the Local Plan Update Revised: Growth Strategy Consultation in 2021, approved by the previous administration, and having been assessed for their traffic impacts.
The proposal for the SEND schools is not yet subject to a formal planning application. A transport assessment will be prepared and considered in association with any planning application submitted in due course.
In addition to its role as a regulatory authority, the Council is the construction client for the solar farm and the SEND Schools which heightens our ability to manage and coordinate construction activities to help minimise the impact of construction as far as possible.
Lastly, on the matters of road works, records show that 73% of roadworks on Barkham Ride, during the period you mentioned, were associated with utility companies.
Supplementary Question:
I think the concern of my residents is that there is a significant amount of development land here, and they are concerned that this all going to turn the area into a complete gridlock. I note that there was no plan mentioned there for any upgrade to Barkham Ride, to cope with that. My view is that the infrastructure should be upgraded to match development.
There are two concerns here – the quality of this road, which has been referred to, and the capacity. Now myself and Councillor Cornish, met planning and highways officers last week, and I share many of the comments that Councillor Cornish has made earlier in his question. We requested that highways and planning officers come up with a plan to actually manage the development of this area, so that there is a proper plan and residents can be reassured that the Council is not going to leave them in gridlock and limbo whilst construction is going on, and secondly after construction is finished.
I would ask that Councillor Ferris considers the request, which is not just from me but from members of his party too, who are just concerned for the sake of their local residents, and considers whether some kind of plan can be put in place and actually liaison take place with local Members to make sure that the area is represented and looked after properly?
Supplementary Answer:
I am happy to be involved on a cross Member activity. I have got to remember that we are still in the middle of putting the Local Plan together, and as I said, I cannot specifically talk about this issue. But we need to remember that this particular site originally had 270 homes on Rooks Nest Farm which would have had about three years of development, so there was work taking place at that time, but I am more than willing to be involved with the local Members in the area to come through as the particular planning actions and activities come into play. As I touched on in my original answer, the last part of which was as the authority involved, we are putting a solar farm together and the SEND schools. We would be aiming to do the minimum so that we could make sure that it works in a way. So, the answer to that would be yes I am more than happy to do that, but there are things in place that I cannot talk about.