2009-11-27: Science Park for Shinfield

."Shinfield has been named a suitable location to build a new Science and Innovation Park according to a planning inspector’s report." GetReading

2009-11-14: South Of the M4 Exhibition

The University of Reading will shortly submit three planning applications:

1. an outline planning application for the development of up to 1,200 homes (as well as 150 sheltered housing), a new local centre (containing a food store, other shops and some employment space), a new primary school, community facilities, public open space and other infrastructure on land west of Shinfield;

2. a full planning application for the Shinfield Eastern Relief Road; and

3. a full planning application for informal recreational open space (similar to a small country park) south east of Shinfield near the River Loddon to avoid the impact of increased recreational pressure on the Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area for ground nesting birds.  

It is possible to download materials from our September 2008 and November 2009 exhibitions here.

2009-10-20: Official SRAG Response to Exhibition

We have had a wonderful turn out to the Parish Hall Exhibition session we ran. We were very surprised that hardly any people had heard of this exhibition through wokingham council. After talking to local residents we have come up with the SRAG's Response to the Wokingham Borough Council's Master plan Exhibition.

2009-10-11: Cutbush Lane merged with SRAG

Cutbush lane web site has joined with the Shinfield Residents Action Group (SRAG). The Cutbush lane web site will automatically redirect you to www.srag.org.

All of the contents from this web site can be found at SRAG and on the Science Park page.

2009-09-29: SRAG to attend Parish Hall Exhibition

Shinfield Residents Group (SRAG) will be available to answer questions at the following times in the Parish Hall:

Saturday 3rd October 10am – 12 noon
Tuesday 6th October 7pm – 9pm
Friday 9th October 7pm – 9pm
Saturday 10th October 10am – 12 noon
Friday 16th October 7pm – 9pm
Saturday 17th October – 10am – 12noon

2009-09-25: John Redwood - The future of Wokingham District

"The future of the Wokingham District is being planned for us as you read this. Various schemes have been proposed to meet government targets to build more homes." .. read the full artical at at John Redwood's site

2009-09-24: Group declares war on plans for thousands of homes

An action group has been launched to save the town’s green space as the deadline to have a say on plans for thousands of homes looms. See getworkingham for further details.

2009-09-04: Help shape masterplans for Wokingham

There's an article in getwokingham which mentions that the council are planning exhibitions of their master plan at various sites (including Shinfield Parish Hall) located across the borough from 7th to 16th September, Monday to Fridays, 9am to midday.

Excellent timing, 9am – noon Mon-Fri… guaranteed to ensure that all the people who work don’t get to see it!!!

They would like feedback by Friday 23rd October.

2009-08-28: Shaping our communities - Workshop on 12 Sep 2009

This advert(7Mbytes) apparently went into the Wokingham Times and Reading Chronicle last week. I suspect this will be the only publicity that the Council will give to the public consultation on the master plans. If that’s the case, then we all need to do something about it – otherwise it will be adopted by stealth and we’ll have to live with it until 2026.

Before you start to wonder why we should be bothered, it's this master plan that shapes everything – i.e. the location of Science Park, where houses will be built, what infrastructure will go in and so on. If we don’t act on that now, it will be too late because the Master plan defines the strategy/policies which will guide future planning applications.

You need to go to Wokingham Borough Council and register your interest today!!!.

2009-08-20: Letter from Shinfield Parish Council to Planning Office

A group of people attended the Shinfield Parish Council Meeting on 23rd June 2009, where we raised a number of our concerns. The chairman John Heggadon has written a letter supporting our concerns to the Wokingham Planning office. You can read his letter here.

2009-08-20: New Shinfield School Green Village Character Statements

Shinfield Parish Council has release the new Village Character Statement for Shinfield. Village character statements provide guidance and information to developers and local people who wish to alter or extend their properties about the type of buildings and development that local people feel is appropriate for their communities in the future. They describe the type of local environment and the building fabrics and styles and the street scene that is in keeping with the communities

2009-08-18: Minutes of Meeting with Wokingham Councilor Anthony Pollock

We had a great meeting with our Wokingham Councilor Anthony Pollock. You can read the outcome of this meeting within the minutes of the meeting

2009-08-18: Update from the Planning Office II

The university has responded to some of the concerns raised at the planning meetings. The planning office will look at these new documents shortly and publish them on to their web site.
They try and get most small planning applications resolved with 8 weeks, and larger ones within 16 weeks.
When they have major impact and affect the ecological they can take a lot longer.
The planning office wont make a final discussion until the government inspection looks at the plans in October. After this there might be a committee meeting where we can voice our concerns.
The landscaping of the car park is still under review. The planning office is waiting for more detail plans rather than the brief outline maps given in the application.
The UoR do not want to plant trees along the motor way because a gas pipeline is located there. I think it's so they can erect a big sign later on. Apparently they haven't mention anything about a sign to the planning office yet.
The proposed gyratory system around Lane End Farm was rejected in 2003 because it didn't take in due respect for the grade II listed building, and there was pedestrian and cycle path conflicts. Apparently the new proposal (see diagram to left) isn't much better, but I will try and get hold of the 2003 plans for a comparison.

2009-08-10: Cutbush Lane meeting for Monday 17th August at local Parish Council Hall

We have now booked Shinfield Parish Council Hall for our meeting with Antony Pollock (Wokingham Borough councilor for Shinfield). This is on Monday 17th August at 8pm..

2009-08-05: Camber on black boy roundabout tips trucks

The camber on the Black Boy roundabout has tipped another lorry last week. There was another accident last December.

If the Science Park goes ahead the number of HVG's going around the roundabout will increase and unfortunately lead to more accidents. Before the new 6 lane bridge is built the Black Boy roundabout should be made level and safe first.

2009-08-04: Cutbush Lane meeting for Monday 17th August

Antony Pollock (Wokingham Borough councilor for Shinfield) has agreed to come to the next Cutbush lane committee meeting. This will be on Monday 17th August at 8pm. A venue is still to be decided.

2009-08-04: Tree Protection Order (TPO)

Sarah Duckworth from the TPO team at Wokingham BC has approved a TPO for the trees near Badger cottages. They are classed as 'veterans of the future', however she stressed that the woods are not listed on the ancient woodland register as they are under 5 hectares. As the woodland is shown on the original cottage details of 1604, and the woodland directly opposite (across from the M4) is designated, we are more than likely to be in a position to have an eco system that needs careful monitoring. It may help our cause if we could get an environmental report to support this. The TPO alone will not stop any development.

Jo is also trying to get advice on how to get legal classification for the ancient woodland on top of our Tree Protection Orders.

2009-08-04: Update from the Planning Office

The planning office has had over 100 letters against the Science Park!

The Planning Office has met with the UoR to go over several points they weren't happy with. There wasn't enough time in the meeting for all of the points, so future meetings have been arranged.

They talked about the amount of car parking required seem very large. (In the SDL there is a proposal for a Park and Ride located at the Science Park). Also they weren't happy with the proposed landscaping of the car park. Other car parks have had trees planted but have taken them down after complaints of bird droppings. They want to make sure this wont happen here and the car park would remain hidden from view.

Some good new for us is that they have found a rare water beetle, so an ecologist needs to be consulted about the impact the Science Park will have on it.

The highway agency representative was ill on the day of the meeting so most of the highway issues were postponed. The only highway issuse disccused was the ring road around the Lane End Farm (Grade II listed building).

Another concern was the proposed buildings were only outlined within the plans. The planning office wanted more detail about how these new buildings would be green e.g. green roofs etc..

IIn October the government inspector will look at the plans and give his opinion, which will carry a lot of weight towards the planning office's final decision.

2009-07-31: "Planners call for greater say on university science park"

PLANNERS say Reading University's proposed science park in Shinfield could cause serious traffic problems and they want a greater say on the scheme. - The Reading Chronicle

2009-07-27: "Wind turbines at Rushy Mead"

There are plans for the development of wind turbines at the Rushy Mead site south of the M4 between junctions 10 and 11. This is an extract from a email we received.

" Since the beginning of the year we have been talking and meeting with statutory consultees such as Natural England, English Heritage, Berkshire Archaeology, the Environment Agency and Planning and Environmental Health Officers from Wokingham Borough Council, in order to ensure that the environmental studies we are currently undertaking meet their requirements."

" The wind resource data gathered from the monitoring mast to date confirms that the site’s wind resource is compatible with wind turbines designed for the lower-wind-speed regions of northern Europe. There are a number of wind turbines available that have been designed for this level of wind resource.  It is of course important that we have absolute confidence that any development at Rushy Mead generates a substantial amount of green energy and is economic. While we collect further data we are investigating the potential of using the latest generation of low-wind-speed turbines. These have the same tower heights (80 metres) but have longer blades (50 metres instead of 45 metres). Confirming that these turbines are a suitable option requires the completion of additional environmental and technical work."