Areas of Outright Not in my Backyard (AONB)

COUNCILLOR Alan Law misrepresents my view on sites for new housing developments in West Berkshire. (Newbury Weekly News, March 18 and March 25).

Had he read my letter carefully, he would have seen that I was suggesting an “equitable” distribution of housing across the district, ie one that is fair.

Cllr Law claims in his letter that: “We Conservatives ... are dedicated to protecting the AONB by strictly controlling all developments within it.” He will know that the council’s draft Local Plan already includes allocations for 500 houses within the area of the AONB, though none within his own ward of Basildon.

It is unclear why the magic number of 500 is the maximum that is feasible for appropriate and sustainable growth. Cllr Law notes that the AONB is “the first piece of open countryside one encounters as one travels west from London”.

Drivers heading west on the M4 will see the broad sweep of tarmac ahead of them, and pass the Chieveley and Membury services and the Newbury Showground. I am sure he will agree that these are not examples of outstanding natural beauty that need protecting, nor their surroundings.

Cllr Law points out that the district “is of course 90 per cent rural”. If he were to read the Landscape Character Assessment (which forms part of the Local Plan), he would discover that the proposed site of the north east Thatcham development is part of that rural 90 per cent and shares the same ‘character area’ with Bucklebury and Hermitage within the AONB.

Cllr Law specifically refers to the interests of “the voters in my own ward of Basildon”. I expect that the voters in other parts of West Berkshire will take note of how a Conservative district councillor sees their responsibilities. SIMON PIKE

Liberal Democrat councillor Thatcham Town Council