Watership Down: Crunch time for 360-homes plan
Council’s decision expected on Sandleford Park West application
IT’S a real case of life imitating art.
When Fiver – the young rabbit in Watership Down – has a vision of his warren’s destruction at Sandleford, his group make the pilgrimage to Watership Down.
Last night (Wednesday), the bulldozers may have moved a step closer to the site which inspired the novel by Richard Adams.
The West Berkshire Council western area planning committee was being asked to approve the 360 homes planned for the site at Sandleford Park West.
The world-famous children’s book has immortalised the area since its publication in 1972.
Its author Richard Adams said at the time: “The very idea of building on it makes your gorge rise.”
Plans to build homes at Sandleford have been in the pipeline for more than a decade, ever since West Berkshire Council identified it as a preferred site for housing in 2010.
The Sandleford Park West site plans have raised more than 100 objections.
“We just don’t want a great big development like this here,” said David Marsh (Green, Wash Common).
“The extra traffic generated by this at the Sainsbury’s roundabout will bring it even more to a standstill.”
It means, if approved, all the extra
nd traffic, despite minor access changes, would join the Andover Road by Park House School.
The planning inspector allowed another, larger development of more than 1,000 homes from Bloor Homes to go ahead last year, after it had been refused by West Berkshire Council, citing the need for more housing supply.
The latest application from Donnington New Homes sits to the west of that site, with access along Warren Road.
There are plans to broaden Warren Road to six metres wide.
Owned and led by Mark Norgate, Donnington New Homes is the second generation of Norgate house builders to be based in Newbury.
Mark’s late father John Norgate founded the well-known West Berkshire business Trencherwood New Homes in 1971.
The family firm is actually based at New Warren Farm on Warren Road, so means the developers would be literally building in their own back yard.
See newburytoday for the outcome of last night’s meeting.