‘They’d have to wade through sewage and floods’: Residents’
RESIDENTS of proposed new houses could have to wade through sewage and flood water every few years to reach their homes.
Hurst villager, Annette Lade, objecting to new homes along the A321 Wokingham to Twyford road, made the claim at Hurst Parish Council on Tuesday.
Developers have just revealed they could ask for planning permission in February or March for about nine homes on a green field strip along Broadwater Lane (the A321) near central Hurst.
About 25 residents at the meeting heard Mrs Lade plead: “You can’t have new houses where you have roads flooding regularly.
“They will be wading through sewage and water every few years to get to their new homes.”
She asked the parish council to oppose permission for homes there. Council chairman Wayne Smith said it could only comment when an application was made.
And Mrs Lade pleaded for Broad Hinton pumping station to be improved.
Cllr Smith urged residents to ask Thames Water for the work which would cost millions.
Many Hurst roads including Broadwater Lane were flooded in the recent heavy rains. Residents have complained of sewage in flood water in the past. Lodge Road toilets have been gurgling again. In the past they’ve been put out of use.
Shorewood Homes of Winchester has been surveying the Broadwater Lane land. Around 20 developers asked the landowner Haines Hill Estate to sell them the site.
Two hundred residents, the parish council and community groups opposed 12 homes being
built there in a Wokingham Borough Council consultation in 2021/22. The council suggested the idea for its Local Plan, now being reviewed, of potential building sites.
The objectors said it would be ribbon development, harm old oak trees and reduce the gap between Hurst and Whistley Green.
Objectors also said the site flooded regularly, there were not enough schools and shops in Hurst and the new residents would have to rely on cars for transport.
In December, residents realised plans for the field were afoot when Shorewood
Homes wrote saying they were doing topographical, tree and speed surveys. They said there would be site investigations and groundwater monitoring just before Christmas. Workers in high viz jackets and a digger were seen at work.
Stuart Garnett for Shorewood Homes in Winchester said this week: “We wouldn’t be proposing as many as 12 homes. I think we’re looking in the region of nine.”
He suspected there could be an application for planning permission in February or March.
“Shorewood Homes is a quality house builder. The emphasis is on traditional family housing,” he added.
He was aware that 200 homes nearby at Tape Lane had been refused permission. The Broadwater Lane scheme was a smaller, bespoke scheme, on a clearly different scale.
“This type of location is an ideal opportunity to bring forward a small development of family homes. It’s close to facilities in Hurst,” he said.
He was aware the trees were protected, and said any development would ensure they weren’t affected.
It was required that building could be only on areas of low flooding risk. The land proposed was low risk.
He said: “We are currently undertaking technical due diligence which includes ground investigations and drainage. Our drainage consultants will review these findings and will advise us, and where required set out the required strategy.”
He would write again to residents, the parish council and Hurst Village Society within the next two weeks about the surveys’ conclusions and the next steps on how they would take the site forward.
This week a spokesperson for the landowner, Haines Hill Estate, said: “Towards 20 developers, probably more, approached us about that land wanting to develop it.
“A lot of them we didn’t care for much. We got into conversation with Shorewood and they build a quality product. If we’re going to allow building on our land, because we’re local and spend our time in the village we would need to be proud of [the development] and not embarrassed by it.”
He recognised there would be people opposed to the building not least people living close by. Haines Hill said it had been careful to choose responsible builders.