Two groups of housing campaigners have come together with the aim of getting local council bosses to change their minds over the development of thousands of new properties throughout the borough.
The (NAAG) Northern Arc Action Group and the (CVAG) Crowthorne Village Action Group have between them produced a “Residents’ Charter” in the hope of forcing Bracknell Forest Council to go back to the drawing board with their plans. However, the council have revealed that this will never happen because it would cost around £1 million to start again from scratch. The council’s executive has this week given the go-ahead for the development, meaning that residents will now only be able to object on matters of planning and not principle. The plans will see a large increase in housing around Binfield and Crowthorne, and although the groups realise that both property investors with an interest in landlord insurance and young couples looking for their first home have a case they believe the project should be more spread out.
Nigel Rennie, chairman of NAAG, said “Residents are outraged at the prospect of losing Blue Mountain because it’s also a popular community exercise area, and a natural green gap with lovely views between the rural village and the town of Bracknell. Gridlocking traffic, felling 20,000 trees and destroying an excellent golf course and conference centre won’t help attract employers to Bracknell. It won’t fill the empty office blocks and so won’t help the long overdue town centre regeneration.”
Despite the lack of support from the council the protesters intend to carry on with their objections insisting they just want to see a sound development plan which is more acceptable to the majority of people who live in the villages on the cusp of the development sites.