Residents react to plan for thousands of new homes

A consultation into the potential Loddon Garden Village development runs until 16 January

A new development which would create almost 3,000 homes in its first major phase is needed to deal with the housing crisis, a council says.

The University of Reading's scheme includes about 2,800 homes, along with three schools, community facilities, shops and a large country park.

The development would be called Loddon Garden Village and would be built on the university's land close to Shinfield and Lower Earley.

The leader of Wokingham Borough Council, liberal democrat Stephen Conway said: "It's not possible to prepare a local plan without making some people unhappy."

The local authority approved its local plan, which outlines where it wants development to go, in September 2024, and it includes building homes at Loddon Garden Village.

"Local plans are always controversial and unfortunately they always cause upset and dismay to some," said Conway

"Wherever we allocate land to accommodate housing will be unpopular with those who live nearby."

There are concerns about the burden the thousands of new homes will have on the existing infrastructure with some suggesting that more homes will be built than planned, once it gets started.

Conway said he was "quite sure that won't happen" because the permission for planning will be for the number of houses and "not for more than that".

He added that the plans "will be preserving that very significant new country park which is a really key feature of the scheme".

The university has released an outline plan of where facilities might go at the garden village

Jamie Baish, who bought his first home in a development nearby said developments like the Loddon Garden Village are needed.

Mr Baish said: "It's understandable that no one wants to have massive amounts of construction work and disruption to their local area.

"There is a housing crisis, and a whole generation of young people who are desperate to own their own home.

"For so many this seems unachievable because of rising house prices over the last 10 to 15 years."

He added: "Without housing developments like this being built in the area, I wouldn't have the option to stay near my family and friends and own my own place."

However, John Ingram-Marriott from Twyford said: "This is the wrong place for this type of development" adding that "there are better places to build these houses which have been ignored".