Charity's 'serious concerns' over increased housing targets

The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead has been told to increase the number of homes it allows

A charity said it has “serious concerns” about “excessive and unsustainable” increased homebuilding targets across Berkshire.

The new Labour government told five of the six Berkshire councils that they must build more homes than previously planned last month.

The county's councils must give permission for at least 7,400 homes every year, an increase of more than 40%.

The chairman of Berkshire’s Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) branch, Greg Wilkinson, said the targets are “far more than we can cope with”.

Council-by-council housing breakdown

Bracknell – 563 (in 2018) to 767 a year

Reading – 878 to 1,023

Slough – 856 to 801

West Berkshire – 495 to 1,057

Windsor and Maidenhead – 866 to 1,341

Wokingham – 748 to 1,308

He claimed that some housing schemes already put forward demonstrate “the wrong sort of homes, in the wrong places” and would be “too big in scale”.

The proposals mean there will be a loss of “significant areas of our countryside”, including agricultural land, he added.

The Berkshire branch of CPRE opened in 1926, with the aim of protecting the county's countryside and natural environment.

Mr Wilkinson said most new housing should be “focused on the big cities”.

The housing targets will be mandatory for councils, deputy prime minister Angela Rayner said.

She admitted they “won’t be without controversy” but said they are essential in making housing more affordable.