The Wokingham Society

Local Plan Update

After a number of delays caused by changes in Government policy and in local administration, Wokingham Borough Council issued an updated Local Plan. There was a consultation period which finished on Wednesday 13 November 2024, but responses had to be limited to matters of soundness and legal compliance. The new draft Plan will be submitted to the Planning Inspectorate, which will hold a public examination on a date to be decided to assess whether the Plan has been prepared in accordance with legal and procedural requirements and if it is sound.

This new Local Plan will guide where and how growth will take place in the borough in the years up to 2040. The Borough Council is obliged to plan for more housing, always a complex and controversial subject. It also needs to plan for new employment, schools, roads, parks, shops and community facilities necessary to create places people want to live, work and do business.

The Local Plan must continue to take into account changes to national planning policy and guidance. The latest decision by the new Labour Government to increase housing numbers nationally has come too late for this increased demand to be reflected in the Local Plan but will have to be incorporated into revisions to the Plan in due course .

To arrive at the final version of the Plan the Council issued a draft Plan in 2020 and a Revised Growth Strategy in 2022.The Society’s Executive Committee responded on both occasions to the opportunity to submit comments and has seen some its suggestions being reflected in the final Plan. Of particular note are the number of open areas in the Town which have been identified as Local Green Spaces following proposals by the Committee and thus given the same protection as green belt land.

After consulting stakeholders on the soundness and legal compliance of its final version of the Local plan, the Borough Council submitted it in February 2025. Two planning inspectors have been appointed to review the Plan and they have already asked the Council for evidence of the viability of the proposed development of nearly 4,000 homes known as the Loddon Valley Garden Village.

The updated Local Plan, together with all its appendices, can be seen at https://www.wokingham.gov.uk/planning-policy/emerging-local-plan-update