
Gladman to impose a huge burden on local school system
GetReading has reported on the spiralling cost of providing new school places in the Borough, in the light of a 44% rise in pupil numbers over 2010–2018. According to the report, each new primary school place in Reading costs on average a massive £23,579. The Gladman development would theoreticaly fall within the catchment of Shiplake primary where potential pupils have been sent to distant schools because of the shortage of places. CAGE estimate that it would cost around £1.


John Howell MP offers support to CAGE
Our MP John Howell visited the Gladman site this afternoon and pledged to work with Reading East MP Rob Wilson to support the CAGE campaign against 245 unsustainable houses in the Chilterns landscape close to Emmer Green. At the meeting at Bryant's Farm, he heard that if the houses are built they will place an intolerable burden on local schools in both Reading as well as South Oxfordshire, where primaries are already struggling to cope with an influx from Reading's hard-pres


Some views of the Gladman site
The Gladman site consists of a beautiful Chilterns dip slope landscape which the Conservation Board is in the process of reviewing for inclusion in the AONB. Even though the AONB is just a field a way, SODC failed to consult the Board. CAGE asked the Board to comment and their comments are decisive: Permitting this planning application would have the effect of prejudicing this AONB boundary review application. Once permitted for housing, there is no prospect that the land wou

Gladman committee date delayed
SODC's Planning Officer has confirmed the Gladman application is unlikely to go to committee until April at the very earliest. Water supply, archaeology and infrastructure are being worked on, with further reports expected. A trial archaeological exploration is currently underway on the site. Planning committee meetings are held fortnightly and alternate between Crowmarsh and Didcot. Given the strength of feeling locally, CAGE believes that SODC must send the Gladman applicat

New planning white paper: would green belt protection help South Oxon?
The Government’s new white paper on planning was published today and is out for consultation. The white paper makes bold promises: Making more land available for homes in the right places, by maximising the contribution from brownfield and surplus public land, regenerating estates, releasing more small and medium-sized sites, allowing rural communities to grow and making it easier to build new settlements; Maintaining existing strong protections for the Green Belt, and clarif


Chairman of District Council slams planning department
As reported in the Henley Standard, Councillor Paul Harrison has criticised his own Planning Department in the strongest possible terms: “The planning department is too large with too many officers who are more interested in seeing developers as their customers rather than the residents of South Oxfordshire.
“They’re looking out for their own jobs and throwing the rest of the district away.”
He added: “Too many of the councillors go with the officers every time.”
Cll


Why Gladman are wrong
A clear case against the Gladman application for 245 unsustainable houses in Eye & Dunsden has been made by many people who have already commented on the SODC website. To find out more you can read the submission made by Eye & Dunsden Parish Council below. P16/S3630/O – development of up to 245 residential dwellings, land off Peppard Road, Emmer Green, Gladman Developments Ltd Eye & Dunsden Parish Council Response 1. The landowners have proposed the site as an urban extension