Councillor fights to scrap Wallingford Local Plan

South Oxfordshire district councillor Sue Roberts raised the alarm about overdevelopment at the Wallingford Town Meeting on Wednesday.

Dr Roberts warned that the district council's Local Plan for development would let developers build tens of thousands of homes on green fields.

Read also: Flats roof blown off in high wind

She said: “It is one new house for every two we have now: an astonishing rate of growth. This massively exceeds our expected population growth. Three newly-empty properties will appear for every house that becomes a home.”

She added: “Further trouble comes from the Mickey Mouse planning laws made up by developers in 2012. If the council’s target for house-building is missed, it is automatically assumed it is because developers do not have enough ‘developable’ land - not because the market has crashed and builders have stopped building - not because developers want to keep house prices high.

"It is then that speculators roam about and make hostile bids for yet more of our land."

Dr Roberts warned residents at the meeting that overdevelopment would be an 'assault' on the Wallingford countryside.

14-01-2015.Dr Sue Roberts at her Eco House in Wallingford...Catchline: Eco House.Length: In Business.Copy: .Pic: Damian Halliwell.Picture Sales Ref: OX72125.

She also said that most housing estates are not net-zero as construction of each dwelling can be responsible for 100 tonnes of CO2 emissions.

With the aim of restoring the countryside, she set up the community interest company Bioabundance which aims to restore nature to the best it has been since 1950.

It is Bioabundance that is now taking the district council and the Government to the High Court to scrap the local plan.

Dr Roberts said: “If Bioabundance wins, and the hated district plan is thrown out, Wallingford’s own plan would be as powerful and valid as ever. I have triple-checked this now; finally with the head of planning at the district council.”

Read also: 'Solar Streets': Didcot council approves green energy scheme

That Local Plan specifies higher energy efficiency standards for new buildings.

However, the two major sites near Wallingford both already had ‘outline’ planning permission and do not have to comply to the new plan.

Dr Roberts said she had pleaded with the managers at one development for better energy efficiency standards, but said it would still be heated with the fossil fuel, methane gas.

On the nature front, Dr Roberts told the meeting that she had worked with the CEO of Soha Housing Association to change its policy on street trees. Six trees vanished a few years ago from North Wallingford.

PIC BY JON LEWIS..01.10.13. Wallingford.Catchline: Busking.Length: Lead.For: Katriona Ormiston.Wallingford Town Clerk, Jamie Baskeyfield, is investigating whether there is a need for more control over where buskers site themselves. There were reports of

Now, these trees will be replaced, and every tree that is removed in the future will also be replaced.

Wallingford Wildlife Group has identified places to plant new trees around the town.

Dr Roberts is pushing for a tree policy to manage the new planting idea.

Dr Roberts said: “Nature, climate change and transparency of governance topped the poll of seven themes in the district council’s new corporate plan.

"I am glad that I gave nature a category of its own; it is of such importance to you."

Keep up to date with all the latest news on our website, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

For news updates straight to your inbox, sign up to our newsletter here.

Have you got a story for us? Contact our newsdesk on news@nqo.com or 01865 425 445.