Beyond Green Developments (formerly Blue Living) has this week sent an open letter to Mr Lugg, Head of Planning and Trading Standards at West Berkshire Council, regarding the Council’s recent publication of a number of documents relating to Sandleford Park, a site allocated by the council for 2000 new homes in spite of ranking bottom of 12 sites in the Council’s appraisal of possible housing locations.

The documents include a masterplan for Sandleford Park, and a detailed note of a meeting held between promoters of Sandleford Park and 22 officers of West Berkshire Council, and raise a number of serious questions about the Council’s process in reaching the conclusions of its draft Core Strategy.

Jonathan Smales, Executive Chairman, said: “The mysterious elevation of Sandleford Park as a strategic site is inappropriate, unfair and another example of the politicisation of the planning process. We’ve been open and specific in our proposals for Pincents Hill and have suffered a local backlash for it. But what of the rights of people living close to Sandleford Park? This hugely inappropriate place for a strategic development has been clandestinely promoted by West Berkshire Council itself – firmly on the backfoot – and acting against all of its own advice on sustainability and other criteria. Meanwhile the wider community has been kept in the dark.

“The risible masterplan for Sandleford Park serves only to add insult to injury; this kind of political stitch up makes a bad joke of the planning system, of placemaking and of sustainability. The Council should be ashamed of itself.”

Pincents Hill Sandleford masterplan press releaseBeyond Green Developments letter to Mr Gary Lugg

Blue Living is changing its name to Beyond Green Developments to reflect its integral role as part of the Beyond Green Group. We at Beyond Green set up Blue Living in 2008 to bring real change to the way developments are conceived, planned and delivered – by putting Beyond Green’s sustainability thinking into practice in our own developments.

Introducing Beyond Green DevelopmentsClick here for details of some of  Beyond Green Developments’ projects

Blue Living has written to a range of stakeholders to explain the reasons behind its decision to lodge an appeal against the refusal of its planning application for Pincents Hill. At its core is the fact that the planning application for Pincents Hill did not receive a fair and proper hearing due to the overt politicisation of the planning process.

Jonathan Smales, Chief Executive, said: “There is a difference between localism and populism. We believe that line was crossed in a poor decision on Pincents Hill. We hope to demonstrate at the forthcoming appeal how Blue Living’s proposals for Pincents would bring a wide range of excellent benefits for people already living in the area, while meeting urgent housing need, and all at a comparatively low impact.”

The letter was accompanied by a newsletter update on the proposals which is also being delivered to 8,000 residents in the local area.

Pincents Hill appeal press releasePincents Hill stakeholder letterPincents Hill newsletter update