Beyond Green is disappointed by the Secretary of State’s decision to dismiss its appeal for a sustainable new community at Pincents Hill, Reading.
In his report, the Inspector concluded that Beyond Green’s proposals would be benign in their impact on biodiversity, impact on traffic, impact on other local infrastructure and many other areas in which objections had been made by opponents to our proposals. He also acknowledged many of the scheme’s benefits, including the delivery of a wide range of much needed housing, facilities and services and recognised that the sort of development proposed would allow residents to “to gain access to work and leisure facilities without the need for their own car.”
However, the Inspector took the view that there would be “harm to the landscape character of the area” and that “the effect on the wider spatial character of the area would be harmful… because of the effect as seen from important viewpoints” and it is primarily on this basis that the appeal was dismissed.
Beyond Green Chairman, Jonathan Smales, said:
“Obviously we’re deeply disappointed. We have worked hard on this project over some years and we presented a scheme that is compact, green, accessible, affordable, full of character and with a complement of facilities which would both enrich the community and mean that people could walk rather than drive to things they need to meet their everyday needs. We aimed to create a real place. There is no doubt that landscape issues on the fringes of the site are important here but in his report we believe the Inspector made no compelling case as to why they were seen to be paramount, giving succour instead to those of a narrow preservationist mindset.
“Our proposals passed the stringent tests of all the statutory environmental bodies. Moreover Pincents Hill would have been one of the lowest carbon developments in the UK…”
Read more in our press release below.
