Flood doubts over homes on LRIE after appeal ruling
’Have the council shot themselves in the foot?’
AN appeal to build 71 homes on the site of the Newbury Weekly News’ former offices has been dismissed, posing questions over redeveloping the London Road Industrial Estate (LRIE).
West Berkshire Council refused plans in February to demolish Newspaper House and replace it with flats, but a decision notice detailing the council’s reason for turning down the scheme had not been published.
Newspaper Holdings Ltd, a separate, unconnected company to current NWN owner Newbury News and Media Ltd, appealed against the refusal on the grounds of non-determination.
Council officers recommended that the plans be rejected over concerns about the potential for the site to flood, a conclusion they had come to based on a sequential test. The site is, in part, within Flood Zone 3 according to the Environment Agency (EA).
The bulk of the LRIE is either in Flood Zone 2 or 3 and the council intends to redevelop the estate with housing and businesses uses.
After the appeal ruling, a senior opposition Liberal Democrat councillor told the NWN: “Have they shot themselves in the foot I wonder, or will they just make a law for themselves?” The EA withdrew its objections to the plans after putting forward a condition and it did not make a submission to the appeal.
Newspaper Holdings Ltd argued that although within Flood Zone 3, flood defences were in place which lowered the risk to Flood Zone 2.
The company had argued that there was no preferable alternative site within Newbury in a lower risk flood zone to build the flats.
Planning Inspector Steven Rennie said that, while there would be benefits, he was not persuaded that the flats could not be built elsewhere.
He said: “I am not persuaded that this proposed housing development is specifically needed in Newbury to support its communities or for redevelopment purposes, to the degree that all potential sites within the district outside of Newbury should be discounted.
“To my mind, it has not been sufficiently demonstrated that there are no other sites elsewhere in the district, outside of Newbury, which could possibly accommodate the proposed development in areas of lesser flood risk.”
The council has been seeking to regenerate the LRIE since 2011 but has been hit by setbacks, including a Court of Appeal ruling saying its development agreement with its chosen contractor St Modwen breached EU procurement law.
Mr Rennie said it was clear that the council had ambitions to regenerate the estate, but said there was currently no adopted policy, masterplan or development plan document to provide a detailed regeneration strategy. A masterplan for the site is currently being developed by Avison Young.
Reacting to the appeal, shadow planning portfolio holder Tony Vickers (Lib Dem, Wash Common) said: “Have they shot themselves in the foot I wonder, or will they just make a law for themselves?
“I think the really big issue is why do we spend money on protection from flooding if at the end of the day the planning policy doesn’t acknowledge that and what does this do for the LRIE and the council’s own plans?
“If you’re going to have a sequential test for the LRIE there will be no housing.
“They have got a lot of housing in Flood Zone 2 and 3, which is just as risky as Newspaper House.
“You can’t put all the housing on the football ground.
“Even the piecemeal approach puts 280 homes on the whole area and it’s double that number on the comprehensive plan.
“There’s only 71 on Newspaper House and yet that was too much for the inspector.
“The inspector clearly didn’t get to read the Avison Young draft masterplan for LRIE, otherwise he’d have seen the evidence he needed to allow the appeal.”