20052021

Thursday, May 20, 2021 27

Newbury Weekly News

THATCHAM NEWS

Split development ‘could lead to railway bridge’ Colthrop consortium argues that new homes could be spread over different sites

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BUILDING 2,500 homes in That- cham could be split between sep- arate sites and still provide in- frastructure, including a bridge over the railway line, a consult- ant has said. The Colthrop Village Consorti- um wants to build 950 homes and a bridge, along with a two-form entry primary school, on land at Rains- ford Farm and the former Colthrop Paper Mill site south of Thatcham Station. The consortium had put forward its proposals as part of West Berk- shire Council’s Local Plan Review, which allocates new housing sites across the district, but it was not allocated. The council has proposed that 2,500 homes, a new secondary school, two primary schools, a country park and shops be built in north east Thatcham on land off Floral Way to Midgham parish. Planning consultant for JSA Planning, representing the consor- tium, Mark Berry, said at a recent planning meeting: “I think West Berkshire Council have failed to identify the best option. “When you look at north east Thatcham I think it has many flaws and they are emphatically putting it forward, with [council planning policy manager] Bryan Lyttle say- ing there’s no plan B and it’s it’s the only show in town.” Mr Berry said that the consor- tium’s scheme provided urban ex- tension on a mostly brownfield site and agricultural land. “You set this against north east Thatcham, which is almost entire- ly on greenfield land and is not the most sustainable of locations, and imposes enormous infrastructure challenges and does not propose a bridge across the railway line,” he said. TRIBUTES have been paid to former Thatcham mayor Ron Higgins, who died last month aged 93. Mr Higgins served as mayor from 1991 to 1992, attending an av- erage of two functions a week dur- ing his “absolutely fantastic” year in office. Mr Higgins and his wife Gwen moved to Thatcham in 1955, where he worked at AWE before becom- ing a technical sales representa- tive for Atochem UK in Colthrop in 1972, retiring in 1989. He was a town councillor from 1983 to 1995 and was also the vice-chairman of Thatcham Twin Town Association and a governor at Kennet School. During his mayoral year, Mr Higgins’ fundraising appeal to refurbish the parish hall raised £4,000, which, combined with oth- er grants, totalled £29,000. He also pledged his support for a swimming pool in the town, and pulled the plug on the old telephone exchange – switching to digital equipment and giving Thatcham residents an extra digit on their phone numbers. Deputy leader at Thatcham Town Council Owen Jeffery (Lib Dem, Thatcham Central) said Mr

Road closure over May bank holiday HARTS Hill Road in Thatcham will be closed this May bank holiday. The road will be closed between its junction with the Floral Way/Harts Hill Roundabout and the junction with Burdens Heath, Bucklebury. The closure will be in place between 8.30am and 4.30pm on Monday, May 31. An alternative route will be in place via Burdens Heath, Broad Lane, The Ridge, Cold Ash Hill, Heath Lane, Floral Way and vice versa. The closure is to allow SSE to clear overhanging trees from power lines. Residential access will be maintained throughout and the diversion will be signed on site. Blue light access is not permitted. All enquiries should be directed to Centurion Traffic Management on (01132) 775360. Mr Foster said this would still put pressure on the A4, but Mr Berry said the same challenges applied to north east Thatcham, which was not offering a bridge. said that negotiations would need to be held with the council if the costs of the bridges esca- lated. He said: “Development has to be profitable, otherwise it wouldn’t happen. “It would be theoretically pos- sible that if the bridge would escalate, there would have to be some negotiations between the council and the developer as to whether other costs should be offset. “In terms of whether that can be shared, the council doesn’t appear to have looked at that option. “The council could say 900 or 700 houses at Colthrop Village and we will have another 1,500 at Thatcham north east, and an- other 1,000 or something at New- bury Showground. “All of the these would have to contribute to mitigate their col- lected impact, which could justi- fy the erection of the bridge.” Mr Berry said a bridge at Colthrop had been ruled out over land ownership issues and not providing a reasonable route through the development. Mr Foster said that not hav- ing a bridge at Colthrop would result in a huge amount of ex- tra traffic being forced on to Crookham Hill. Mr Berry said the consortium had not been asked to provide any upgrades to Crookham Hill but traffic modelling had not shown a large amount of traffic going up it.

Appeal following sexual assault THAMES Valley Police is appealing for wit- nesses following a sexual assault in That- cham. A girl fell over as she was pushing her bicycle near Kennet School when a man approached her and touched her inappropriately over her clothing before helping her up. He attempted to kiss her before another per- son intervened and he left the scene. The man is described as white and aged 70 to 80 years old. He had grey hair with a bald patch on top and was wearing a baggy T-shirt and blue jogging bottoms. Police said he was acting as if he had been drinking or taking drugs. Thames Valley Police said it had received the report on Friday, May 7, relating to the in- cident, which it said occurred between 8.15am and 9am on either Wednesday, April 21, or Thursday, April 22. Investigating officer Pc Hannah Potter, based at Newbury police station, said: “I am appeal- ing for any witnesses of this incident, or any- one who saw a man matching the description provided in the area at the time to please get in touch. “I am also keen to speak to the member of public, a man, who intervened when they wit- nessed this incident. “Please get in touch by making a report on- line or by calling 101 and quoting reference 43210195396. “If you wish to remain 100-per-cent anony- mous you can also call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.” St Mary’s gets set for busy summer SERVICES at St Mary’s Church, Thatcham, are to resume on Sunday. Although restrictions will still be in place, St Mary’s, in Church Gate, is inviting people back and planning events for the summer and autumn. St Mary’s team rector the Rev Mark Bennet said the team was looking forward to welcom- ing people back into the building. He said: “So many events have had to be can- celled or postponed – concerts, civic occasions, weddings, school services, carol services, me- morials – that we have a lot of catching up to do, and we are setting out over the next year to make a special effort for anyone who has missed out. “We have been doing our best for people – so we’ve had some really special services for the small numbers who have been allowed to come – weddings and baptisms and Christmas and Easter. “I didn’t want to open again just for our church regulars. “St Mary’s has always been a church at the heart of its community, and it important to me that we are opening for everyone and not just ourselves.”

Thatcham railway crossing

to see the best whatever the cir- cumstances”. “This was not some facile, jokey, light-heartedness toward the dif- ficulties of others or for his loved ones or himself,” he added. “It was not even a determination to ‘always be happy’. “It was quite simply his charac- ter and his personality to deal with difficult situations in the most pos- itive way possible.” Mr Jeffery said that Mr Higgins cared for his wife during her pro- longed debilitating illness from which she died. Mr Jeffery said that when he could not care for her himself, Mr Higgins visited her care home even when “she sadly hardly knew him anymore”. “Ron served his community, our town.... a man of character; a man of service; a man always with a joke or amusing story to tell; a man who helped others and did it, pret- ty literally, with a laugh and smile for all of his long life,” Mr Jeffery said. Deputy mayor Jeff Brooks (Lib Dem, Thatcham West) said Mr Higgins was “a genuine and high- ly principled” person who should be recognised for what he did for Thatcham. north east Thatcham were split across other sites. He said: “If it was entirely down to Colthrop Village there would be a viability assess- ment, we would have to discount against other contributions.” Mr Foster replied: “So what you are saying is it would not come out of the developer’s prof- its. “It would come out of infra- structure that you would be pro- viding. “Thatcham is already short of infrastructure and to have some- thing where even more might have to go towards the bridge is not a good start.” Mr Berry said that a Com- munity Infrastructure Levy of about £4m would be contributed to local facilities on site. He said that the aspiration was to provide 40 per cent af- fordable housing. “but the whole thing hangs on viability”. After the meeting Mr Berry

“We believe there is an alterna- tive to Thatcham north east and you can segregate 2,500 homes into two or three smaller sites without losing the benefit of infrastructure investment.” The proposed bridge over the canal and railway would come off Pipers Way into the eastern end of development. Another bridge over the River Kennet into the western end is proposed off Crookham Hill, just north of Thatcham Town FC’s sta- dium. The consortium has said that it would cost £11.8m to build the bridge over the railway, excluding land costs, utility diversion and protection costs, and had factored a cost of £20m into its appraisals. Richard Foster (Lib Dem, That- cham Colthrop and Crookham) asked where the money would come from if the costs of the bridg- es rose. Mr Berry said that a bridge could be co-funded if the 2,500 homes at

Tributes to ‘principled’ former mayor

Ron Higgins

Higgins “was no fool; he under- stood perfectly well the difficulties in any situation, but his ebullient personality led him automatically

“

His ebullient personality led him automatically to see the best whatever the circumstances