Dear Parishioner

Thank you all for sending letters to West Berks Council.  I hope they will be successful in persuading the public inspectorate to prompt a rethink.  The representations on behalf of the Parish Council were also sent and are available on the parish council website.  I have also posted those from Thatcham Town Council and Cold Ash.  These are all supportive of each other and reflect different aspects of the failure of this plan to meet expectations.

The process we are following has three stages (Regulation 18, Regulation 19 and public enquiry); we’re two down and one to go!  WBC reports that it has assessed the responses, collated them into an accessible format and prepared and made the submission for the independent planning inspector.  However the next step is less well defined in time.  The inspector will hold a public enquiry, if he/she deems the submission to be legally sound.  When this will happen is an open question but it will not be immediate.  WBC’s LPR will join a queue.

I think our work on the second phase is done for now but will revive once we have a view of the totality of what WBC files.  We will then plan additional work and our representations to the inspectorate.  These steps will be largely professionally led but we will keep you informed by email and using the Facebook page.

Thank you for the donations towards the costs; these have been generously given by residents, and both Bucklebury and Midgham PCs.  An account of the expenditure is shown below.

Income

Parishioner donations:        6,470.00

Midgham PC donation:       1,000.00

Bucklebury PC funding:      3,730.00

Total income:                     11,200.00

Expenditure

Clerical:                                                           28.00

Publicity:                                                     1,189.83

Oxford & Country Planning Ltd                      250.00

Andrew Black (Planning Consultant)          3,750.00

Nature Bureau Ltd (Ecology Consultant     1,350.00

Paul Willis- YES (Traffic consultant)           3,000.00

Total expenditure:                                       9,567.83

Balance remaining:                               £ 1,632.17

I want to take this opportunity to thank all the team who have worked on this project; their work has been extraordinary.  You may have seen a few names on Facebook but the team is much bigger and has put in hours of work, much of it technical and all in their spare time.  In addition, we are indebted to our professional consultants who have provided reports on ecology and traffic to add to BPC’s representations.  I appreciate your work and support and I’m sure the community does too.

Thank you again for sending your representations; these all add weight and reinforce the message to WBC.  Once there is more news we will let you know.

Best wishes

Peter Spours

Chair ‘Bucklebury Says No’ Parish Council Working Group