Chair’s Report 2024/2025

The passage of the last year has seen the completion of the demolition phase of The Pirbright site, commissioned by Homes England. Their appointed contractor for this process, Cognition Land & Water, proved to be very efficient with effective management of the project. I had on two occasions to raise community concerns with them. I received a prompt response to the reports and a satisfactory solution was reached and communicated to me each time. We are now in the phase where Homes England is looking to market the site as a decontaminated site.

The Parish Council faces increasing challenges with its operation, due to rising costs in areas such as power consumption and maintenance. The latest challenge is the resolution of the hot water supply in the Sports Pavilion. The existing heater has finally failed, and we are trying to get a replacement installed. However, if the tank is damaged, when an attempt to remove the old element happens, a replacement tank will be needed. Along with this come new regulations which will mean a complete overhaul of the hot system, to comply with the current regulations. This would be a significant cost.

A glance at the financial report will highlight the spending that the Council is responsible for. Many are unaware of the Council role and the finance report illustrates the responsibility for services spending.

Once again, the water levels are high and the pumping station is overloaded, requiring tankers to move some of the wastewater. The continuing leakage of groundwater into the sewage system and the subsequent rising of foul water into the streets is a major concern to us all. With the Pirbright site plus the Baxter site developments, possibly seeing 200 new homes built in Compton, the current infrastructure is totally unable to deal with such levels. To this end, Councillor Carolyne Culver, succeeded in securing a condition stating that “no homes would be occupied on the Pirbright site, until upgrade works to the sewage system were carried out”.

I am disappointed and concerned that the publication of the permission document had seen this statement altered to allow a number of properties to be occupied before the works were carried out. We are assured that this was a clerical error, which does happen. The error was still in the document when Councillors checked the conditions, as part of the Baxter site response. I raised the issue with the Planning Department and, acknowledging the error, they stated that it is a legal document requiring a more complex process to alter it, rather than just redrafting it, as I suggested.

The Council presented 3 options to resolve this issue:

1. Homes England submitting a Non-Material Amendment application to adjust the wording of the conditions to match the committee’s resolution;
2. Using a Modification Order under Section 97 of the TCPA 1990 Act to amend the planning permission; or
3. Submitting a new outline application.

I have raised this as a concern, as the response further stated that:

“Fortunately, Homes England, the applicants in this case, are fully committed to working with us to rectify the error and ensure the correct decision is in place.

Currently, Homes England is conducting a tender process to secure a development partner who will have responsibility for obtaining reserved matters approvals. As the disposal strategy moves forward, Homes England have assured us that they will collaborate with the appointed developer to review the conditions and make any necessary amendments through a Non-Material Amendment application. At this point we have no reason to doubt their intentions.

While Homes England is pursuing this route, they are also taking steps to mitigate the risk of any delays that might result in the permission expiring. To this end, they are considering submitting a new outline application to secure the change of use of the land to the north for habitat use and to protect the principle of residential development. This will provide us with an opportunity to ensure that the correctly worded conditions are attached to any consent.

We are confident that this issue will be addressed before any development begins on site.”

Noting the part of the statement referring to the “change of use of the land to the north of the site for habitat use”, I believe that Homes England’s involvement as a partner in resolving the issue opens the door to more homes on the Northern part of the site, I can report that Carolyne has since questioned the wording and received this response:

 “Any new outline consent will be for the same proposal as before (wildlife/habitat land to the north and residential development to the south)”

I have since asked why Homes England needs to be involved at all since there is Option 2.  As yet, I have not received a response. We will keep a very close watch on events going forward. I do not have confidence in the Planning Department, whose performance is poor.

The council provided a lengthy response to the consultation run by West Berkshire Council on the potential removal of The Downland Sports Centre from the Leisure Management Contract. I would like to thank The Downs School and the many members of our community who assisted with our gathering of evidence and responded to the consultation. We are pleased to report that The Downland Sports Centre will remain within the Leisure Management Contract and that the council has taken on our comments about the need to market the facility more within the local villages.

We are very grateful to Pam, the Compilations editor for her continuing work and the small army of volunteers who deliver the magazine. I must also thank the allotment managers for keeping the allotments well subscribed. Peter, our Flood Warden is very busy at the moment!

I would also like to thank all the Councillors for their hard work throughout the year, Carolyne for her support at District level, and, finally our Parish Clerk, who does so much hard work to keep us organised! We do have vacancies, so anyone wishing to help make a difference, please contact the clerk.

Finally, and with a heavy heart, I must record the passing of Councillor Ian Tong, suddenly 10 days ago. Ian kept an eye on GDPR matters, internal finance, and IT provision. He is sadly missed. I must also record the passing of former Councillor Peter Whitworth. Known to many, his work on the council and outside of it was extremely valuable.