The Area Planning Committee of West Berks Council is now due to discuss the planning application for Pincents Hill at 6:30 on Wednesday 24 February at Little Heath School.

Interestingly, West Berks Council have now dropped the Pincents Hill scheme from their Local Development Framework document that the Tory Administration agreed in the summer (and which local Birch Copse councillors did not oppose). A council statement says:

As a result of public opinion and further work on the evidence to support the Core Strategy, suggestions for a major development at Pincent’s Hill, Tilehurst, have been replaced by proposals for an additional 500 homes at Tilehurst, Purley-on-Thames, Calcot, Pangbourne and Theale.

I am not entirely sure whether this is good news or not but it does suggest that local opinion is swaying the Tories on West Berks to stop supporting Blue Living’s development plans for Pincents Hill  –  and about time too !