Extra homes plan for golf course site rejected

A plan to add 70 homes to a development under construction on a former golf course has been rejected.

Emmer Green Drive is a new estate of 223 homes being built by Vistry Thames Valley on the former site of Reading Golf Club in Caversham, Berkshire.

The site's owners - the club and land acquisition company Fairfax (Reading) Ltd - submitted plans to South Oxfordshire District Council (SODC) for the extra homes and to Reading Borough Council for access to the site.

SODC's planning committee rejected the homes in December, while Reading's council did not determine its application. Appeals to both applications were dismissed by the Planning Inspectorate on Thursday.

Planning inspector Benjamin Webb said the homes would have been harmful to the site's ecology.

Matt Rodda, Labour MP for Reading Central, which covers Caversham, said: "I am pleased and relieved that the planning inspector has turned down the appeal.

"This is an important decision as it stops the developer building in an important area of green land next to Reading and it also stops a precedent being set.

"I do want to see more homes built in our area but on brownfield land, regenerating existing towns and villages, so green spaces are protected."