Issued Monday 19th January 2014

RESIDENTS DEMAND SECRETARY OF STATE INTERVENTION

Residents in Wokingham have taken an unprecedented step and are demanding
the Council refer plans for a 3,500 home inner city style development to the
Secretary of State for determination.
It follows a Freedom of Information request (FOI) which revealed that land for a
desperately needed secondary school in 2016 will only be handed over by the
Developer, Crest Nicholson, if the Councils Planning Committee approves its plans,
which have received 100s of objections. These plans must be approved by the
spring for there to be a realistic chance of the secondary school opening in
September 2016.
The Feasibility Study, which was ordered by WBC in July, states the caveat three
times along with a timetable confirming the need for Crest Nicholsons planning
application to be approved by March 2015. Yet before the plans statutory public
consultations were finished, WBC was insisting there were no significant risks to
delivering the secondary school on time. This shows how the applications are
predetermined.
Gill Purchase, spokeswoman for the Arborfield Garrison Residents Action Group,
said she was shocked and disgusted when she received the document from the
Council.
Wokingham Borough Council has been denying the caveat existed for some time,
however, following a statement made by a senior representative of Crest Nicholson
at a public meeting and a clause in their planning application we have been pushing
to see this report through numerous FOIs.
We then had to put in several more FOIs to see who from Wokingham Borough
Council ordered this study. It turns out a high level Steering Group, which consisted
of the Chief Executive, Planning Directors and Head of Strategic Commissioning
as well as Councillor, John Kaiser, who has overall responsibility for delivering the
SDL plans and the Lead for Childrens Services, Cllr Charlotte Haitham Taylor and

Cllr Ian Pittick, who has been campaigning for a school for a number of year, had all
attended this meeting on July 30th 2014 and received the study two weeks later.'
She continues. It is impossible for this planning application to be viewed objectively
when all of the key decision makers are aware this clause is in place and what is at
stake.
Not only that, despite these officers and councillors being aware of it since August,
none of them have told parents about it at the various public meetings theyve
attended to discuss the school and even dismissed questions that were being asked
about it.
In addition, they also gave false information in an FOI request, saying that it was
nothing to do with the Council but Crest Nicholsons own Steering Group, and that no
officers or councillors were involved in it!
Wokingham Borough Council now has no credibility whatsoever and residents have
zero confidence in their ability to be objective in the determination of this huge and
deeply unpopular development, which lacks the necessary infrastructure, such as
sustainable transport, to support it as well as the loss of community green space.
The only way to ensure the decision is fair, open and transparent as well as being in
the best interest of the whole community will be for the Council to agree to have the
applications taken out of their control and called in by the Communities Secretary,
Eric Pickles.
Failure to do this shows they have no respect and have indeed ignored the statutory
public planning consultation process and they are complicit in its predetermination.

Ends
Note to Editors:
This a WBC Press Release issued five days after the Secondary School Steering Group received a
copy of the Crest Nicholson Feasibility Study, including Cllr Charlotte Haitham Taylor.
http://www.wokingham.gov.uk/news/index/august2014/potential-site-for-new-arborfield-school
This is a statement made by WBC before the consultation closed.
http://www.wokingham.gov.uk/news/index/nov2014/new-secondary-school-arborfield
This is the first response to the FOI request asking for details of who was on the Secondary School
Steering Group referred to in Crest Nicholsons Feasibility Study, dated 15th August 2014.
Request Number 5998 received 08/01/2015, resolved 14/01/2015 12:55:00
Description:
School Steering Group
Details:
See notes
Resolution:
See notes

Notes:
14/01/2015 12:56
1. Would you also be able to confirm what members and officers are on the School Steering Group which
is referred to on the first page of the document?
-The School Steering Group is a group of Crest Nicholson, and not the Council. No council staff, and no
Members are members of this group. We do not hold information as to who the members of this group
are. The requester of this information is asked to make enquiries from Crest Nicholson.

Request Number 5975 received 06/01/2015, resolved 15/01/2015 11:49:00
Description:
CN Feasibility Study meetings
Details:
See notes
Resolution:
See notes
Notes:
15/01/2015 11:50
1. Could I have the names of the officers and councillors who attended the meeting in which the CN
Feasibility Study was requested and the one in which it was discussed. Even looking at who signed in for
these meetings and also who claimed expenses should tell us who, at least at Council level, attended.
The officers present will have known which cllrs attended and vice a versa.
2. In that all local councillors are denying that they attended the meeting in which the feasibility study
for the school, presented to the Council, at its own request, on the 15th August or whatever date this
meeting was held to discuss it, or, if no meeting was held, who was sent a copy of this report.
-The Members and Officers who attended the School Steering Group meeting on 30th July 2014 at WBC
offices at which the CN feasibility was discussed were:
Cllr. Charlotte Haitham Taylor
Cllr. Ian Pittock
Cllr. John Kaiser
Andy Couldrick
Heather Thwaites
Mark Cupit
Brian Grady
Tracey Coleman
-Crest Nicholson's Feasibility Study was sent by e-mail on 14th August 2014 to the following people:
Andy Couldrick
Heather Thwaites
Mark Cupit
Tracey Coleman
Brian Grady
Matthew Melville
and the following Members:
Cllr. Keith Baker,
Cllr. John Kaiser
Cllr. Charlotte Haitham Taylor
Cllr. Ian Pittock
-The CN Feasibility study was requested during discussions at the meeting of the School Steering Group
on 30th July. We have no records of which individual requested this study. It is believed that this was
requested as part of a general discussion at that meeting.