This meeting of the Executive - Individual Member Decision was scheduled to consider Wokingham Borough Council's response to the Charvil draft Neighbourhood Plan consultation. The consultation, which began on 1 September 2025 and was due to end on 13 October 2025, provided the council with an opportunity to make representations on the plan's content. The report pack included the recommendation that Councillor Stephen Conway, Leader of the Council and Executive Councillor for Housing, Partnerships and the Local Plan, agree that Wokingham Borough Council submit the comments contained in Enclosure 1 as the council's response to the Charvil Neighbourhood Plan Draft Submission Plan.

Charvil Neighbourhood Plan

Charvil Parish Council has prepared a neighbourhood plan covering their parish. Neighbourhood plans allow communities to shape how development is managed in their area, working alongside strategic planning policies set out in the council's local plans. They can set out more detailed policies for their area, including allocating sites for development, the provision of infrastructure and community facilities at a local level, establishing design principles, and conserving and enhancing the natural and historic environment.

The Charvil Neighbourhood Plan does not include any site allocations for development, however the Plan proposes to designate seven areas of land as Local Green Space, which if accepted would protect them from inappropriate forms of development.

The report pack noted that officers have regularly engaged with the Parish Council in accordance with the council's legal duty to assist bodies preparing neighbourhood plans and in accordance with the council's adopted Statement of Community Involvement. It also noted that matters raised by officers through this engagement have largely been addressed and reflected in the Plan, but that there remain a few issues where it was recommended that the council respond to the consultation to bring them to the examiner's attention and consideration.

The report pack summarised the key issues as follows:

• Contents – Table, Figures and Policies: Correction required to the list of table references which currently omits Table 2.
• Chapter 2, paragraph 2.14: Minor factual amendment suggested to ensure reference to the latest WBC Valued Landscape evidence.
• Chapter 3, Figures 11 and 12: Recommendation that the figures, referred to as 'Policy Maps', are renamed given they each do not cover the whole borough. Additional recommendation that the flood zone data displayed is updated to the latest Environment Agency flood zones published in March 2025.
• Policy Charvil 1: Site in local and community use and other community infrastructure: Support expressed for the principle of the policy which seeks to support the provision of new community facilities and to retain existing community facilities and other important community assets. Suggested amendments to tighten the policy wording so that it does not have unintended consequences of being used to support harmful development within the parish, contrary to the policy intention.
• Policy Charvil 2: Meeting local housing needs: Support expressed for the principle of the policy which seeks to require that residential development proposals deliver small and affordable housing to meet local needs. Comments made on whether the supporting evidence uses appropriate data, and modifications suggested to ensure the policy delivers genuinely small homes.
• Policy Charvil 3: Design of new development: Support expressed for the principle of the policy which seeks to require high quality design that responds positively to the character of the area through having regard to the Design Guidance and Codes. Recommendations made to aid clarity and a more concise policy.
• Policy Charvil 4: Housing density and development form: General support expressed for the principle of the policy which seeks to ensure new residential development is of a density and character in keeping with existing development. Modifications suggested to policy wording to ensure the requirement to match existing densities is not at cross purposes with the policy intent elsewhere in the plan to support smaller homes i.e. homes that will by definition have a higher density than larger homes.
• Policy Charvil 5: Environmental performance of buildings: Support expressed for the principle of the policy which seeks to require new developments to achieve high standards of environmental performance, which includes the application of the energy hierarchy¹. Amendments suggested to policy and supporting text to provide greater clarity in relation to the energy hierarchy approach.
• Policy Charvil 6: Charvil parish buildings of traditional local character and areas of special character: Support expressed for the principle of neighbourhood plans seeking to identify and conserve non-designated heritage assets, with specific support for the proposed identification of Heron on the Ford public house as a Building of Traditional Local Character. However, objection is raised to the proposed designation of an Area of Special Character in relation to Heron on the Ford Public House, The Giddy Bridge and the Ford Crossing, based on a lack of historic merit and insufficient justification.
• Charvil 7: Green corridors: Recommendation that higher definition / larger images are utilised for figure 27, which is referenced in the policy wording, to improve interpretation and implementation of the policy.
• Policy Charvil 8: Local Green Space sites: Concerns expressed regarding the evidence and methodology used to justify the inclusion of some areas of land for Local Green Space (LGS) designation. Support raised for the remaining areas proposed for designation through the plan.
• Policy Charvil 9: Trees: Support expressed for the principle of the policy which seeks to enhance tree canopy cover and street tree planting in the parish. Modifications suggests to aid clarity for decision makers and remove reference to requirements that are not considered evidenced / justified and comments made highlighting the lack of guidance for calculating canopy cover. Comments made to supporting text for additional clarity for decision makers.
• Policy Charvil 11 – Pedestrian and cycling environment: Support expressed for the principle of protecting existing active travel routes and supporting their improvement / expansion where practicable. Comments made in relation to the clarity of the policy and the range of categories it seeks to introduce.
• Policy Charvil 13 – Local flood risk information: Support expressed for the principle of local flood information being material to planning decisions. Minor modification recommended to clarify that engagement with the parish is sought on planning matters beyond just flooding.

The report pack included a consultation response from James McCabe, Principal Planning Policy Officer at Wokingham Borough Council. The response included detailed comments on each of the policies in the Charvil Neighbourhood Plan.