Next Parish Council Meeting

The next Parish Council Meeting will be on Tuesday 13th May 2025 at 7.30pm in the Barn, adjacent to Enborne Church, Church Lane, Enborne RG20 0HB. Before the Parish Council Meeting, the Annual Parish Meeting will be hosted starting at 7pm.  Both Agendas can be found here {Agendas are published three days before the meeting}

The Enborne Parish Plan 2018, which sets local priorities, was adopted by the council on the 21st May 2018 and has been endorsed by West Berkshire Council.

   

Enborne consulted (again..)   For those of you who have an interest in the future of Enborne and plans for Long Copse Farm in particular (policy RSA25), you might like to consider responding to a further public consultation.  You now only have until the end of January to respond, this is your last opportunity to comment. West Berkshire Local Plan Review 2022-2039 Enborne Parish Council is responding to this consultation expressing serious concerns about RSA25.  You can read our response here: ENBORNE’S RESPONSE Is it legal? West Berkshire Council has now asked the planning inspector to recommend any modifications necessary to make the Plan legally compliant and sound - his response is awaited. Enborne Parish Council has also taken legal advice, and we will be asking for these unsound and unevidenced policies to be removed from the plan. If West Berkshire Council adopts these policies against our wishes, we would be prepared to challenge the decision in the High Court by way of section 113 of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 Thanks to all those who have already signed our petition, a large proportion of Enborne residents now stand united against West Berkshire Council plans to dramatically change the character of our home.  Following our previous update, our legal team formulated an objection to the current application, which you can find amongst all the other representations on the West Berkshire Council website: Timeline: 2014: Site owner, Martin Burton (MB), wrote an open letter to local residents stating that West Berks council (WBC) had asked him to make '24' plots available for travellers;  2015: WBC commissioned a study that subsequently concluded a 'need' for 24 plots for Travelling Showpeople, based exclusively on interview with MB; 2016: MB meets with Enborne Parish Council and asks for planning permission for a '5 bed house with granny annexe' and offers to drop the plans for 24 plots; 2017: WBC adopts policy TS2 for 24 plots at Longcopse Farm - Local people's concerns go unheard; 2023: MB applies for permission for 24 plots - shortly before policy TS2 expires; 2024: WBC tell planning inspector there is a 'national' or 'strategic' need for these plots, and dont evidence any local need as required by their own policy DM20. More background: In January 2024 Enborne Parish Council began work to prepare a Neighbourhood plan.  As part of our early research we identified proposals by West Berkshire Council to designate approximately 10 acres of land in the parish as a sort of caravan site / yard for Travelling Showpeople.  Whilst many people are aware of Zippos circus, the extent of the proposed development on agricultural fields to the north and west of the established yard would substantially change the character of the area and have a harmful impact on neighbour's amenity, ecology, landscape character, local services and infrastructure.  There is no proposal to limit or control the number of new residents on the site.  For comparison, if the development was for conventional housing at a normal density of 30 dwellings per hectare, it would equate to 120 new homes, with potentially hundreds of new residents and associated vehicle movements, etc. And under recent revisions to the application to increase the site area to nearly 15 acres, this comparative would increase to 180 new homes.  Planning policy: Having looked into draft policy RSA25 it became clear that EPC had some reasonable questions and concerns to put to West Berkshire Council. Work on the Neighbourhood plan has since been paused until this matter can be resolved.  Given West Berkshire Council's current and proposed policies, EPC believes that it would not be sensible or practical to take forward a competing vision for our area.  Enborne Parish Council has undertaken extensive consultation and found residents overwhelmingly oppose West Berkshire Council's policy.  On this basis Enborne Parish Council will continue to represent and defend local people's interests and the character, identity and heritage of our home.

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 West Berkshire Local Plan 2022-2039

The West Berkshire Local Plan Review 2022-2039 (LPR) is currently being independently examined by a Planning Inspector appointed by the Secretary of State.  The Inspector’s role is to assess whether the LPR has been prepared in accordance with the Duty to Cooperate, legal and procedural requirements and whether it is sound (positively prepared, justified, effective and consistent with national policy).  If the Inspector concludes that the LPR is sound and meets the necessary tests, it can then be adopted by the Council and will form the Local Plan for the District.

 

The Inspector issued his preliminary findings on 31 July 2024, and a note on the Main Modifications consultation on 24 October 2024. The findings are without prejudice to his final report but set out the Main Modifications he considers are required in order to make the LPR sound. These proposed Main Modifications are now subject to an 8-week public consultation from Friday 6 December 2024 to 31 January 2025.

 

It is important that any proposed Main Modifications do not undermine the sustainability process that has informed the preparation of the LPR. The Council has therefore updated the Sustainability Appraisal/Strategic Environmental Assessment (SA/SEA), and produced an addendum to the Habitats Regulations Assessment (HRA), both of which accompany the LPR. 

 

They are therefore now inviting representations on the following documents between Friday 6 December 2024 and 11:59pm on Friday 31 January 2025:

 

• Schedule of Proposed Main Modifications to the West Berkshire Local Plan Review 2022-2039 (November 2024)
• Schedule of Proposed Changes to the Policies Map (November 2024)
• Updated Sustainability Appraisal/Strategic Environmental Assessment (SA/SEA) Report – Proposed Main Modifications (November 2024)
• Addendum to the Habitats Regulations Assessment (HRA) of the Proposed Main Modifications (November 2024).

 

All documents relating to the Consultation on Proposed Main Modifications can be viewed electronically on the Council’s website at https://www.westberks.gov.uk/lpr-proposed-main-modifications.

 

Please note that representations may only be made in relation to the documents as set out above. If you previously submitted representations to the earlier consultations on the LPR the Inspector has already considered these during the examination and there is no need to make them again.

 

Representations must be received no later than 11:59pm on Friday 31 January 2025. Late representations cannot be taken into consideration by the Inspector. The Statement of Representations Procedure attached explains where the relevant documents are available for inspection and how your comments should be submitted.  I hope this is helpful, but if you require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact the Planning Policy Team on the contact details below:

 

Email: planningpolicy@westberks.gov.uk

Tel: 01635 519 111

 

This will be an agenda item at the Enborne Parish Council meeting on Tuesday 21st January 2025

Enborne Solar Farm Community Update
21 October 2024

Falklands Cricket Club, Enborne Street RG14 6TW

7.00pm:  Presentation from Calleva Community Energy followed by the Enborne Parish Field Charity

7.30pm: Q & A

8.00pm: Close 

We hope you will be able to join us.

Long Copse Farm

Enborne Parish Council published a statement on the 8th of July 2024 relating to Long Copse Farm. We stand by that statement.

However, it has been suggested that one sentence may be misinterpreted to suggest predisposition or bias on behalf of our district councillors.  We did not mean to imply this and we can confirm when we said, 'Councillors Gaines and Vickers are responsible for the promotion of this site under policy RSA25.', that we did not mean these councillors were acting on behalf of the landowner.  We used the word 'promotion' in the context described by the Planning Advisory Service as being the role district councillors have in promoting policies that help to 'deliver the vision set out in the local plan'.

We hope this clarifies the meaning of our statement, we did not mean to cause offence to District Councillors Gaines and Vickers.  For that we apologise.

Enborne Parish Council has made strenuous efforts to oppose the inclusion of 24 Show person sites at Long Copse Farm under RSA25 into the Local Plan and to oppose Planning Application – 23/02596//FULMAJ.  We have received the strong support of Enborne Residents (especially those primarily effected), all Enborne Parish Councillors and Hampstead Marshall Parish Council in our endeavour.”

Posted 25/09/2024

 After the Western Area Planning Committee of the West Berkshire Committee make a decision on the Solar Farm planning application and if the application is granted the Trustees of the Enborne Parish Field Charity with Calleva Community Energy envisage holding a public meeting for all parishioners. Calleva will take this opportunity to explain the next steps. 

Posted 15/05/2024, Enborne Parish Field Charity Trustees 

On 13th March 2024, Enborne Parish Field (EPF) Charity members were invited to Newbury Town Council for the Environmental Contribution Civic Award Event. EPF were proudly presented as a nominee in recognition of an outstanding contribution to the Town of Newbury.  

Enborne Neighbourhood Development Plan

A Public Consultation was held on Tuesday 23rd January 2024 at The Bowlers Arms, Enborne Street, Newbury. The NDP working group Thank everyone who had attended, it was a very good turnout, thank you! The NDP will provide an update on this website when more work is done on the next stage of the plan.  If you did have any questions in the meantime,  please Email the Clerk  - clerk@enborne.org.uk

Enborne is a village and civil parish to the west of Newbury, West Berkshire.

The River Enborne, which shares its name, forms the southern border of the Parish, with the railway and the River Kennet forming the border to the north. Largely rural in nature, the parish includes a number of farms, some private parkland, and woodland, with houses dispersed into small hamlets across the area. The south east corner of the parish where it borders the suburbs of Newbury, Wash Common contains the majority of the parish population.

There are some 735 inhabitants in Enborne with Enborne Primary School serving the local population and surrounding areas.

The village name has had many variant spellings in the past, including Anebourne in 1086, and Enbourne, Enborn, Enbourn in the last 200 years.

Enborne Copse, to the north, contains an area of ancient woodland and has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

The site of the historic First Battle of Newbury (20th September 1643), now farmland , lies near the eastern border of the Parish.