Cold Ash Parish Council has submitted further comments to both West Berkshire Council and the Environment Agency following the applicant’s recent submission of revised hydraulic modelling information for the CA12 development proposal (25/00278/FULMAJ Land West of Heath Lane and North of Bowling Green Road, Thatcham).

Having reviewed the additional material, the Parish Council continues to have concerns regarding a number of flood risk and drainage issues, including:

the absence of model calibration against observed flood events;
the treatment of groundwater and subsurface flows;
reliance on the Thatcham Flood Alleviation Scheme;
claims that the development would provide wider flood risk benefits; and
whether sufficient evidence currently exists to support the conclusions relied upon for the Sequential and Exception Tests.

The Parish Council’s position remains that these matters should be independently reviewed and satisfactorily resolved before any planning decision is made.

Copies of the Parish Council’s latest submissions to West Berkshire Council and the Environment Agency can be viewed below.