Developer in fresh bid for approval of groundworks

A DEVELOPER which wants to build houses over an aquifer that supplies drinking water to Henley and Shiplake has asked for a second opinion on the environmental impact.

Taylor Wimpey has been refused a certificate of lawfulness for groundworks at the former Thames Farm, off Reading Road, Shiplake.

The firm, which was granted planning permission for 95 homes on appeal in 2017, found that the land was unstable and vulnerable to sinkholes so wants to inject grout into the ground to stabilise it.

South Oxfordshire District Council, the planning authority, refused permission for the work and the decision was upheld by the Planning Inspectorate on appeal.

The site is in an area designated as a source protection zone by the Environment Agency as it lies above a chalk aquifer which feeds potable water to Henley, Harpsden and Shiplake.

Now Taylor Wimpey has submitted an environmental impact screening report to the council with a formal request for its “opinion” on the findings.

The report by Stantec says: “The proposed ground stabilisation works are required to facilitate the permitted residential development and comprise compaction grouting, which is an established technique for ensuring ground stabilities and is low impact and non-invasive. Compaction grouting involves a pipe injecting grout into the ground in order to displace surrounding soils and increase the density and stiffness of the land.

“The principal environmental effects of the development will relate to noise and air quality from construction plant during the stabilisation works.

“These effects will be managed through a construction environment management plan, implementing best practice measures.

“On completion, there would be no effects on views, landscape, biodiversity, air quality, noise, contamination, flooding or human health. The screening assessment has identified that significant effects on the environment are not considered likely.

“The proposals would be of a sufficiently limited scale that effects could be managed in accordance with standard methods and best practice measures.”

But the proposal has been criticised by the Thames Farm Action Group, which is made up of residents.

It said: “The developer has previously put forward three different schemes to deal with the surface water issue. The first was deep underground infiltration proposals that might impact the groundwater/aquifer which was rejected by the Environment Agency.

“Latterly, it has been the collection of run-off on site and pumping it a very significant distance away, initially to the south and later, when that was proven unviable, to the north.

“Both proposals have been demonstrated to be unworkable and would result in flooding elsewhere.

“The methodology for dealing with surface water run-off is one of the key environmental impacts that would result from the groundworks as proposed and, as such, must be addressed at the outset in any submission involving the groundworks proposals for the site and their wider environmental impact.

“The principal environmental effects of the development are centred on the supply of potable water from the aquifer and the management and disposal of surface run-off from a site with increased impermeability. This latter point appears to be completely disregarded by the applicant.”

Last week, the application was discussed by Henley Town Council’s planning committee which recommended refusal.

Councillor Michelle Thomas said: “This has been going on for so long now, I feel we are going round and around in circles.”

The district council is due to make a decision by next Friday.