As part of the public examination of the Bracknell Forest local plan, which identifies sites for new house building between now and 2036, Wellington College have revealed plans to clear a large area of woodland to create a replacement sports facility. Wellington have proposed building 217 homes on Derby Field, the sports field next to Crowthorne station. National policy requires that they replace the lost facility with something equivalent. After 4 years of consultation during which they have been noticeably coy about where these facilities may be, they have finally revealed that this replacement facility would be in the woods adjoining the footpath by the railway line. This new facility, similar in size to Derby field, is nearly 6 hectare and includes 4 cricket pitches/ 4 rugby pitches and 12 tennis /netball courts and would require felling of hundreds of trees.
The Wellington Bursar has reassured CVAG that they will consult expert arboculturists etc.. However the inescapable truth is that there is no place for a tree on a cricket pitch and every single tree on each of those 4 pitches will need to be removed. As you can see from the satellite image, that’s a lot of trees.
