Following the announcement in the proposed changes to the South East Plan that the government has agreed that 7,500 homes to be located to the South West of Reading should not be built, (and assumed to refer to the Kennet Valley Park development), Alok Sharma the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Reading West commented:


"This decision was brought about by sustained pressure from local Conservative councillors & West Berkshire Council together with local residents and is a victory for common sense. It is obvious to most people living locally who would have been most affected by the development that building on flood plain is a potential recipe for future disaster and the roads infrastructure would have struggled to cope under the strain of many thousands of extra vehicles at peak travel times.

There is now a 12-weeks consultation period and I am writing to local residents to encourage them to make their views plain to the consultation panel.

Despite this reprieve the Government is still keen to encourage thousands of extra homes to be built across the Reading area but it should not be a case of development at any cost - there has to be a balance and local residents views must be taken very seriously into account."