Sir John Redwood became Wokingham’s Conservative Member of Parliament in 1987, more than a generation ago until stepping down ahead of the July 2024 general election. For most of that period whilst recognising the need for more house building he said that Wokingham was not the place to build. Such views are not far from those of today’s Liberal Democrat Leader of the Council Cllr Stephen Conway concerns about the next local plan, due in about three years which will require upwards of 1300 new dwellings per year, a big increase on 748 dwellings per year set in the local plan expected to be adopted shortly. He says “The challenge is truly daunting.”, (Wokingham.Today, 3 August 2026). Cllr Conway goes on to warn that despite government ministers desires to stimulate growth in the economy and to make housing more affordable, two ambitions he describes as noble they are unlikely to be delivered by higher housing targets in areas like Wokingham. He points out that In terms of growth, the constraints on delivery of market housing in Wokingham Borough are very real in terms of the availability of land and the capacity of service infrastructure..Whilst then adding. ‘Even the construction industry wonders how it can access the labour and materials needed for such a massive house building programme.’ Perhaps surprisingly whilst identifying these threats he also acknowledges that ‘ no one can deny the need for new market housing’. The need for the right homes in the right places is not disputed by Wokingham Conservatives who say “We recognise that Wokingham needs the right homes in the right places, but development should not necessitate building on our Green Belt and green places”, (Wokingham. Today, 4 August 2026, by Andrew Batt).
So it is common ground the homes are needed. Which is an important step in the direction of reality. Although the Wokingham Conservatives add that brownfield and previously developed land needs to be prioritised as building locations. In a nutshell, Wokingham’s political leaders accept the borough needs new homes, but also says the borough is full up. This admission is a relief, as any attempt to oppose the economic growth needed, or the provision of new homes which are affordable is tantamount to national suicide. Is there any other way for this country to go?
Sir John Redwood, now elevated to the House of Lords may be showing the way. In a recent June speech in the Lords, reported in his diary, headed Where to put 1.5 million houses he says “ So I urge the Government to put more emphasis on new cities and towns to accept the conclusions of this report that you plan them in advance and, above all, you put the facilities in first”. Redwood knows the spatial score. I wonder what he thinks of the Forest City proposal I explained in my last blog post Does Forest City set the housing agenda (29 July 2026) ? It sets out the case for a debate about the role of large new cities in solving the housing crisis, warning of the difficulty of assessing the merits of particular proposals (like Forest City, for a million people east of Cambridge) because the merits immediately become buried in objections to the location.
Wokingham’s dilemma brings into sharp perspective both the political and spatial barriers to overspill debates but may also equally radically bring into plain sight the opportunities that new cities might offer areas struggling to decide where their new homes will go. Because fortunately Wokingham does have a spatial solution. No more than 30 minutes away, there is lots of unprotected accessible land suitable for building. It is located south of Reading, and loosely is bounded by a triangle from Junction 11, M4 motorway to the two M3 motorway junctions (4A, Fleet and 5, Hook). The actual area must be decided by masterplanning experts. The point is that there is lots of unprotected land and west of London and there is no other location which is nearer.
Of course there are big challenges to building Forest City (2) south of Reading, not least protecting the legitimate fears of existing residents from blight and financial worries. These are problems, but failure to solve them means local fears trump national needs. This is the road to national failure and must be rejected. Finding Wokingham’s spatial solution is not only a local necessity, it is a national imperative.
After all, it is not only Wokingham Borough that has a housing overspill problem. So do all the other Thames Valley local councils. The next step is to see if local leaders can reverse two generations of reactive, defensive thinking about change in their areas into pro-active, opportunity lead thinking. There is a massive financial win waiting to be collected by the shrewdest councils., willing to take a lead and pocket for their residents the land value surplus which the Bank of time delivers to developers with foresight. For example, compare 10,000 acres worth £10,000 per acre in agriculture use, with the same land, without services worth upwards of £1,000,000 per acre with consent to build. Some of this surplus should go to local owners. Most should be shared by existing residents, their local councils, and state of the art new facilities for the new occupiers. It looks like a lot of wins, but needing patience, shrewdness and policy constancy from the overspill authorities.
A question for Redwood, will be support the idea?
Ian Campbell
4 August 2026
