Coun Dale Heenan (Con, Covingham and Dorcan) has said large-scale housing developments are needed to pay for infrastructure.

Earlier this week Wanborough Parish Council called for major housing projects to be rejected until major infrastructure works first put in place.

Coun Heenan countered this by saying: “This is very much a chicken and egg situation. Housing development needs to be given planning permission in order to pay for the roads and schools. Legal contracts will tie down the developer so that the right infrastructure is built at the right time as a condition of approval.”

The call from the parish council was made following an independent traffic study which found the proposed building of 2,380 homes at Rowborough would leave key roads overloaded but Coun Heenan disputes this.

He said: “All too often we hear someone pop up and cry wolf on these issues to muddle the situation for residents. If the application is not good enough then it will be refused. No business is going to pay for infrastructure, without a decision being made by the cross-party Planning Committee in its favour.”