Selling Land in Wokingham

The Core Strategy planned for at least 12,460 homes between 2006 and 2026, about 623 a year, so its plan period has now run its course. The council's completions show the pace easing since 2021/22:

The Local Plan Update 2023 to 2040

The Proposed Submission Plan was published in September 2024 and submitted on 28 February 2025, and the council's examination page says the inspectors judge it against the December 2023 Framework. It therefore rests on the need figure of the time, 795 homes for 2023/24 and 748 a year after that, not the December 2024 one. Of its 12,763 homes for 2023 to 2040, 8,374 were already accounted for, leaving roughly 4,400 for new allocations:

• Loddon Valley Garden Village (policy SS13), between Shinfield, Sindlesham and Arborfield: around 3,930 homes, about 2,700 of them by 2040, with two primary schools, a secondary school and a country park beside the Loddon.
• South Wokingham, extended south for 1,100 more homes and a primary school.
• Arborfield Green, with about 300 more homes at Arborfield Studios and 600 at Barkham Square, west of Barkham Brook.
• Thirty-one smaller sites sharing around 1,700 homes.

The plan treats North Wokingham and South of the M4 as largely complete. The council's consultation material adds that affordable housing on the largest developments rises to 40%, from 35%, and that no sites are allocated in the northern Green Belt.

The Garden Village Application

The University of Reading applied in November 2025 for up to 2,800 homes there, with bridges over the M4 and the Loddon. The council expected further applications from Gleeson Land and Hatch Farm, and a decision on the first in the latter part of 2026.

Location sets the route:

1. Inside the towns and villages. Gardens, backland and yards within Wokingham, Earley, Woodley, Winnersh and the larger villages are judged under policy S4, which leans towards approval unless the harm would substantially outweigh the benefits.
2. On the edge of a settlement outside the Green Belt. Here policy S5 and the 2.5 year supply combine, provided the land is well related to the settlement and clear of the 400 metre heath zone and the wetter ground.
3. In the northern Green Belt. Around Twyford, Ruscombe and Wargrave, a site turns on whether it counts as grey belt, a test set out with the Golden Rules in our grey belt explainer.

Small sites count too. The supply includes 240 homes from small windfall sites, and the inspectors want the plan's affordable housing threshold raised from five homes to ten, in line with national policy. Our page on paddocks and small sites shows the kind of plot that fits.

Main Modifications, Then a Report

After hearings in November 2025 and from March to June 2026, the inspectors wrote on 4 August 2026 that the plan is likely to be capable of being found sound with main modifications, and that no further housing sites are needed. They asked for the first 25 garden village completions to be pushed back to 2028/29, for the proposed valued landscape designation (policy NE6) to be deleted and for two site allocations to go, one of them for Gypsy and Traveller pitches, because neither site is available. The council says consultation on the modifications will follow later in 2026, then the inspectors' report. Its 2024 Local Development Scheme aimed at adoption in May 2026; we have found no revised date.

A Different Yardstick After Adoption

National policy measures supply against an adopted plan's requirement, turning to the standard method only once that plan is more than five years old. On adoption, the update's 748 a year replaces 1,316. Since 1 July 2026, for decisions only, a 20% buffer applies where a requirement adopted in the last five years was examined against a Framework published before December 2024 and is 80% or less of the standard method figure. On today's numbers the update fits that description, since 748 is well under 80% of 1,316. Five years at 748 plus 20% comes to 4,488 homes before any adjustment for building since 2023, against the 6,909 used now. We make no forecast of the new figure, but a case that leans on today's shortfall is stronger decided before adoption than after.

The Next Supply Statement and Delivery Test

The most recent supply statement we have found is still the one at 31 March 2025. The Housing Delivery Test 2025 came out on 17 August 2026, and a new edition follows each year. At 100%, none of its consequences applies. Below 95% would need an action plan, below 85% would add a 20% buffer, and below 75% would treat unmet need as evidenced under S5 whatever the supply. The lower completions of recent years will feed future results.

What This Means for Timing

• Edge-of-settlement land outside the Green Belt is worth looking at now, while the shortfall is the measure.
• Sites inside the towns and previously developed land do not depend on the supply figure and can be reviewed any time.
• Larger holdings are best prepared for the next plan, which would face the far higher standard method figure unless the method changes. How land enters a plan is covered in call for sites and local plans.