Keep Emmer Green

Keep Emmer Green We are Keep Emmer Green (KEG), an action group set up to object to unsustainable development in Emmer Green and especially on Reading Golf Course.

🔥 With the horrendous fire at Goring Heath yesterday, the smoke reaching Emmer Green, a reminder to everyone to keep ale...
28/07/2026

🔥 With the horrendous fire at Goring Heath yesterday, the smoke reaching Emmer Green, a reminder to everyone to keep alert for signs of fire risk here. Call 999 straight away if you see any fire.

🤩 Thank you to those of you who are collecting rubbish and especially glass bottles left near the woods and on the former golf course land. Every bottle collected reduces risk. You are stars! Thank you.

🧯KEG and CADRA are in contact with Reading Fire Brigade Prevent team.

🤝 But it needs us all to keep our community safe especially over the next few hot dry weeks.🙏🏻


👨🏻‍⚖️Latest update - and it’s 3-0 to us! 🥅❌ Fairfax and Reading Golf Club’s challenge to the Planning Inspector’s appeal...
12/07/2026

👨🏻‍⚖️Latest update - and it’s 3-0 to us! 🥅

❌ Fairfax and Reading Golf Club’s challenge to the Planning Inspector’s appeal dismissal has been robustly rejected by the Government’s legal department.

They said, “none of the proposed grounds discloses an arguable error of law”. And that they would resist “in full” any claim to the contrary.

6️⃣ Fairfax/RGC had set out in a pre-action letter, six grounds objecting to the Inspector’s decision. They claimed he had acted “irrationally”, “inconsistently”, “in breach of natural justice”. All because the judgement went against them.

🌱Fairfax/RGC included a claim that the Inspector had failed to consider the off-site land and biodiversity net gain being offered. The Government lawyers said he had considered it but “they did not outweigh the harms”.

🥾The Government’s lawyers drew attention to the inconsistency with which Fairfax referred to local people. In their claim, local people were “observed trespassers” but, in the Inquiry, the closing statements said they would “formalise the public access” which all agreed was long established.

Closing the response, the Government’s lawyers made the issue plain: “The reality is, the Inspector did not consider the site to be an appropriate location for housing”.

👌We couldn’t agree more.

We wait now to see if Fairfax/RGC ignore this advice and proceed to challenge the ruling in the High Court. It’s unlikely they can win.

🙏🏻The score to date is 3-0 to us.

Photo: 223 houses site - BNG 😭



📢 Calling all Emmer Green residents. 🔥There have been reports of a big fire in the abandoned golf keepers compound by an...
07/07/2026

📢 Calling all Emmer Green residents.

🔥There have been reports of a big fire in the abandoned golf keepers compound by ancient Cucumber Wood. We understand it is out now. But the fire brigade struggled to access the site.

♨️The whole site is so vulnerable right now in the heat. It is a tinder box.

📳 Please will you keep vigilant over the next few days and call 999 straight away if you see any risk of fire on the site. Or anyone acting irresponsibly. If we all call there will be a faster response.

📸 Please take photos of any fire damage you see and post here or DM KEG. We need to put pressure on Fairfax/Reading Golf Club to act responsibly and protect the site. They say they care about biodiversity.



Cllr Alex Smith - Emmer Green Ward
Cllr Isobel Ballsdon, Caversham Heights Ward
Matt Rodda
CADRA

(The photo was taken before the damage but the trees are so close).

😔 Sadly, the celebrations need to pause. Not surprisingly, Fairfax and Reading Golf Club don’t like the Inspector’s deci...
16/06/2026

😔 Sadly, the celebrations need to pause. Not surprisingly, Fairfax and Reading Golf Club don’t like the Inspector’s decision.

🤯 Their lawyers have applied to challenge the decision in the High Court on the grounds that the Inspector’s decision was “unlawful” and “irrational”.

Gladmans did the same. This was sadly expected.

📑 If the challenge is successful, the appeal will return to the Planning Inspectorate for “re-determination” with a new inspector and a new Inquiry.

Sigh.

🥅This has always been a David and Goliath battle. The developer has deep pockets and won’t take no for an answer. But we have a strong and clear case and it’s already 2-0 to us.

We will keep you updated. 🙏🏻


🎉 Best news ever!! The Appeal has been dismissed! Can’t quite believe it! 🥰Thank you to everyone for giving your time, f...
11/06/2026

🎉 Best news ever!! The Appeal has been dismissed! Can’t quite believe it!

🥰Thank you to everyone for giving your time, financial support, encouragement, wisdom, for writing and objecting over many years.

👏Huge thanks to CADRA, Kidmore End Parish Council, South Oxfordshire councillors and officers and the crowdfunded barrister John Fitzsimons and ultimately to the Inspector for actually listening to local people.

🎉A good day to Keep Emmer Green!


💌 Everyone is invited to CADRA’s AGM and a talk on “Caversham 1926: our bridge, our river and the Royal Show”, tomorrow,...
18/05/2026

💌 Everyone is invited to CADRA’s AGM and a talk on “Caversham 1926: our bridge, our river and the Royal Show”, tomorrow, Tuesday 19 May.

⛪️ It’s at Caversham Baptist Church (opposite Waitrose). Doors will open at 7pm for a 7:30 start. Light refreshments will be available.

🌳After a brief AGM, which will include a round up on the recent planning inquiry, there will be three short talks, followed by questions. The evening aims to finish by 9:30pm.


16/05/2026

Huge thanks to CADRA for their hard work especially over the last two weeks. Our views were well represented. 🙌

08/05/2026

📰Update on Planning Inquiry

3️⃣ Today is the end of the third day of the Inquiry into building 70 houses on the golf course and there is now a break until Tuesday.

🙋On Wednesday, the first day, we saw a packed room with lots of local people present to demonstrate that this site matters to us.

🦇Huge thanks to those who came and also to those who spoke on why this site is so precious. We heard about bats, birds and wildlife, trees, roads and well-being. It was wonderful. We have such a great community.

💼 Most of the rest of the time has seen the developer’s lawyers trying to establish, point after point, that the site is “urban”, and “low value” and not worthy to be a locally valued landscape - even though that is how it has independently been categorised in South Oxfordshire and Kidmore End plans. It’s been frustrating listening.

🥾The Inspector will visit the site next week, and it is looking so beautiful right now. Please let’s keep it that way and take home any rubbish and dog poo bags.

🙌Thanks to CADRA and the team at Kidmore End for being at the Inquiry all week - they are impressive volunteers giving up their time for us. A weekend to rest and review, before it all begins again on Tuesday. 🙏🏻

❤️Video below of a bat on the site - this is what we are seeking to protect - credit to Andy C.


👏 Congratulations to Alex Smith (Conservative) who has been elected as one of our three Councillors for Emmer Green Ward...
08/05/2026

👏 Congratulations to Alex Smith (Conservative) who has been elected as one of our three Councillors for Emmer Green Ward.

She joins Stephen Goss (Cons) and Daya Pal Singh (Lab) representing us - they weren’t up for election this year.

🗳️Here are the results (alphabetical order):

Hannah Conibear - Green - 1,103
Nishikant Gupta - Liberal Democrat - 290
Clarence Mitchell - Reform - 805
Alex Smith - Conservative - 1,143
Ollie White - Labour - 770

🙋‍♀️Turnout was 52.5% which was the highest in all the Reading wards.



Address

17 Kidmore End Road
Caversham
RG48SQ

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