A call has been made to rule out the prospect of homes being built at the ‘much loved’ Pinewood Centre.

The centre is an activities hub located off the Old Wokingham Road in Crowthorne.

A number of community and activity groups are based there, such as gym and athletics clubs, a football club, a miniature railway, a remote control car speedway, and the Pinewood Starr boxing gym.

But there are fears some of the site could be turned over for housing.

That’s because Pinewood has been allocated for mixed use development in the Wokingham Local Plan Update.

The prospect of homes being built on the site was contained in the update as the centre is located in the part of Crowthorne that comes under the Wokingham Without ward of Wokingham Borough.

Now, a former councillor has called for any housing development there to be ruled out.

READ MORE: Neighbours slam 'abysmal' redevelopment bid for Pinewood Centre

At a Wokingham Borough Council executive committee meeting, Ian Pittock will put a question to councillor Lindsay Ferris (Liberal Democrats, Twyford) asking for homes on the site to be removed from the Local Plan update.

There are hopes that the prospect of homes being built at Pinewood will be scrapped, as the Local Plan update was devised by the previous Conservative administration, with the update process and the council now being led by the Liberal Democrats.

Mr Pittock will say: “The previous Conservative administration had a proposal for the Pinewood site in Wokingham Without. This consisted of rebuilding the sports facilities on one half of the site and building houses on the other half.

“About four years ago, I and Lindsay Ferris as Lib Dem Councillors met with Wokingham Without Parish Council to assure them that should the Lib Dems lead Wokingham Borough Council, we would not build houses on the Pinewood site and that we would at least offer a much longer lease than they currently had.

“As he is now the Executive Member with responsibility for the Local Plan Update in the Lib Dem led Partnership administration, can Councillor Ferris confirm that our promises to Wokingham Without Parish Council still stand?”

The question will be asked at the executive meeting on Tuesday, March 21.

READ MORE: Plan for Crowthorne homes 'crammed into garden' refused

When the plan for homes at Pinewood emerged in November 2021, a petition was created on Change.org calling for the borough council to remove any reference to housing on the site to be included in the Local Plan Update.

The petition was closed after it received 3,886 signatures.

Mr Pittock was elected as a Conservative councillor for Finchampstead South in 2012, but crossed the floor to join the Liberal Democrats in 2017, and seized to be a councillor in 2020.

Back in November 2021, cllr Wayne Smith (Conservative, Hurst) the then executive member for planning stated that no explicit number of homes were allocated for the site, and that its allocation only allowed for the possible construction of homes there to fund improvements.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Clive Jones, the leader of Wokingham Borough Council (Liberal Democrats, Hawkedon) said his administration has no intention for any homes to be built at Pinewood.