Watership Down homes plan 'fiction becoming reality'
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Campaigners said a decision to allow 360 homes to be built amounts to “urban sprawl”.
The controversial plans for Sandleford Park West, Newbury were approved last month by West Berkshire councillors.
The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) wrote to the council last year opposing the planning application by Donnington New Homes.
CPRE chairman Greg Wilkinson said: “It is extremely sad that this very site, which is so iconic, is now to be bulldozed and concreted over.”
Council officers had recommended the development for approval, despite more than 100 objections, due to the desperate need for homes.
Councillor Denise Gaines, portfolio holder for highways, housing and sustainable travel, previously said: "I know how many people are currently on my housing list and are waiting for homes."
Development on the Newbury site, immortalised in Richard Adams' 1972 novel, is led by Donnington New Homes.
Mr Wilkinson said: “We are very dismayed by the council’s decision.”
He added: “In his novel Watership Down, Sandleford Warren was the very area that was threatened with destruction by developers in the opening chapter.
“That development provided the main storyline for the novel and for the two film adaptations in 1978 and 2018.
“In later years, when that threat became real, Adams also campaigned against housing development on this site.
“So it is extremely sad that this very site, which is so iconic, is now to be bulldozed and concreted over. A terrible example of fiction becoming reality.”
Plans to build homes at Sandleford have been mooted for more than 10 years.
The government allowed another 1,000-home development for Sandleford in 2022 after it was initially refused by West Berkshire Council.
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