ANOTHER section of a major road scheme has been approved by the council as it bids to reduce the impact of housing growth on traffic in the borough.

The western section of the Northern Distributor Road will comprise a new road around North Wokingham from Coppid Beech and London Road in the east to Reading Road in the west, linking with the Winnersh Relief Road.

According to planners, this section of the NDR is “an essential piece of infrastructure that is required to mitigate the impact of the effect of additional traffic associated with planned housing growth in North Wokingham.”

Sections of the distributor road have already been completed at Matthewsgreen and Mulberry Grove developments and a planning application for another part of it has been submitted.

The entire route is due to open by 2021 after plans got underway in 2012 when a study identified the need for a distributor road in the area.

A public consultation followed in 2013 before Wokingham Borough Council’s cabinet approved the designs in 2015.

Members of WBC’s of the planning committee unanimously approved the application on Wednesday, May 8.

Councillor Angus Ross outlined his support for the application, saying: “The benefit for me is that it will take traffic away from the town centre.”

The plans will see 57 trees, 12 groups of trees and five hedges removed in order to make way for the new road, including 11 protected trees.

However, developers are set to mitigate this loss by creating a new area of green space, planting new hedgerow trees including Elm, Lime and Oak, four new ponds, new oak, hornbeam and black poplar trees, new native woodland, and a new path network connected to the new green space.

Cllr Carl Doran said: “I’m impressed by the amount of trees that are going to be planted in lieu of those lost. I’m pretty much in favour of this.”

Some residents and local groups had raised concerns about limited access for lorries into to nearby estates, traffic and noise during construction and work already undertaken on the site, but the committee approved the council’s plans in just over 20 minutes.