Aldermaston Traveller Site: 5 October Leave Date Likely

A High Court judge is due to rule by 4pm on Monday 14 September on how long the families living on the unauthorised site south of Reading Road, Aldermaston, about ten miles east of Newbury, have to leave it. Her judgment of 7 September already gives the answer she is minded to reach: 5 October 2026.

The judgment continues the injunction West Berkshire Council obtained in December 2025. It runs to 113 paragraphs and it is published in full on the council’s own website. Two things in it have not been reported elsewhere, and both matter more locally than the headline does.

The first is the reason the court treated this site as different from any other unauthorised traveller site in the district. The second is that, on the judge’s own count, more than nine months and 17 planning applications after the work started there was still no valid application for the land.

What the court decided

The case is West Berkshire District Council v UK Land Holdings 1 Ltd and others, [2026] EWHC 2304 (KB). It was heard over four days in June and July by HHJ Sylvia de Bertodano, sitting as a deputy High Court judge, and handed down on Monday 7 September.

The residents had applied to vary the December injunction so that they could stay until their planning application was decided. Their argument was that many families were already living on the land when the order was made, so the order was in substance an eviction and their Article 8 rights had never been weighed.

The judge rejected that on the facts:

• only one family was in residence on 18 December 2025, and that family is exempted by name from the injunction
• every other current resident moved on after the order was granted, and in breach of it
• they did so deliberately, the judge found, “in order to undermine the whole purpose of the order”
• there are now at least 22 separate pitches occupied
• the continuation of the injunction is just and proportionate

On timing, the judge said she was minded to allow 28 days from the judgment. She invited written submissions on that single point, due from the residents by 4pm on Wednesday 9 September and from the council by 4pm on Friday 11 September, and said she would rule by 4pm on Monday 14 September. The judgment adds that residents “should be aware that the likely date by which they must cease occupation is 5 October 2026”. No further hearing is listed. (Judgment, paragraphs 111 to 113)

The nuclear site is the reason this one is different

The land falls inside the detailed emergency planning zone around AWE Aldermaston, one of only two sites in the UK responsible for designing, making and maintaining nuclear warheads. Under the Radiation Emergency Preparedness and Public Information Regulations 2019, AWE cannot operate unless an adequate off-site emergency plan is in place, and it is West Berkshire Council’s duty to maintain it.

The court heard evidence from four witnesses on that point:

• the Office for Nuclear Regulation wrote on 23 April 2026 that occupants of the site are vulnerable, and that if its advice were sought on a planning application there it is “highly likely” it would advise against unless the council could show the development fitted within the emergency plan
• a senior civil servant in the Defence Nuclear Organisation’s Warhead Group said the plan is already under significant pressure and any increase in population density puts AWE’s operation at risk
• AWE’s head of delivery for operational facilities said people in caravans are classed as more vulnerable under the regulations, because caravans give less protection than brick buildings
• the service manager for the joint emergency planning unit covering the council said any population increase risks the plan being deemed inadequate, and that in an emergency resources would have to be diverted to this site and away from the existing population

The residents called a nuclear physicist and former head of emergency planning at Nuclear Electric, who told the court the zone is larger than it needs to be, that guidance expects a release requiring shelter no more than once in 100,000 years, and that the plan could be resourced up rather than allowed to fail.

The judge did not decide the planning merits, and said so. But she recorded that any application “would face particularly serious obstacles” because of the zone, and that the pressure on the emergency plan “creates knock-on concerns for the safety of others residing in the area”. She was explicit that this was not determinative of her decision.

Nine months, 17 applications, none of them valid

The planning history in the judgment is the part with consequences for anyone watching the council’s register:

The enforcement notice alleges a change of use to a residential caravan site. The council withdrew the first version and immediately issued a replacement on 21 August, with the red line on the boundary plan enlarged so that it covers the whole of the unauthorised development. The requirements did not change. Because a new notice has been served, the appeal against the old one falls away and a fresh right of appeal runs against the new one. (West Berkshire Council, 1 September 2026)

That appeal route is the thing to watch. If an appeal is lodged with the Planning Inspectorate, the enforcement notice is suspended until the appeal is decided. The injunction is not affected by that and stays in force.

The judgment also records that the council can demonstrate a five-year supply of gypsy and traveller sites, and that this was not seriously challenged.

What the council says

Councillor Heather Codling, the council’s deputy leader, said the planning system “must apply fairly and consistently to everyone” and that decisions “should be made through the proper planning process, rather than through development taking place first and permission being sought afterwards”.

The council also stresses what the judgment does not do. It does not decide whether planning permission should be granted for the site. That is a separate process, through any valid application and through the enforcement appeal. (West Berkshire Council, 10 September 2026)

The judge recorded that the council carried out welfare assessments after families moved onto the land, that this was not seriously challenged, and that a gypsy and traveller liaison officer was appointed in January 2026. She also said she had “considerable sympathy” with the difficulty travelling families face in finding sites, while holding that breaching an injunction cannot be allowed to succeed.

What it means for you

If you live near the site, the date to watch is Monday 14 September, when the compliance deadline is ruled on, and then 5 October if the judge holds to what she indicated. Nothing about the injunction is suspended by an enforcement appeal.

If you want to follow the planning side, the enforcement case reference is 25/00387/16OTHR. West Berkshire’s planning enforcement team takes enquiries on 01635 519111. Every document in the court case, including the full judgment, is published on the council’s Reading Road injunction page.

If you are tracking applications elsewhere in the district, the point the judgment makes about validity is worth holding on to: an application that has been “received” is not an application the council can determine. Seventeen were received for this land and none of them counted. Our running coverage of what is in front of West Berkshire’s planners is on the Newbury planning page.

Sources

• West Berkshire District Council v UK Land Holdings 1 Ltd and others, [2026] EWHC 2304 (KB), published in full by the council, for the findings of fact, the evidence on the emergency planning zone, the planning history and the timetable for submissions and the ruling.
• West Berkshire Council, Reading Road Travellers Site Injunction for the council’s summary of the judgment, the 5 October date, the enforcement case reference and the full document bundle.
• West Berkshire Council responds to High Court judgment on Reading Road site, 10 September 2026 for Councillor Heather Codling’s statement and the position on the enforcement notice.
• Council serves replacement enforcement notice for Reading Road site, 1 September 2026 for the withdrawal and replacement of the notice on 21 August and the effect on the appeal.

We do not name the individuals involved in these proceedings. The judgment is a public document and is linked above in full.