Liberal Democrat politicians on West Berkshire Council have put the brakes on a major redevelopment project after they were kicked off the project board.

They have decided to call-in the Conservative-run council’s decision to press ahead with the London Road Industrial Estate redevelopment and invest a further £345,000 to ensure a planning application can be drawn up.

That means the council cannot continue with the project, which has been in the pipeline since 2003, until the decision has been debated by the council’s Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee in January.

READ MORE: Six figure investment planned for next step of major Newbury redevelopment

“It will delay things by a few weeks,” said Cllr Ross Mackinnon, executive member for economic development.

“It’s a remarkable coincidence that after the Liberal Democrats are removed from the project board these concerns are so significant, they have to call it in.”

Cllr Mackinnon said Liberal Democrat councillors were removed from the project board in December, because one has “issued public criticism of that board and the decisions made without telling colleagues”.

When announcing the call-in, the Liberal Democrats said they are concerned about “a lack of expertise and capacity to manage a project of this size” and want a full environmental assessment to be carried out before the development gets underway.

They are also worried about the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the market for apartments and offices.

The council has opted to develop the 27.5 acre Newbury industrial estate in phases, and planning consultants say up to 280 homes, 3,473 sqm of office space and 5,400 sqm of space for other businesses could be built there.

Cllr Mackinnon said the “evidence-free” claims are “very disparaging” to the council offices who are running the project and environmental impact assessment will be carried out.

“At first glance, it seems like these reasons have been cobbled together in order to make a political statement,” he said.

READ MORE: Council refuses to apologise for £1 million London Road Industrial Estate blunder

“We’re not rushing into any decisions. Yes, we want to get started, but it is a really long process to get to where we want to be.

“It’s difficult to make heads or tails of the criticism. On the one hand we’re moving too fast, but on the other hand we’re moving too slowly.”