10 Reading developments everyone hated – and what happened next

Development in Reading is a hot topic.

On the one hand, people are concerned about the amount of flats being built, the lack of family homes and the effect on the local roads and infrastructure.

On the other, Reading Borough Council has steep government targets to meet, a growing population, and the town’s position as a south-east powerhouse to consider.

Unlike its neighbours, the authority does not have large areas of land where it can plonk large housing developments filled with family homes.

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A number have been approved, and a number are in the pipeline.

For example, how the council responds to attempts from Hermes to remove all the affordable homes from a huge development proposed for the former Royal Mail depot in Caversham Road remains to be seen.

The fact with home building is that developers often chance their arms with totally unsuitable developments in totally unsuitable places.

In a lot of cases a combination of public feeling and the council have led to the developments not being built, but some slip through the net, either on appeal or by the council having to approve applications it doesn’t like due to planning rules.

We look at some of the developments in Reading everyone hated.

Swan Heights

“This is not Las Vegas or Hong Kong” quipped then Planning Committee chairman councillor Chris Maskell as the council threw out this plan for three massive skyscrapers.

Opponents to the scheme in King’s Meadow Road included TV presenter Simon Thomas, who turned up at the planning meeting to raise concerns over the traffic generated.

Permission was later given for another massive block containing more than 300 homes called the Thames Quarter which is springing up at a rapid rate in 2020.

The After Dark club

At the time of writing, the council has booted out two plans to demolish the night club in London Street and replace it with flats.

The latest plan was thrown out in January this year, with council bosses calling it a “cramped, out of character and visually dominant overdevelopment “

“Substandard” plans were also thrown out in 2016 and another flats plan was withdrawn in 2018.

The club faces a difficult future due to a pending licence review over numerous noise complaints.

Colliers Way, Tilehurst

The council found 11 separate reasons to refuse this plan for flats in Tilehurst.

Councillors particularly disliked developer The Cardiff Property PLC’s proposal of a road over a popular footpath used by dog walkers and children going to school.

Norcot councillor Debs Absolom said: “This is a significant over development to a small site that should remain a green space for residents.”

Another plan was rejected earlier this year.

Weldale Street, Reading

This is an application that has been given permission, even though the council called it a “slum.”

The council gave permission for 427 homes on the former home of Wickets and Iceland in 2017.

However, the committee wasn’t overly impressed with the plans.

Cllr Jason Brock, now leader, called the plans “uninspiring.”

But it was Cllr Tony Page, well known for scathing comments to developers during meetings, who hit out at the lack of affordable housing, saying: “This is a derisory offer in respect to affordable housing. 10 per cent is woefully below our 30 per cent target.”

The developer reduced the amount of homes proposed to 422 earlier this year and the old shops are now fully demolished.

St Patrick’s Hall

This was a saga involving the University of Reading and its plans to expand St Patrick’s Hall in Northcourt Avenue.

People living near the campus really took against the plans, saying they were totally out of keeping for the area.

Reading Borough Council rejected the university’s plans for the demolition of some of the old halls on the site and new blocks containing 836 rooms built, due to the effect on the character of the area.

An appeal was then rejected in May last year.

Reading Golf Club

Details of this plan are not yet known but rumours suggest it is imminent and is being validated by the council at the time of writing.

Despite this, the level of opposition at a public exhibition earlier this year suggests massive opposition to the plans, which are thought to contain around 200 homes on the part of the site that is in Reading borough.

It’s safe to say we can expect big protests over the plan.

East Reading MRT

This one left the council somewhat red-faced as its grand plan to try to ease congestion in east Reading with bridge carrying buses, cyclists and pedestrians over the River Kennet and into the town.

It was met with fierce protest due to fears over destruction of the riverside.

The council’s major opponent however, was its neighbour.

Wokingham Borough Council twice rejected the plan, meaning the bridge had permission in Reading but not in Wokingham.

The plan was scrapped and it was later revealed the council has spent more than £800,000 on it before it was shelved.

Gladman in Dunsden

This was a David v Goliath battle across the border in the tiny South Oxfordshire hamlet of Dunsden.

Gladman put in a plan for 245 homes right on the edge of Reading which caused alarm in Caversham and Emmer Green as well as villages like Sonning Common.

The plans were refused by South Oxfordshire District Council after strong protests from Reading, as well as numerous parish councils around South Oxfordshire.

The developer appealed against the decision, which was refused in November 2018.

It then launched a High Court battle against that decision, which was eventually thrown out in February 2019.

Reading Prison

No plans have been submitted for the Grade II Listed former jail in Reading, which was recently sold to a mystery bidder.

However, there is strong feeling in Reading that it should not be turned into housing.

Campaigners feel it should become an arts centre, but the government stated it would be sold to the highest bidder.

That has happened now, but you can expect people to be very unhappy if whoever has bought it submits a plan to turn it into homes

Pincents Hill, Tilehurst

This dates back to 2010 and features a youthful Alok Sharma MP, before he won the Reading West seat, and way before the days of standing in for the Prime Minister to be grilled about coronavirus.

Plans were submitted for a 750 home development on land behind Calcot Sainbury’s between the area and Tilehurst.

However, West Berkshire Council planners weren’t keen and the plans were thrown out.

An appeal in 2011 also failed.