Tag: Developments

Reading Borough Council has proposed Richfield Avenue as the preferred location for a new secondary school in Reading, with the proposal set to be considered at a meeting of the Council’s Policy Committee on 11 June.

The council has been considering possible locations for a new 6-form entry secondary school needed to cope with the growth in demand for school places in the town. Current estimates are that by 2025/26 an additional 1,000 new secondary school places will be needed in Reading.

Following the exercise, land at Richfield Avenue – west of Rivermead Leisure Centre and bordering Thameside Promenade – has been chosen as the preferred site for the new 900-place free school. If this goes ahead it would open in September 2021.

The site comprises a former golf driving range and open land bordering Richfield Avenue. The land had previously been earmarked for a new outdoor activity and education centre, including a high ropes facility. This will now not go forward.

A school in Richfield Avenue would mean that proposals for a traveller site on nearby land next to Cow Lane will not go ahead.

The proposal to demolish the former Cox & Wyman works and build a new housing estate on the corner of Cardiff Road and Addison Road was approved by the council’s planning applications committee on 30 May.

The Bell Tower Community Association has broadly supported the application, with some suggestions for improvements relating to access and design. In particular, the association would have preferred access via Meadow Road rather than Addison Road, but it was explained that this would not be feasible with a large industrial unit opposite the development.

At this stage the timetable for the development is not known, but demolition of the old printing works is unlikely to start before the autumn because of the presence of nesting swifts on the site.

A new building has been rapidly appearing on the Cardiff Road skyline whose purpose is so far unknown.

A long grey shed-like structure is being built on the railway embankment behind the Reading Drive-in Centre in Cardiff Road, near the bollards where the road is closed to through traffic.

We have examined the train depot plans from 2010, which show enough space for a building on the embankment but no plans for anything there – so as far as we can tell no kind of planning application or notification has been made for it.

Cardiff Road residents have alerted the council’s planning enforcement team, who are pursuing this with Network Rail but have so far had no response to their enquiry. As well as being overlooked by the new building, residents are also concerned that a new door has appeared in the acoustic fence which makes the train noise, already at unacceptable levels, worse when it is left open. Residents have also been hearing additional noise from heavy machinery in the area.

Since this article was written the council planning officers have had a reply from Network Rail. The building is a plant room for effluent extraction from train toilets. Council officers are looking into whether they can take enforcement action.

Reading Borough Council has been developing plans to help guide future developments up to 2036. The plans set out how the council will tackle the need for substantial new development over the next two decades, including up to 700 new homes each year.

The former Cox & Wyman works in Cardiff Road is included in the plan (labelled WR3a on the map), with a proposal for between 70 and 110 new homes on the site, and this development is likely to start within the next 2-3 years.

Included for the first time is the area incorporating the Manrose Manufacturing factory in Meadow Road and the Ayres Removals site at the end of Ross Road (WR3b), which is also earmarked for housing. There is also a proposal for more housing in Richfield Avenue (WR3c) and another (not shown on the map) for housing on the Carters site off Caversham Road. These three sites are unlikely to be developed in the short term.

The council is looking for comments on the proposals – the complete draft plan, supporting documents and instructions for giving feedback can be found at www.reading.gov.uk/newlocalplan.

The deadline for comments is 5.00pm on 14 June.

(Map courtesy of Reading Borough Council)