The benefits of a major overhaul of a shopping mall in Reading have been welcomed in a project that will see more than 600 flats added to the centre.
The Broad Street Mall is one of the biggest shopping centres in Reading with an annual footfall of around seven million visitors.
There have been plans to add residential towers to the rear of the mall stretching back years.
The latest project, put forward by mall owners AEW and development partner McLaren Living was first revealed in July 2023.
It involves building four new towers containing a total of 643 flats and six retail units.
The plan was initially discussed by Reading Borough Council’s planning applications committee in March, but a decision was delayed pending negotiations over more affordable housing and a lack of green amenity space being provided.
Following discussion, the affordable housing was increased from the 65 affordable rented flats (10.1 per cent) initially offered to 80 (12.44 per cent).
The additional 15 flats will have rents capped at an 80 per cent discount, made up of a mix of units including a three-bed flat and eight two-bed flats big enough to accommodate three people.
Councillor Richard Davies (Labour, Thames) thanked council officers for pushing for more affordable housing.
He said: “We should make no apologies about pushing back where we see issues that we want improvement on.
“We’re cognizant that there are a lot of homes in this application, and this is an area that is neglected and a little bit run down, and this definitely is going to be a huge improvement to the area.
“I think we all felt that. The provision of over 600 homes means that the laws of supply mean that if there are more homes, that alleviates housing pressure and helps tackle housing costs generally.”
The comments were endorsed by cllr Karen Rowland (Labour, Abbey), who supported the additional provision of 15 affordable flats.
However, cllr Doug Cresswell (Green, Katesgrove) wondered whether these new affordable flats would be cheaper than usual anyway, as they have been placed in the lower floors of the new towers.
The 12.44 per cent affordable housing is still below the council’s policy compliant level of 30 per cent.
Micky Leng (Labour, Whitley), lead councillor for planning, argued that council officers had negotiated hard for concessions.
He said: “We’ve been in negotiations, and we’ve been to the brink.
“The bitterest of lemons make the sweetest lemonade, we’ve reached that point.”
There was concern about a lack of green open space provided.
But ultimately, it was judged the projected developer contributions of £6.3 million could suitably be used for open space improvements elsewhere.
Cllr Davies said: “I don’t think this development really has the scope to tackle that issue on its own.”
Councillors also agreed that the mall towers will rejuvenate the area alongside the council’s Minster Quarter project for around 600 new homes.
Cllr James Moore (Liberal Democrats, Tilehurst) said: “Broadly, this is an important piece of the puzzle of the Minster Quarter, this is part of all of the other things that are going on.
“It is a very big movable feast of everything else in that area.
“That whole area is going to be completely irreparably changed for the better from the wasteland it is at the moment.”
The mall plan was approved on Wednesday, April 30.
You can view the approved application by typing reference PL/24/0173 into the council’s planning portal.
