A controversial plan for homes at a former advertising site near a park and a busy junction in Caversham has been refused.
The plan submitted by landowner Danala Services would have seen former advertising space along George Street replaced with a terrace of five homes.
The site is situated at the junction of George Street and Gosbrook Road, at the far north-eastern corner of Christchurch Meadows.
The development would have created five three-bed homes, with each coming with spacious open-plan living facilities on the ground floor and a segregated garden.
It would have been a car-free development, with future occupants being provided with sheds to store bikes instead.
However, the plan proved unpopular with Reading Borough Council’s planning department, with an officer raising concerns about the homes being cramped and the loss of green space at the site.
Danala Services was given permission to cut down three protected poplar trees by the council in December 2022 as it was judged that the trees were in a ‘dead’ or ‘dangerous’ condition.
After that, the development company objected tree preservation order (TPO) on the remaining poplar tree.
The company claimed this tree was also dangerous and required felling.
However, Sarah Hanson, the council’s natural environment officer stated no evidence had been provided to substantiate that claim, with the TPO being confirmed against the objection during a planning applications committee meeting in May 2023.
At the time, councillor Richard Davies (Labour, Thames) said: “It’s one tree, but every tree is really important in our climate emergency context that we have.
“When we agree to remove a tree it would really need to be backed up by evidence that it needs to be removed and shouldn’t be preserved.
“It certainly hasn’t reached the threshold that we should not place a TPO on.”
The plan for the terraced homes was submitted in July last year.
The project was initially meant to be decided by the council’s planning applications committee, as cllr Adele Barnett-Ward (Labour, Thames) ‘called in’ the application.
Yet after negotiations with planning officers, it was agreed that a decision would be delegated to the council’s assistant director of planning.
In a report, planning officer Ethne Humphreys recommended refusal, arguing that it would lead to the loss of designated green space as the site is situated at Christchurch Meadows.
Furthermore, she pointed out that Danala Services had failed to replace the three poplar trees it had cut down, casting doubt on whether the company would have provided new trees and planting to comply with the council’s biodiversity standards.
As for the homes proposed, Officer Humphreys judged that the project would have been a ‘cramped overdevelopment’ of the site.
The plan was assistant director of planning, transport and public protection services last year.
You can view the refused application by typing reference PL/24/0900 into the council’s planning portal.
