SHOPFRONTS along Oxford Road have been dismantled as part of a planning enforcement actions, Reading Borough Council has explained.
A number of illegal structures added to the shopfronts on Oxford Road have been taken down after they were built without planning permission.
The council has also warned that it “will not hesitate” to take similar action against other unauthorised extensions and advises all shop occupiers to seek council advice before developing their premises.
The Council’s team served enforcement notices to Oxford Road Supermarket (267-271 Oxford Rd), Lois Afro Shop (273) and Dreamztime (275) in February and March last year, requesting that they dismantle unauthorised structures.
The structures were built on forecourts and added onto shopfronts without the necessary planning permissions, contrary to the Town and Country Planning Order 2015 as they lie within a Conservation Area and also form part of the High Street Heritage Action Area.
The council described the additions as “unsympathetic to the historic row of buildings at the location,” and said that they had been built with inappropriate materials.
They have therefore been deemed by planning enforcement officers to be disrupting the appearance of the original frontage of the buildings, detracting from, and resulting in harm to, the character and appearance of the conservation area.
Both Oxford Road Supermarket and Lois Afro Shop were served with Planning Contravention Notices in November last year after failing to comply with the original enforcement notices served.
Both unauthorised structures were subsequently dismantled by owners this month.
Dreamztime complied with the original planning enforcement notice in July last year.
It comes after the Russell Street/Castle Hill Conservation Area Appraisal of the Oxford Road, published in March 2020, noted several negative features of the Conservation Area.
These include modern shop fronts which have destroyed the original 19th century retail frontages; “garish”, irregularly sized retail signs which destroys a “sense of harmony” along the retail corridor; and poorly kept retail frontages extending to the pavement and detracting from the traditional street line.
The council explains that similar enforcement action is now being pursued by the Council against the owners of a further four shopfronts 185A Oxford Road, 288-290 Oxford Road, 308 Oxford Road, 324-326 Oxford Road.
They have all been issued with enforcement notices but have yet to comply.
Micky Leng, the Council’s Lead Councillor for Planning, said: “The action taken against these illegal extensions to shopfronts along the Oxford Road should serve as evidence that the Council’s planning enforcement team will take the necessary steps against unauthorised structures which impact on the character and appearance of what is a Conservation Area, and those in particular that interrupt the flow of pedestrians who walk along the busy Oxford Road.
“My advice is always to check in with the Council’s planning department if extensions to shopfront are being considered, and certainly well in advance of any physical work actually taking place.
He explained: “This not only applies to the sort of unauthorised structures we see here, but can also include the display of advertisements and shopfront signage, particularly where they lie in prominent locations, in Conservation Areas and if they occupy listed buildings.
“Those settings are treated with priority for control by the Planning Enforcement Team, in the interests of amenity and high standards of appearance.”
Advice on council planning matters is available via: reading.gov.uk/planning-and-building-control
