Mystery surrounds the approval of a plan for 170 flats that replace the John Lewis customer collections facility in Reading town centre.
The customer collections centre in Crossland Road, opposite The Oracle, has been vacant since 2021.
The John Lewis Partnership announced plans to replace it with apartments in 2023.
The plans were initially submitted in September 2024, and were subsequently revised down from 215 to 170 flats in July last year.
Ultimately, Reading Borough Council’s planning applications committee approved, subject to conditions, at a meeting that October.
The latest news is that the project has officially been approved after John Lewis entered into a section 106 legal agreement with the council.
This agreement lays out the parameters of the development and the obligations a developer is obliged to fulfil.
One of those is the details of the housing provision.
The development will consist of 79 one-bed, 81 two-bed and 10 three-bed flats in one new apartment building.
Of those, a total of 27 flats are designated as affordable through reduced monthly rent.
The agreement states 17 flats will be made affordable at Local Housing Allowance rent level, consisting of four three-bed, six two-bed and seven one-bed apartments.
A further 10 flats will be affordable at discounted market rent level, made up of one three-bed, four two-bed and five one-bed flats.
These details are outlined in the legal agreement which was signed on Thursday, August 20.
But questions remain over the future of the project, as John Lewis announced that it was withdrawing from its rental property business in February this year.
The John Lewis Partnership, which includes Waitrose, cited a fundamental shift in the economic conditions that formed the basis for the venture when it launched in 2020.
The February announcement stated: “Our rental property ambition was based on a very different financial environment: one with more stable investment returns, lower borrowing costs and more affordable costs to build homes.
“Unfortunately, the current climate – higher interest rates, inflationary pressures and a more cautious property market – has meant the model no longer meets the Partnership’s investment criteria.”
The announcement then stated that the partnership has been successful in its ‘core retail strategy’ and aimed to continue this by simplifying the business and strengthening its balance sheet.
It is understood that the site and the planning permission will be sold to a developer to deliver the project.
You can view the approved plans, including the legal agreement, by typing reference PL/24/1155 into the council’s planning portal.
More information about the future of the site has been requested from John Lewis.
