A plan to replace a retail park near Reading town centre with hundreds of flats has re-emerged.
The Forbury Retail Park is primarily comprised of a row of big box furniture stores and a KFC drive-thru.
The eastern portion of the site contains a McDonald’s drive-thru, Argos, Decathlon and Hobbycraft.
Now the site owner, Abrdn Property Income Trust, has submitted a plan to build hundreds of new flats at the retail park.
The project involves demolishing the row of stores in the western portion of the site and the KFC drive-thru and replacing them with up to 700 apartments and retail space.
Abrdn previously had a similar plan to create 820 flats on the site within 12 new tower blocks.
Occupants would be able to make use of 130 car parking spaces and 600 cycle parking spaces.
This scheme was submitted to Reading Borough Council in June 2023 but was disposed of due to inactivity in November last year.
The planning statement for the new project states that consultation feedback from council officers and the public has led to a series of design revisions to those previously submitted.
Notable changes include reducing the maximum building heights, improving variation in the heights of the blocks and footprints, reducing the size of a basement car park and commercial floorspace provided.
The project retains the name ‘Kings Meadow View’ from the previous scheme.
A planning agent for the development said: “Kings Meadow View aims at transforming and providing a new heart to the town centre of Reading, replacing a tired retail park with a residential‑led mixed‑use neighbourhood.
“Following extensive discussion with the council, we have substantially reduced building heights so that no element now meets the local definition of a tall building.
The site has been allocated for development as policy CR13b in the council’s Local Plan for the delivery of approximately 700 new homes.
Referring to the council’s planning policies, an agent said: “The development makes effective use of an under‑utilised brownfield retail park in a highly accessible town‑centre location, delivering much‑needed housing at the lower end of the site’s allocated capacity.
“Up to 700 dwellings here would make a substantial contribution to Reading’s housing targets and help sustain a five‑year supply on land that has long been earmarked for a new residential community.”
The retail space would be replaced with up to 3,000 sqm of commercial floorspace, which could include a food store.
This would still result in a net loss of 6,000 sqm of floorspace.
The plans have been submitted on outline, with all matters reserved except for the access, provided from Forbury Road.
This means designs would be adjusted in future detailed applications.
You can view the outline application by typing reference PL/25/1706 into the council’s planning portal.
