A project that will transform a prominent corner of Reading town centre which is passed by thousands of people each day has been adjusted.
Thackeray Estates, one of the biggest landowners in the town, has won permission to make changes to its project to redevelop buildings it owns at the junction of Friar Street and Queen Victoria Street.
That is just one of the decisions made by Reading Borough Council’s planning department recently.
Elsewhere, a plan to build a new home on unused garden space in Southcote has been rejected.
You can view each decided application by typing the reference in brackets into the council’s planning portal.
Adjustments to shops and courtyard at town centre corner (PL/25/0917 and PL/25/0934)
Thackeray Estates has made changes to its redevelopment project called QVS1+.
Once complete, it will create new shops, a courtyard and a 107-bedroom apartment-hotel created at upper levels.
Adjustments to the project involve alterations at basement and ground floor levels, including revisions to the internal configuration of two shops, changes to a stairway, and changes to bricks both internally and those facing the external courtyard.
The changes apply to two units that both front onto Queen Victoria Street, where at least three shops have vacated.
Dropped kerb maintained for Friar Street redevelopment (PL/25/0935)
Thackeray Estates has also won approval to maintain a dropped kerb to assist construction vehicles in Friar Street.
The kerb was established following the demolition of Reading Food and Wine to allow for construction to take place on QVS1+.
Thackeray Estates has won permission to extend the deadline for the reinstatement of the pavement from January 30, 2026 to December 31, 2026.
Assessing the request, planning officer Jonathan Markwell wrote: “By allowing the applicant further time before needing to reinstate the pavement, it will enable the wider redevelopment works to take place, with project delays acknowledged to sometimes occur on projects such as these.”
New home in Southcote rejected (PL/25/0491)
A plan to build a new home on unused garden space in Southcote has been rejected.
The developer wanted to build a five-bedroom home in Parkside Road with access via Wingrove Road.
However, the project was rejected as it was considered an overdevelopment and would negatively impact protect trees, despite being at a ‘windfall site’, a place that was not previously considered for housing.
Planning officer Louise Coveney- Fuller wrote: “Though the proposal would provide and additional dwelling on a windfall site which would assist in
meeting Reading’s objectively assessed needs, the proposal would fail to represent a high quality development which fits with the existing urban layout and urban grain, and would represent overdevelopment of the plot.”
