Plan for 182 flats at Reading Tesco building approved

The building is situated in Market Place, a busy part of the town centre and has a Tesco Express on the ground floor.

In East Reading, a plan to make an existing home of multiple occupation (HMO) accommodate more people has been approved.

Those are two of the plans that have been decided on by Reading Borough Council recently.

You can view the applications featured by typing the reference numbers in brackets into the council's planning portal.

Spruce up and 38 flats addition approved for Soane Point (221446)

Soane Point as it looks currently. Credit: James Aldridge, LDRS

A project to 'spruce up' the 'unattractive' front of Soane Point in Market Place and add 38 flats to it has received final approval.

The project, which involves replacing the grey front of the building with a mix of red, beige and grey brick was agreed in principle by members of the council's planning committee this January.

But that approval was agreed subject to a section 106 agreement being made, which was done at the end of last month.

READ MORE: New flats and spruce up for 'unattractive' Reading building gets approved

The project involves extensions that will create 38 apartments.

Part of S106 agreement is that a total of 11 of these should be designated affordable, being split into five one-bed, five two-bed and one three-bed flat being affordable.

The upper floors of Soane Point are already set to be converted into 144 flats, a plan that was approved on appeal to the government's planning inspectorate last May.

Once the conversion and extension projects are complete, Soane Point will total 182 apartments.

Conversion of shop into beauty salon approved (230222)

The council has approved a plan to convert a shop into a beauty salon in the busy Whitley Street shopping area.

The shop at 81 Whitley Street, previously served as the Loans2go pay day lender, which occupied the unit from 2014 but closed in 2017/18.

Now, a businesswoman has won approval to turn into a beauty salon.

Appraising the plan in a report, planning officer David Brett judged that the conversion would be beneficial as its use 'complements existing commercial uses' in the street and revitalise a unit that has not been active since Loans2go closed.

Plan for East Reading HMO to accommodate more people approved (221541)

A landlord has won approval to increase the number of people who can occupy a HMO he owns in College Road.

The house already has eight bedrooms but two were not in use when the landlord applied to make the house a large HMO for eight people.

The landlord previously had permission to use the house as a HMO for a maximum of six people.

But now he has been given permission for eight people to stay there, with planning officer Marcie Rejwerska judging that the existing living room and kitchen is acceptable to provide adequate accommodation for eight people, along with the two unused bedrooms.