THE WREN School may finally take flight after planning leaders approved outline designs for a permanent home in Southcote.

After years of campaigning and legal battles Reading Borough Council gave the green light to the plans for a six-form entry secondary school and 118 homes on the site of the former Elvian School.

Leaders waited tensely over the Christmas break after committee members deferred their decision back in November over concerns developers had over looked the traffic impact.

The land off Bath Road is already home to temporary pod classrooms housing the first 73 Year 7 pupils who enrolled last September.

Surrounding the new site will be 118 homes after a High Court battle saw a judge rule 60/40 in favour of the school over developers Taylor Wimpey.

Neighbours and ward councillors addressed the planning applications committee on Wednesday appealing for more to be done to curb traffic in the area.

John Cook, of Southcote, said there would be an extra 400 traffic movements at peak times and raised concerns that lack of parking for the homes would cause an overflow into nearby roads.

He said: "If you were to go out this time of night it is already chocker block.

"If you put in double yellow lines [on surrounding streets] those cars have got to go somewhere."

Cllr Deborah Edwards said they too supported the homes and school but wanted the council to look more closely at transport issues.

She said: "The problems with parking, the problems with traffic they will not go away."

However Andrew Barron, speaking on behalf of Taylor Wimpey, told the committee they had listened and designs had been changed, including a drop off point on Bath Road to reduce the number of cars turning into Southcote.

Cllr Tony Page also told colleagues that £65,000 worth of developer contributions would be poured directly into schemes designed to relieve pressure on the area's roads.

He added a resolution that the council's policy committee allocate a "reasonable proportion" of the funding from the scheme and a linked development which was also approved in Coley Park, to be used on infrastructure for the western side of the borough.