BINS in the front garden of a huge, seven-bedroom shared house … these ‘rubbish’ plans were thrown away by planners at Reading Borough Council.

But amended designs were given permission, as well as several other new plans to change Reading. Here’s our pick of the four most interesting planning decisions made this week…

Huge seven-bed shared house with one living room in the basement

A huge, three-storey house with a basement on Prospect Street, Caversham, will be turned into a shared house with seven bedrooms. Part of the conversion includes building a single storey rear extension. There will be space for storing bins and bicycles at the end of the back garden.

At first the plans were rejected as they had “inadequate communal space”, according to council planners. The initial plans were for a single shared living room in the basement with “limited natural light”. The bins were also supposed to be stored in front of the house.

Since receiving advice from council planners, the applicant changed the plans, to now include two shared living rooms, and the bins in the back garden.

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Three new small houses near the hospital

Garages will be demolished to build three small terraced houses on Eldon Square, off the London Road near the Royal Berkshire Hospital. Many of the buildings in that area are built with Bath stone, including parts of the hospital.

Two of the houses will have two bedrooms and one will have just one bedroom. They will be built in the space between Eldon Terrace and Eldon Square. The buildings have been designed by Weston & Co Architects.

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Demolish an extension and build a new one

A flat roof extension will be demolish, and another one built in its place. The extension is at the rear of a house on Elmhurst Road, near the University of Reading. The plans also include a loft conversion.

Bernard Metcalfe, a neighbour, wrote to the council and said: “I do not wish to raise any objection to this application, however I need reassurance that any noise and disturbance should be kept to a minimum while the work is carried out.

“In particular, it is important that the times when the contractors arrive and leave the site — not just when they start and knock off work — should be carefully and considerately controlled.”

New electricity substation behind the train station

Plans to build a new electricity substation behind Reading train station have been withdrawn. SSE wanted to install the substation on Vastern Road. The plans drew criticism for the potential impact on drivers during the installation works.

Chris McGowan, a member of the public, wrote to the council, and said: “Over the past year, there has been no end of road works, SGN, SEN, and Thames Water. The environmental impact caused by the traffic has been nothing sure of disastrous. 

“This planning must be blocked to allow the people who have had extensive time added to their commute during the past year, to get to their destination in a timely manner, and, most importantly to stop the awful environmental impact the traffic causes.”