Following a break last week, the planning roundup is back with a bumper selection of planning decisions in the last two weeks.

The key decision this week was to approve the removal of dangerous Grenfell-style cladding at Hanover House, on 202 Kings Road.

Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service confirmed in November 2017 the block of flats has the same cladding as the material which caused the Grenfell Tower fire in June 2017.

READ MORE: Forty affordable flats could be built on Reading car rental site

Plans to remove the external cladding were approved previously in October 2018 but the permission expired one year later with no work having taken place.

The latest plan seeks to both remove and replace the cladding, with a powder-coated metal cladding system which the Hanover House Residents Management Company says meets all necessary fire and safety requirements.

The car park was closed in November 2017 as a precaution as it is perceived to be a potential fire hazard, given its location directly under the building.

Hanover House is a six-eight storey building originally built for offices in the 1960s, which was recently converted into flats.

The building has a sprinkler system and does not have other issues that Grenfell Tower had, according to the Royal Berkshire Fire Authority.

An estate agent in Reading was fined £30,000 for delaying telling buyers of a flat in the block that there was the same cladding as Grenfell Tower.

Hanover House is one of the four buildings in Reading that were found to have dangerous ACM cladding.

The other buildings are:

  • St Lawrence House, Abbey Square (social housing)
  • Queen’s Court, Queens Walk (student accommodation)
  • Crossway Point, Norwood Road (social housing

READ MORE: Dangerous Grenfell cladding found at fourth building in Reading

The cladding at Lawrence House was removed at the end of 2019, while the cladding at Queen’s Court was removed in March earlier this year.

Work to remove and replace the cladding at Crossway Point was paused due to Covid-19 and is now expected to be finished in December 2020.

The government says it has provided £1.6bn for removal of unsafe cladding at buildings over 18m tall.

In other planning news, two houses near Oxford Road will become a children’s assisted living care home.

A four-bed house in multiple occupation (HMO) and three-bed house on Connaught Close, near Reading West Station, will be transformed into four and three-bed homes for looked after children.

The plan was support by the council’s children services company Brighter Futures for Children, which says the site will enable more of Reading’s young people to remain in the local community in order to be supported closely by staff and continue to access local services.

BFfC says there was already a need for 20 new placements in Reading over the next three years before the Covid-19 pandemic, which has further exacerbated the need for bedspaces.

Neighbours had complained that a more family-friendly area would be more appropriate and said they had already experienced disruption from previous works at the property.

The care home will be provided by Kennet Care, which has two other care homes in Reading.

Elsewhere, offices in the town centre will be converted into four flats.

The offices on 50 Queens Road will become three-one bed flats and one two-bed apartment.

And plans approved in Caversham will see commercial space above a florist converted into three two-bed flats.

The plans on Church Street above Ashley Blooms include double-storey extensions at the back of the property.

Finally, the conversation of a house in east Reading into a 4-bed HMO has been refused.

The plan at a two-storey house on Grange Avenue was refused because it is “unacceptable” and contrary to council policies as it would exceed the 25 per cent threshold of HMO’s in the area, “further diluting and harming a mixed and sustainable community”.