Plans for new homes in a major development in Shinfield which could see a new Lidl built in the area have been approved.

Developers have won the right to build 25 homes and a new road to serve them in the Shinfield major development.

The approved plans are located in a new community being built to the west of the village, and form a part of the large Shinfield West development, which will see up to 1,200 homes built within it once complete.

The 25 homes will be built in a new ‘village centre’ in Shinfield, next to a new supermarket, which will have 160m2  of floorsplace, a new community centre, which itself is will be located next to Shinfield Medical Centre and the Parish Council.

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The plans were approved at a meeting of Wokingham Borough Council’s planning committee.

But current residents and new occupants alike will have to wait for the new supermarket to be built at a later time, as plans for the supermarket have not been submitted yet. However planning officer Simon Taylor teased that Lidl will eventually operate the new supermarket once its built.

Councillor Rachelle Shepherd-Dubey (Liberal Democrats, Winnersh) cast doubt on whether a food store would be provided.

She said: “Good luck with the food store, Arborfield still doesn’t have one to the best of my knowledge, and they won’t be getting one either.”

However, council officers were confident that a supermarket will be delivered in the future.

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Mr Taylor said: “The food store application is imminent and should be submitted within the next few weeks, I don’t think there’s any doubt that it will be delivered very shortly.

Of the new homes, 19 will be houses and six flats will be contained within one three storey building (containing three one-bedroom flats and three two-bedroom flats).

Of the houses, three will be detached (one three-bedroom and two four-bedroom houses), 10 will be three-bedroom semi-detached homes and six will be three-bedroom terraced houses.

The plan also included designs for hard and soft landscaping that will form part of the new village centre.

Reading Chronicle: The phases of the Shinfield West development, with this forming part of Phase 3. Credit: Thrive ArchitectsThe phases of the Shinfield West development, with this forming part of Phase 3. Credit: Thrive Architects

Cllr Carl Doran (Independent, Bulmershe & Whitegates) asked why a bus gate initially included in the plan was removed. Bus gates prevent cars from accessing bus lanes.

Replying, council officer Chris Easton argued that installing a bus gate on the new road would be unnecessary and greater access would be provided to the proposed new Lidl without the bus gate.

Mr Easton said: “There is no significant benefit in it being there, it is very hard to police and it doesn’t serve any great purpose for that to be there.”

The plan was approved by the planning committee on Wednesday, October 13.

You can see results from that meeting in the tweet thread here: 

The application was submitted by a trio of housebuilders: Bloor Homes, Bovis Homes and Linden Homes.

The developers initially applied to build 33 homes, but reduced the amount of homes included to make sure that the prospective Lidl can be built.

You can view the approved plans by typing reference 211530 into Wokingham Borough Council’s planning portal: https://planning.wokingham.gov.uk/FastWebPL/welcome.asp