This week’s planning roundup of decisions in Reading includes the rejection of “excessive” plans for a 5G mast which one councillor said would “stick out like a sore thumb”.

Also in the roundup, plans for flats at an old bank have been approved and a new restaurant has been granted permission to put up signage a month after opening.

Plans for Three 5G mast refused

Plans for a new 15-metre high 5G tower in the centre of Tilehurst have been refused due to its “excessive height and overall”, which council officers said would have a “detrimental” impact on area.

The mast for mobile company Three would have been next to the Prince of Wales pub on St Michaels Road.

Officers also said, due to the lack of sufficient detail on potential alternative sites for development, it could not be assessed whether the proposed location would be the most suitable, suggesting it may have been approved if other sites were proven to be unsuitable.

Commenting on the plans ahead of the decision, local ward councillor Ricky Duveen, said the mast would “stick out like a sore thumb”.

Responding, a Three spokesperson said: “5G rollout is vital for residents and business of Tilehurst. We want to offer the local area a great network experience and our planners determined that a new site was required to deliver it.”

Vacant town centre bank will become flats after café plan ditched

A vacant town centre bank will become four flats after plans to turn the former Co-Op into a café were scrapped.

The council granted permission to developer RPS Property Services to convert the empty building into flats this week.

Previous plans to convert the vacant former Co-op bank at 34 St Mary’s Butts into four flats, one of which would have included a café, were approved by the council in recent years.

However, the developer decided to not go ahead with this plan and instead applied in August to turn the site into five flats.

This was then scaled down, with revised plans submitted in September seeking four one-bed flats, which was approved this week.

Gordon Ramsay restaurant gets retrospective approval

Gordon Ramsay’s new Reading restaurant Street Burger has been granted approval retrospectively.

Permission to put up signage for the new Gordon Ramsay Street Kitchen restaurant has been approved.

The restaurant opened a month ago on September 23 but the signage was only approved this week on Thursday, October 28.