Reading house could be demolished so nine homes can be built

But residents are concerned that turning the converted bungalow at 19 Newcastle Road into a bigger development will cause problems.

Brett Property Developments has applied to Reading Borough Council to demolish the house and build two new terraces made up of five four-bed and four two-bed homes.

However a neighbour and councillor fear the project will have access issues and say the homes are being ‘crammed’ into the site.

The neighbour said: “Newcastle Road is busy enough without more houses being built.

“The road now is full of parked cars mainly caused by developers turning houses into HMOs, a double-decker bus every 10 minutes, school parking and shops.

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“If this development goes through we will have to contend with construction vehicles plus the above.

“I have viewed the plans and do not see how nine dwellings would fit into that space with parking. I’m sure it will impact and put more pressure on an already over-busy road.

“Also how are the refuse lorries going to get up that road and turn around?”

A CGI of the street scene for the proposal to demolish 19 Newcastle Road to create access for nine new homes in Whitley. (Image: PSD Architectural Services)

The application will be decided on by Reading Borough Council’s planning committee after it was referred by Councillor David McElroy (Green, Redlands).

Cllr McElroy said: “I called this proposal into committee due to the size and scale of the development, and its potential impact on green space and biodiversity.

“Not to mention the effects on congestion and parking; however many new parking spaces they’re planning there will not be enough given the amount of houses crammed into that small space.

“We fear this would open the floodgates for identical developments on every backyard on that stretch of Newcastle Road, the effects of that boggle the mind.”

The development would come with 18 car parking spaces, with two spaces allocated to each new home.

The site plan for the proposal to demolish 19 Newcastle Road to create access for nine new homes in Whitley. (Image: PSD Architectural Services)

The plan has been recommended for approval l subject to a section 106 legal agreement.

If this legal agreement is not signed, the council’s assistant director of planning will be given the power to refuse it.

The recommendation has been made by planning officer Marcie Rejwerska, who pointed out the site has been allocated for development as policy SR4b in the Reading Local Plan 2019.

Furthermore, the terms of the S106 agreement state the developers must pay the council  £267,250 to provide affordable housing elsewhere in the borough, and a further contribution to provide biodiversity net gain off-site.

An aerial view of the site in Newcastle Road, Whitley. The unused land next to the allotments could be built on to create nine homes.

However, cllr McElroy appeared unconvinced with these measures.

He said: “We need affordable housing more than anything, but this development won’t be that.

“While the amount of money this would set aside for affordable housing sounds like a lot, it really isn’t if you think about the property market in Reading.

“Hopefully this isn’t just another example of environmentally-damaging and unaffordable housing nodded through by a supine Labour council.

"Essentially the site is greenspace. Developers have been repeatedly allowed to build on what little green open space remains in Reading which is absurd given the council's own figures show that 13,000 homes could be built instead on the huge amount of brownfield space available in Reading."

You can view the application by typing reference 230974 into the council’s planning portal.