Concerns have been raised about plans to build offices as part of the London Road Industrial Estate redevelopment when the Covid-19 pandemic could cause demand to plummet.

But the Conservatives running West Berkshire Council say they are confident the new offices will attract businesses.

They want to develop the 27.5 acre Newbury industrial estate in phases, and planning consultants say up to 280 homes, 3,473sqm of office space and 5,400sqm of space for other businesses could be built there.

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Cllr Lee Dillon, leader of the West Berkshire Liberal Democrats, said the pandemic and the severe economic downturn could have a significant impact on demand for offices.

He said Covid-19 “has been that catalyst for accelerating flexible working” and “home working is likely to significantly increase.”

He added: “We often find during a recession, if you go through the cycles, companies retract, they take on less staff and they need less office space.”

But Cllr Ross Mackinnon, executive member for economic development, said he is “absolutely confident in the demand for offices”.

“This is a time when we should be investing in our district’s future, both with the town centre planning work and the London Road regeneration," he said.

"There are a myriad of business surveys I could quote to back that up.

“Around 55 per cent of people working from home feel disconnected from their colleagues and I think there will be a hybrid model going forward.”

Other leading Conservatives said they are confident the regeneration will help Newbury attract more thriving tech companies.

In December, the council decided to press ahead with the redevelopment, which has been in the pipeline since 2003, and invest a further £345,000 to ensure a planning application can be drawn up.

The Liberal Democrats say they support the redevelopment but decided to put the breaks on by calling for the plans to be scrutinised at a meeting on January 26.

They raised concerns about a drop in demand for offices, questioned the council’s project management abilities and called for a full environmental impact assessment to be carried out before construction gets underway.

The council said an environmental impact assessment will be carried out and £300,000 will be spent hiring consultants to assist with the project management.

The Liberal Democrats were part of a task group that is overseeing preparations for the multi-million-pound project.

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But Cllr Mackinnon has said they were removed from the project board in December, because one has “issued public criticism of that board and the decisions made without telling colleagues”.

The redevelopment suffered a major setback in 2018, when the Court of Appeal ruled the council had breached EU law by failing to follow the correct procurement process when it appointed St Modwen Plc as the developer.

The council spent over £945,000 on the botched redevelopment project and legal fees.