Concerns raised at Watlington Street building demolition and flats plan

Reading Borough Council’s (RBC) Planning Applications committee will vote this Wednesday on plans to replace the former glass merchants on 111A Watlington Street with six flats, with council officers recommending approval.

But local residents, the hospital and Reading’s Conservation Area Advisory Committee (CAAC) have raised concerns about the design of the new building, overdevelopment, fire risk, and access issues.

READ MORE: Works to dismantle iconic east Reading gas holder to resume next week

The building was occupied as a builders merchants from the mid-1800’s to early 1900s and the most recent known use of the building was as a glass merchants in the 1970s.

Planning officers said the current building has limited contribution to character of the conservation area due to modern alterations and the new building would be an improvement overall.

PICTURED: The current building on Watlington Street

But two neighbours have sent letters of objection to the council about the plans, raising concerns about the design, and access to the flats.

Munni Dodeja said: “I strongly object to the proposed demolition of this old building on Watlington Street, which adds character.

“The modern design of the new flats is not in keeping with the look of the street which has historic terraced housing.

“The design is unsympathetic and shows that little thought has gone into making it blend with other properties in this conservation area.”

Meanwhile, El Muhtadi Saeed raised concerns about the flats needing to be accessed through the neighbouring Melrose Surgery car park, an issue the Royal Berkshire Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has also raised.

Access to the flats would rely on using the surgery’s car park and the trust said it was not sure the developer would legally have rights of way to use this access route.

The developer, on the other hand, believes it does have lawful rights of way to the access route.

The trust also raised concerns about fire risk and patient privacy. It believes four of the windows planned at the new building would cause fire transmission risks to the surgery and contravene building regulations, whilst the trust also raised concerns the windows would overlook the surgery and impact on patient privacy and dignity.

However, council officers said these high-level windows would not cause undue overlooking or loss of privacy, while the fire risk comments are not mentioned in the officers’ report.

The CAAC has also objected to the plan, saying it would prefer for the building to continue as a workshop or studio.

However, council officers said the building has been on the rental market for light industrial uses for over three years without being let.

READ MORE: Contaminated water fears prompts hundreds of objections to 95-home plan

Evelyn Williams, chair of Reading CAAC, said a conversion to flats would be better than demolition and replacement, if retaining the current use is not an option.

She said demolition would destroy the heritage of the building, while the new building would be an “overdevelopment” of the site and “too small to accommodate six flats which could have 16 residents living in them”.

But she said, if the building is to be demolished and replaced, the old bricks should be used for the replacement and the new building should not be any larger than the old one.

Although the development initially involved demolishing the whole building, amended plans have now been submitted which seek to retain the entirety of the southern boundary brick wall as well as parts of the southern flank elevation brick wall.