Plans for a children’s activity centre at Prospect Park, including minigolf, a cafe, and archery, are set to be approved this week.
The plans from the council aim to address the lack of a significant outdoor activity centre in Reading, such as Wokingham’s Dinton Pastures or Bracknell’s Go Ape.
Reading Borough Council’s (RBC) Planning Applications committee will vote on whether to approve the plans this week, with planning officers recommending the proposals get the go-ahead.
The activity centre will include:
- A skytrail high ropes course
- Family minigolf with wheelchair access
- An outdoor enclosed education zone including an archery range, portable climbing wall and team building activities
- A café
- Multi-function indoor space for parties and meetings.
The number of car parking spaces will increase from 80 to 101.
The park currently has a bowls green, grass sports pitches, tennis courts, multi-use games/5 a side courts, pavilion, a children’s play area, a wooded area and informal park land.
Under the new proposals, disused garages would be converted into ropes and a climbing wall, offices would become a café and classroom and open space to the front of the pavilion building would be converted into a 9-hole family mini golf course.
The yard space behind the pavilion would be used as an outdoor activity area including play equipment and also for company or team building days.
The plans also include accessible activities catering for a range of physical abilities, as well as further developing established support services for vulnerable and disadvantaged young people and children.
RBC’s Policy committee approved the initial plans in February. At that time, the council hoped to submit a planning application by April, get approval in early summer and complete works in November.
However, the Prospect Park pavilion is currently being used as a walk-through testing station, while the planning application is now set to be approved this week, in late summer.
The activity centre will be funded through £566,000 section 106 and CIL funding, planning levies on developers.
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Planning officers, supporting the proposals, said: “The proposal will provide new leisure and recreational facilities that will meet national and local objectives and policies regarding access and participation in sport and leisure and promoting health and wellbeing.
“Furthermore, the proposals will provide for additional and better parking and some employment opportunities.
“The proposals will complement the existing Prospect Park activities and are not considered to result in any adverse harm to the character and appearance of the registered park and garden, and nor would it affect the setting of mansion house to the west.”
Several changes have been made to the application since the initial plans were submitted, including moving the archery range away from an old oak tree, reducing the heigh of a fence around the pavilion and improvements to a zebra crossing in the park.
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