A bomb shelter will be converted into a meditation room at a Buddhist centre in west Reading.

Meanwhile, Reading Borough Council’s (RBC) planning department also approved plans for flats in Caversham, Tilehurst, and Coley in the latest council planning decisions.

You can view planning applications, and search the references below, on the council’s planning website for more details:  http://planning.reading.gov.uk/fastweb_PL/welcome.asp

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Bomb shelter will become meditation room

Plans from the Kadampa Meditation Centre to turn a bomb shelter next to its current building into a new meditation room, extending the site at 9 Bath Road were approved by the council this week.

The old meditation room will be refurbished and transformed into office space for teachers.

The Kadampa Meditation Centre is a centre for meditation and modern Buddhism based in Reading, around 10 minutes west of the town centre.

The owners say the development will improve the centre and create a peaceful meditation space which will be “an enhancement to the Reading community, open to all and inclusive of the disabled”.

And they say the extension will be sensitively and carefully designed both to avoid damaging with existing tree roots and to respect nearby residential buildings.

The centre serves as a place for relaxation, peace, and refuge in Berkshire and has been open for 15 years.

It hosts a broad range of classes and events, which it says enables everyone the opportunity to develop lasting inner peace.

The main purpose of the extension project is to build a new state-of-the-art meditation room to host classes and events.

The room will offer space for 30 people and have a supporting toilet, catering, break out space, a small shop and storage, as well as a ‘contemplation’ garden space.

House to become four flats

A house in Coley will be divided into four flats despite concerns from many neighbours.

Chartered Surveyors representing 39 private apartment owners at Upcross Gardens had objected to the plans at 66 Berkeley Avenue.

They raised concerns the flats would not have adequate parking provision, would overlook neighbours, would impact on privacy and cause light pollution, while concerns were also raised that the bins would not be big enough.

Three neighbours who live at Upcross Gardens also wrote their own letters specifying these objections but the council approved the plan on Tuesday.

Council officers said the development “has been found to be acceptable on the basis of the proposed configuration and accommodation mix and a different arrangement may not meet the relevant requirements and criteria as set out in Policies H8 and CC8 of the Reading Borough Local Plan 2019”.

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Policy H8 covers residential conversions, while policy CC8 covers safeguarding amenties such as privacy and overlooking.

Vacant shop to become two flats

An empty shop in Tilehurst will become two flats, with plans approved on Tuesday.

The empty ground floor shop at 3 New Lane Hill will become two one-bed flats.

The building is in a poor state of repair, with an untidy appearance, council officers said, granting prior approval for the plans.

Vacant offices will become one-bed flat

Empty offices in Caversham will become an apartment, with plans approved by the council this week.

Plans to change the use of 192 Henley Road, which was previously offices for cleaning company Clean Green Living, were given the council go-ahead on Wednesday.

The flat will be below a three-bed apartment on the first floor.