A developer has applied to reduce the number of affordable homes at an apartment block to be built to the rear of a former social club in Reading.

In June last year, developer Stonegate Homes won approval to build a 26-flat apartment block to the rear of The Curzon Club at 362 Oxford Road.

The land the block is set to be built on is derelict, and lies immediately to the right of parking for the Moulsford Mews shopping precinct.

However, Stonegate Homes is seeking to reduce the amount of affordable apartments provided in the block.

Originally, approximately seven of the apartments would have been affordable, according to the approved plans under reference 201391.

That number complied with Reading Borough Council’s affordable housing policy, which states that developments of 10 homes or more should have 30 per cent of them designated as affordable housing.

Now Stonegate Homes is seeking to reduce the amount of affordable apartments to three.

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Of those, two would be two-bedroom and one would be one-bedroom, with the rent of each to be capped at 70 per cent of the market rate.

These three affordable units make up 11.5 per cent of the apartment block, with Stonegate Homes asked to invest the equivalent of 18.5 per cent into affordable housing using a deferred payments mechanism.

If Stonegate Homes follows this, council planning officer Steve Vigar has recommended that the development be approved.

The developer has also been asked to reach a section 106 agreement with the council by December 7.

S106 agreements are negotiated between developers and councils to make sure developers invest in the areas they build in.

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The application is due to be decided at the council’s planning committee meeting on Wednesday, October 5.

You can view the application yourself by typing reference 220776 into the council’s planning portal.

The Curzon Club which the apartment block is due to be built behind is listed as permanently closed on Google.

Reading Chronicle: The Curzon Club at 362 Oxford Road in Reading. Credit: Google MapsThe Curzon Club at 362 Oxford Road in Reading. Credit: Google Maps

All other aspects of the apartment block are the same as the one approved in June 2021.

The block will be made up of 13 two-bedroom, eight three-bedroom and five one-bedroom apartments, have 22 car parking spaces and come with two ‘flexible commercial units’ on the ground floor.