Reading plan for 600 flats at Aldi, TGIs verdict delayed

Landowning company Aviva Life and Pensions have had plans to level the Reading Station shopping park and replace it with 600 homes for years.

The retail park is currently home to Aldi, The Range, Majestic Wine and the One Below discount store contained in one building, with a TGI Fridays in a separate building.

The scheme would demolish both buildings and replace them with approximately 14 new residential towers, retail space a takeaway, offices and more.

But a decision on the development was never reached by Reading Borough Council due to a breakdown in negotiations, leading Aviva Pensions to lodge an appeal to the government’s planning inspectorate.

READ MORE: Both TGI Fridays in Reading may close due to flats plans

A decision was meant to have been made on the proposal this month.

However, the decision has been delayed yet again.

The appeal will be determined by Michael Gove, the secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities.

The decision was meant to be made on or before Tuesday, November 21.

But the planning inspectorate has said that more time is needed and a decision will be reached in the New Year.

An indicative CGI of the residential towers for the Vastern Court redevelopment in Reading town centre. Credit: Collado Collins Architects

A letter by Phil Barber, an inspectorate decision officer states: “Further time is required to consider this case, and unfortunately it will not be possible to reach a decision on this appeal by November 21.

“Therefore, in the exercise of the power conferred on him by paragraph 6(2) of Schedule 2 to the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004, the Secretary of State hereby gives notice that he has varied the timetable previously set and he will now issue his decision on or before January 22, 2024.

“We aim to issue to decision as quickly as possible.”

Following the appeal being launched, a council planning meeting was held to determine how councillors would have decided on it.

The plan was considered unacceptable by councillors, with cllr Tony Page (Labour, Abbey) arguing that the developers were not working constructively with the council at the time and that 600 homes would be an overdevelopment of the site.

READ MORE: Reading 600 homes plan to replace Aldi and The Range slammed

The planning committee unanimously voted that they would have refused the development at the meeting on February 15, 2022.

That meeting was held as part of a public inquiry into the appeal by planning inspector Susan Heywood.

The scheme is an outline application, meaning that reserved matters of access, appearance, landscaping, layout and scale of the proposed buildings would need to be determined by the council at a later date if the appeal is granted. 

 You can view the application by typing reference 200328 into the council’s planning portal, and track the appeal progress on the planning inspectorate website using reference APP/E0345/W/21/3289748.