Bid to replace student halls with flats in Reading defeated

Trinity Hall is a defunct three-storey building in South Street that used to be used as student halls of residence, but it has been unoccupied for 10 years since it was closed in 2014.

It has now been boarded up for years, and has attracted anti-social behaviour such as break-ins and drug use nearby.

The building is set to remain in this state for some time as well, as a last ditch effort to get a project to replace it with 22 new flats has failed.

Back in 2022 developer Hanslink applied to knock Trinity Hall and build a five-storey new apartment building in its place, containing 14 one-bed, a three-bed and seven two-bed flats.

All of these would have been designated as affordable, with 11 parking spaces and 22 cycle parking spaces being provided.

But Reading Borough Council's planning applications committee refused the project during a meeting in June last year.

At the time, councillor Liam Challenger (Labour, Katesgrove) and Faheem Ahmed, a worshipper at the nearby Reading Islamic Centre both argued that the site needs to be redeveloped.

Mr Ahmed said: "That building [Trinity Hall] is an absolute eyesore there with overgrown bushes all the windows are boarded up.

“You see frequent drug users, and it’s not very nice when you go on a Friday to pray and the building desperately needs development."

But the project was refused as the replacement building was judged to be an overdevelopment, was not 'a high quality design' and it would have 'over-provided' one-bed flats, allegedly not meeting Reading's housing needs.

An elevation for the plan to replace Trinity Hall in South Street, Reading with 22 flats. Credit: Hanslink

Hanslink appealed against this decision to the government planning inspectorate with the case being taken up by inspector Stuart Willis.

While he judged that the housing mix Hanslink had devised was appropriate, he also sided with the council that elements of the design of the proposed building would be a 'discordant' addition to the street scene.

Ultimately, Mr Willis ruled the replacement building would cause harm to 42-49 South Street, a Grade II listed Bath stone building dating back to 1852.

The appeal was therefore dismissed.

42-49 South Street Reading. Credit: MP Architecture

Although the judgement is a win for the council, taxpayers will have to pay some of Hanslink's costs, as the company applied for a partial award of costs as it accused the council of a breach of procedure.

Mr Willis reviewed the application and found that the council team's conduct during the appeal had led to 'unnecessary and wasted expense', and therefore ordered the council to pay some of Hanslink's costs.

However, the actual amount is currently undefined, as Hanslink must now submit details of its costs to the council to reach an agreement on the amount.

You can view the refused application by typing reference 220385 into the council's planning portal.