The enhancement of the town centre in Woodley is one of the main focuses in the Wokingham Borough Council’s proposed local plan.

The council is moving forward with its new Local Plan, a strategy document which sets out all aspects of how the borough should develop to meet residents’ needs until 2040.

The plans include accommodating the new homes it needs to plan for, the type of housing and the places where it should or shouldn’t be allowed, as well as the accompanying infrastructure, education and employment opportunities.

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For Woodley, Wokingham Borough Council (WBC) states it wants to ‘enhance’ the Woodley town centre.

The plan reads: “The enhancement of Woodley town centre and Lower Earley district centre is encouraged so that they continue to be at the heart of the surrounding communities.

Possibilities for improvement include links through and around the centre by active travel, improvements to support ‘easy and safe movement’, remediation and enhancement of shop fronts and building faces, and improvements to the public realm.

As well as the town centre, the plan states that the Whiteknights Campus will ‘continue to be the main focus for future development’.

It states that the campus, which is located on the 19th-century park, contains ‘significant ecologically important assets’ such as a local wildlife site, parkland, woodland and lakes.

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In the document, the WBC states that there may be the possibility for the provision of new student accommodation on the campus – either new or an extension of existing buildings.

However, it does state how many new accommodation places would be proposed, if it at all.

The site, which also has a number of heritage assets including listed buildings, is split across the administrative boundaries of WBC and Reading Borough Council.

As a result, any development proposals, including new student accommodation, will need to be supplemented by the two local authorities.

Writing about the plan online, WBC said: “We’re preparing to publish a new local plan which is a strategy document covering all aspects of how Wokingham Borough should grow and develop in the long term.

“This includes accommodating the number of new homes that we're required to plan for, as well as the type of housing and the places where we should or shouldn’t allow it.

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“We need new housing, and the amenities and employment opportunities that come with it, to ensure future generations can continue to live and work in the area where they grew up.

By proposing larger-scale development, instead of spreading small-scale development more widely.”

Subject to full council approval, the new plan will go before an independent planning inspector, who will consider all feedback before deciding whether the council can formally adopt it.