Tesco Extra Reading car park could have 80 flats built on it

The Tesco Extra in Portman Road is a shopping destination for people living in West Reading, featuring a fuel station, electric vehicle charging and a range of other services for customers. 

Part of its car park could be built on to provide 80 homes. 

Development company Ridgepoint Homes submitted a plan for flats contained in a new L-shaped building located immediately west of the fuel station. 

The apartment block would contain 74 two-bed and six one-bed flats, with 30 per cent of the homes provided being designated affordable. 

Each of the flats would come with one car parking space, with 40 cycle storage spaces also being provided. 

An elevation plan for the 80 flat apartment building at the Tesco Extra car park in Portman Road, West Reading. Credit: W J Macleod Architect

Justifying the project, a planning agent for Ridgepoint Homes said: "The scheme proposals seek to make more efficient and effective use of this brownfield site
which is now surplus to requirements for the Tesco store to contribute towards the housing supply in Reading."

The developer submitted a range of more detailed plans in December last year, which were made up of diagrams and information of groundwork required during the construction phase to ensure the new building has stable foundations. 

The latest news is that the site has been allocated for development in the Reading Borough Council's draft Local Plan Partial Update. 

The allocation states that the site in the car park is suitable for 46-68 homes.

Councillors voted to put the draft local plan partial update to a statutory consultation at a full council meeting on Tuesday, October 15.

If the flats at the Tesco Extra car park are given the go ahead, the building would be situated in an area that has seen a major redevelopment this century. 

The superstore was opened in early 2008 as part of the redevelopment of the Battle Hospital site off Oxford Road. 

The hospital was closed in 2005 and demolished to clear the way for the development, which is made up of more than 500 homes and the Tesco superstore. 

Immediately east of the site, developer Bellway Homes completed its project for 211 homes, made up of a mix of apartment blocks, terraced and semi-detached houses. 

You can view the application for the 80 flats at the Tesco car park in Portman Road by typing reference PL/23/1041 into the council's planning portal.

According to the portal, the application is due to expire on Friday, November 29, indicating that the council is due to determine the application soon.