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Land at Meadow Road, Reading

PL/25/1191Full planning permissionRefused
Full

Refused on 11 December 2025

Council decision: RefuseDelegated (officer decision)2 reasons for refusal

Approximate location: the centre of the postcode, not the exact property.

Proposal

Full planning application for the demolition of existing and construction of employment units for flexible uses within E(g)(ii) and (iii), B2 and/or B8 of the Use Classes Order (including ancillary office provision) with associated enabling works, access from Meadow Road and Milford Road, parking and landscaping. Departure from the Development Plan - the following application does not accord with the provisions of the development plan in force in the area in which the land to which the application relates is situated

Received
22 August 2025
Decision level
Delegated (officer decision)
Ward
Thames Ward
  1. Received22 Aug
  2. Validated26 Aug
  3. Consult.1 Dec
  4. Target1 Dec
  5. Decided11 Dec

Decided in 107 days (council typically 56)

About this application

This is a full planning application for demolition at Land at Meadow Road, Reading. Reading has handled 449 applications of this type. This one was decided in 111 days, 8 weeks longer than Reading's typical decision time. The site is in the Market Place and London Street conservation area, with 16 listed buildings nearby. There are no previous applications recorded at this address.

89% of full applications at Reading Borough Council were approved. Across all application types, the council typically decides in about 8 weeks (median).

Based on decided applications received in the last 3 years.See what's approved near your address

Why it was refused

  1. The proposal would result in the provision of major employment-generating floorspace within a site allocated for housing in the Local Plan. The proposal would result in a non-conforming use on an allocated housing site which would be an inefficient use of the site and contrary to the wider strategic aims of the Local Plan. The proposed use would exacerbate the existing imbalance which exists between residential sites and employment-generating floorspace in the Borough and fail to mitigate the additional harm of not providing housing (including affordable housing) on the allocated housing site or through other off-site mitigation. For these reasons including the failure to maintain the necessary supply of housing, the proposal is contrary to policies CC1 (Presumption in Favour of Sustainable Development), EM1 (Provision of Employment), EM2 (Location of Employment Development), WR3b (Other Sites For Development in West Reading and Tilehurst: Ross Road and Part of Meadow Road) and H3 (Affordable Housing) of the Reading Borough Local Plan (2019) and paragraphs 8, 12, 56, 61, 64, and 66 of the National Planning Policy Framework (December 2024).
  2. It has not been demonstrated that there are not reasonably available sites appropriate for the proposed development in areas with a lower risk of flooding, as such it has not been proven a site with a lower risk of flooding cannot accommodate the proposal. The proposal has not demonstrated that it will not reduce the capacity of the flood plain to store floodwater, impede the flow of floodwater or in any way increase the risks to life and property arising from flooding or reduce flood risk both on- and off- site. Further, the proposal has not demonstrated adequate safe access and egress in a flood event. The proposal has not incorporated a suitable SuDS scheme which is ‘landscape-led’ and connects into the on-site green networks as such the proposal has failed to demonstrated that it has adequately adapted to the impacts of climate change. The proposal has therefore failed to demonstrate that it will not increase flood risk, contrary to Policy EN18 (Flooding and Sustainable Drainage Systems) of the Reading Borough Local Plan (2019), and paragraphs 170, 173-5, and 181 of the National Planning Policy Framework (2024).

From the council's decision notice.

Application details

Application type
Full planning permission
Scale / size
Medium

Planning application dates

Date validated
26 August 2025
Consultation expiry
1 December 2025
Consultation end
1 December 2025
Target decision date
1 December 2025
Committee meeting
3 December 2025
Application expires
25 November 2025

Planning decision

Statutory period
97 days

Additional information

Planning Portal ID
PP-14130001
Documents
61

Site constraints

Checking the site
2/3
Council recordsAppealsFlood risk

Designations at the address point. Ones next to the site may also apply.

  • Conservation area: Market Place and London Street
  • Listed building: Grade II: Queen Victoria Jubilee StatueOn or next to this site
  • Brownfield land register: Bristol and West Arcade, 173-175 Friar Street and 27-32 Market Place, ReadingRegister site at or near this address
  • Flood zone 1: Low probability (rivers and sea)

Not published by this council, so not checked: Article 4 directions. Ask the council if these matter.

Possibly incomplete for this council: tree preservation orders.

Also checked, none recorded (19)

flood storage areas, green belt, scheduled monuments, World Heritage Sites, World Heritage Site buffer zones, registered parks and gardens, registered battlefields, Heritage at Risk entries, nutrient neutrality catchments, national parks, National Landscapes, SSSIs, Special Areas of Conservation, Special Protection Areas, Ramsar sites, ancient woodland, national nature reserves, local nature reserves and heritage coasts.

A guide only, from official open data; it is not a planning search. Flood zones cover rivers and sea, not surface water.

Data © Crown copyright and others · sources and licences

Contains public sector information from planning.data.gov.uk (MHCLG and local planning authorities), licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. © Crown copyright and database right 2026.

© Historic England 2026. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. The Historic England GIS Data contained in this material was obtained on 2026-11-03. The most publicly available up to date Historic England GIS Data can be obtained from HistoricEngland.org.uk.

© Natural England copyright. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.

© Environment Agency copyright and/or database right 2026. All rights reserved. Flood Map for Planning, Open Government Licence v3.0.

Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.

Source: Office for National Statistics licensed under the Open Government Licence v.3.0. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.

Source: Reading

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