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Regents Gate, 25-41 Crown Street, Reading, RG1 2PQ

PL/26/0232Prior approval Part 3 Class MA: Commercial, business and service uses to dwellinghousesRefused
Outline / PiP

Refused on 7 April 2026

Council decision: RefuseDelegated (officer decision)1 reason for refusal

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

Proposal

Change of use of existing building from Class E (offices) to C3 (dwelling houses) to comprise 29 new apartments. Prior Notification under Class MA, Part 3 of Schedule 2 of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 2015.

Received
19 February 2026
Decision level
Delegated (officer decision)
Ward
Katesgrove Ward
  1. Received19 Feb
  2. Validated19 Feb
  3. Consult.1 Apr
  4. Target1 Apr
  5. Decided7 Apr

Decided in 47 days (council typically 56)

About this application

This is an outline application for a change of use at REGENTS GATE, 25-41 CROWN STREET, READING, RG1 2PQ. Reading has handled 182 applications of this type. This one was decided in 47 days, 9 days quicker than Reading's typical decision time. The site is in 4 listed buildings nearby. There have been 3 other applications at this address. In the past year there have been 50 applications across Katesgrove Ward. We hold 481 applications in total for the RG1 postcode area.

90% of outline 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 submitted Flood Risk Assessment does not adequately assess the flood risks posed from the development. Therefore, the Council is not satisfied the proposed change of use of the building from office to residential would not increase the risk of flooding to the future occupants of the building, moving from a “less vulnerable” to more “more vulnerable” classification. As such, the development is contrary to condition MA.2 (c) of Part 3, Schedule 2 of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development Order) (England) Order 2015 (as amended) and the advice contained within the NPPF 2024 (paragraph 181).

From the council's decision notice.

Application details

Postcode
RG1 2PQ
Application type
Prior approval Part 3 Class MA: Commercial, business and service uses to dwellinghouses
Scale / size
Medium
Number of dwellings
29

Planning application dates

Date validated
19 February 2026
Consultation expiry
1 April 2026
Consultation end
1 April 2026
Target decision date
1 April 2026
Application expires
16 April 2026

Planning decision

Statutory period
56 days

Appeal history

6008519
Allowed
Type: Planning AppealProcedure: Written RepresentationsDecision: 10 July 2026Dev Type: Change of useReason: refused

Additional information

Planning Portal ID
PP-14699310
Documents
11

Site constraints

Checking the site
2/3
Council recordsAppealsFlood risk

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

  • Brownfield land register: Land at corner of Newark Street and Crown Street, 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 (21)

flood storage areas, conservation areas, listed buildings, 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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