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40 Howard Street, Reading, RG1 7XS

PL/26/0531Full planning permissionRefused
Full

Refused on 16 June 2026

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

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

Proposal

Retrospective application for the removal of chimney stacks

Received
20 April 2026
Decision level
Delegated (officer decision)
Ward
Abbey Ward
  1. Received20 Apr
  2. Validated21 Apr
  3. Consult.
  4. Target21 Apr
  5. Decided16 Jun

Decided in 56 days (council typically 56)

About this application

This is a full planning application at 40 HOWARD STREET, READING, RG1 7XS. Reading has handled 449 applications of this type. This one was decided in 57 days. The site is in the Russell Street and Castle Hill conservation area, with 1 listed building nearby. There are no previous applications recorded at this address. In the past year there have been 112 applications across Abbey Ward. We hold 481 applications in total for the RG1 postcode area.

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 removal of chimney stacks results in the loss of original elements and materially harms the character and appearance of the conservation area. Whilst this is considered to result in less than substantial harm, there are insufficient public benefits to outweigh this as no alternatives have been explored nor considered. Therefore, the proposal is contrary to Policies EN3 and EN6 of the Reading Borough Local Plan 2016 and Paragraphs 213 and 215 of the NPPF (2024).

From the council's decision notice.

Application details

Postcode
RG1 7XS
Application type
Full planning permission

Planning application dates

Date validated
21 April 2026
Target decision date
21 April 2026

Additional information

Planning Portal ID
PP-14872113

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: Russell Street and Castle Hill
  • Heritage at Risk Register: Russell Street / Castle Hill
  • 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 (20)

flood storage areas, listed buildings, green belt, scheduled monuments, World Heritage Sites, World Heritage Site buffer zones, registered parks and gardens, registered battlefields, 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, heritage coasts and brownfield registers.

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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