Major shopping centre flats plan given go-ahead

A plan for more than 400 apartments on a site that includes a shopping centre's cinema and a former Debenhams store will go ahead.

Long-standing plans to replace The Oracle's Vue cinema and the department store with the flats and new facilities were approved by Reading Borough Council's planning committee on Wednesday.

The centre, which opened in 1999, was fully taken over by Hammerson in November and has major stores, including Zara and Apple.

Of the 436 flats, 414 will be one-bedroom or two-bedroom flats, with 22 having three bedrooms.

The authority previously said 10% of the development would be allocated to affordable homes, below the council's target of 30%.

Josh Williams, a Green councillor who voted against the project, said the massing in the town centre was "simply too great" and would not deliver the housing types Reading most needs.

But Labour's Karen Rowland said height and massing were "something we have to deal with".

She added: "We are making heritage today and I hope that that kind of makes people a little more reassured that our town is still there. It's not going anywhere."

Hammerson's project is split in two, with one relating to the Vue building on the south bank of the River Kennet and the other to the former Debenhams on the north bank.

The southern proposal will see the demolition of the building containing the cinema and the Côte Brasserie and Miller & Carter restaurants.

The company will replace those with three blocks of between six and 16 storeys and contain 218 flats.

The cinema will be relocated into one of the blocks in a smaller facility.

It currently has 10 screens and 1,800 seats, but the new cinema will offer seven screens with a total of 511 seats.

On the other side of the river, the former Debenhams building will be partly demolished so two blocks between eight and 21 storeys can be built.

Those blocks will contain 218 flats, a "leisure unit", a restaurant and co-working shared office space.