Plan for 570 flats should be rejected, council says

A project to build 570 flats in four large apartment blocks on the site of vacant offices should be refused, a council's planning officers have said.

Developers want to build the 11-storey blocks on Napier Court in Reading, currently the site of the three two-storey offices, which have been vacant since last summer.

Reading Borough Council's planning applications committee will be told the application should be dismissed because it does not comply with several of the authority's policies.

They include the applicant, Peveril Securities, proposing no affordable housing in the complex. The authority typically demands that 30% of homes in new developments have that classification.

It added that other provision for cycle parking and rubbish collection do not comply with its policies.

The committee will be asked to decide if the the application will get planning permission at a meeting on Wednesday 29 April.