Newbury town centre redevelopment plans refused again
Council says the scheme – called Eagle Quarter – would present an “over powering and dominant feature” .
Last updated 8th Nov 2022
The redevelopment of Newbury’s town centre has been knocked back again.
West Berkshire Council has rejected the latest application to build multi-storey blocks of flats on the site.
The vision is to replace the ageing Kennet Shopping centre in a £115m rebuild.
Whilst the council acknowledges that the Eagle works industrial buildings used to be on the site, it says those were of low scale, no higher than three storeys.
“To introduce a development of the scale and height proposed in the historic core of Newbury would alter the character of the conservation area and introduce a false narrative to Newbury’s past,” it said.
The council further rejected the scheme as it didn’t offer enough affordable housing and open space for the 367 proposed flats.
It added that the parking arrangements weren’t good enough either, and that there was a risk of greater on street parking because of it.
And included in the nine point refusal document, the council also said that insufficient information had been given about the sustainable management of surface water and flood risk.
A separate but linked application to include 91 retirement homes at the same site was also refused on the same grounds.
The decision comes just weeks after Historic England weighed in on the application, saying the development would create a high degree of harm to the area.
“We do not consider the heritage benefits alone, which are limited to a slight improvement in façades (other heritage benefits claimed as part of the application are of little real value), come close to outweighing the harm that would be caused,” it said.
Developers hit back
“We are somewhat taken aback by the refusal as we have spent a lot of time talking to all involved and have made reductions and amendments to our proposals with a view to working cooperatively with all parties to gain approval,” said Sarah Ballantyne-Way, Lochialort planning director.
“We fail to understand that given the overriding desire to see the Kennet Centre redeveloped and given the considerable benefits that would result from the redevelopment the council issued a delegated refusal, without even taking it to committee.”
Lochialort is now considering its options after it was third time unlucky with its plans.
“It has been estimated that the town loses between £8 to 10 million a year as a result of the failure to see this site redeveloped, let alone the detrimental effect to the environment,” added Ms Ballantyne-Way.
“The existing building emits 3,040 tonnes of carbon a year and the new buildings only 326 tonnes.
“We believe that this is the wrong decision and one which reflects badly on some of the consultees.
“We will review our position in light of the decision, but from our point of view it is a bad one for the town and the wider area.”