Councillors unanimously voted to defer plans for 643 flats at Reading’s Broad Street Mall.
Applicant McLaren Living plans to demolish part of the south east corner of the AEW-owned mall and part of its car park to build four towers of one, two and three-bedroom flats.
Councillors at the April 2 meeting of Reading Borough Council’s planning applications committee were largely unhappy over the allocation of 10.1 per cent of affordable homes in the scheme and a lack of play areas.
The application suggests how the IDR could be decked over, a long-running proposition for the town first put forward by former Cllr Tony Page.
But councillors were unhappy with the affordable homes proportion and the lack of play areas and public realm.
Ward councillor Cllr Karen Rowland, who is also a member of the committee, said decking over the IDR is one way in which the town centre could have outdoor space.
She said: “We have, in the town centre, no play space, no place to be outside.
“People know that my former colleague Cllr Tony Page and I beat on the tom-tom for many years about the decking over of the IDR and I’m going to beat the tom-tom again just like when former Cllr Tony Page was sitting here.
“That is an issue and it’s something that needs to be addressed.”
Cllr Rowland said she had concerns over heritage, since the site is close to Reading Minster, but failed to see measures which would mitigate the harms.
She added: “It’s not going to give me any more affordable housing, it’s not going to give us households where people are going to be able to get out and relax and I question what the 643 households are going to get in exchange.”
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