Reading University’s first planning application for 4,000-home Loddon Garden Village has been submitted.
The university, which owns the farmland site, south of the M4 between Shinfield, Arborfield and Sindlesham, is seeking consent from Wokingham Borough Council for up to 2,800 of the homes plus schools, open space, other amenities and roads.
Further applications are expected from Gleeson Land and Hatch Farm later this month and early next year.
Details of the submitted scheme show:
- 100 custom and self-build plots among the 2,800 homes
- Two primary schools and one secondary school
- A main centre and a smaller local hub with shops, workplaces and other local amenities
- A sports centre, health facilities and other local provision
- Space for 20 Gypsy and traveller families, a new cemetery and an electricity substation
- More than 58 hectares of open space including a country park
- Plans for a 20 per cent increase in biodiversity
- Demolition of some existing buildings and construction of new roads, bridges over the M4 and River Loddon and new walking and cycling routes
Consultation on the plans opened on November 4 and will run until January 16. Due to its scale the application is expected to be determined in late 2026.
Cllr Martin Alder, the council’s executive member for planning and enforcement, said: “We’ve now received the first of a number of planning applications for the proposed Loddon Valley Garden Village.
“This marks the start of the public consultation on the first of these applications, and we encourage anyone with an interest in the proposal to take a look at the plans and share their views. All feedback will be considered as part of the decision-making process.”
Philip Brown, planning director for Savills Reading, which supported the application, said: “This application is the culmination of more than four years of collaborative work and consultation to develop a scheme that will deliver much-needed new homes, including affordable provision, alongside new infrastructure, services and facilities to the benefit of existing local communities, and new residents of Loddon Garden Village.”
The 580-hectare Hall Farm site is identified in the draft Local Plan as a site for around 3,930 homes.
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