Panattoni’s plans for a 103, 814 sq ft industrial scheme in Theale near Reading have been refused.
In a delegated decision, West Berkshire Council refused the plans for two buildings within Use Classes E (light industrial), B2 (general industrial) and/or B8Â (storage & distribution) on a 5.43-hectare site off Hoad Way and close to J12 of the M4.
Reasons given by council officers noted:
- The proposal goes against policy and introduces a large-scale commercial use near a predominantly residential area.
- The flood risk
- Harm to the setting of the High Street and Blossom Lane Conservation Area, and would affect the ‘separate identity of Theale from Calcot and degrade the approach and gateway into Theale’.
The scheme had previously been revised twice,
Plans for three units, totalling 20,000 sq m on the Hoad Way site, were first submitted in 2020 but subsequently withdrawn.
Later plans totalling 172,976 sq ft were withdrawn in 2021. Since then Panattoni revised its plans and reconsidered its approach to highways, conservation, landscaping and trees.
The team on the project included Stephen George and Partners on architecture, Turley on planning and landscape architecture, David Tucker Associates on transport, BWB Consulting on structural and civil engineering and Middlemarch Environmental on ecology.
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