I've been very busy for the past few weeks helping residents respond to a planning application for 14 flats on the site of a former guest house, 46 Redlands Road, on the corner of Allcroft Rd.
In my limited experience 14 seems to be the 'magic' number for developers in Reading. This is because it is the threshold for affordable housing: if they plan to build any more than 14 flats and developers must incorporate an affordable element into their plans. This obviously means the developer makes less money, so they don't want to do it.
This makes me angry. The pressure on housing in Reading is intense - don't get me started on the number of empty homes there are in Reading, which I've campaigned and blogged extensively about.
Rarely a week goes by without a young person or a parent contacting me desperate to move out of overcrowded accomodation. It's easily one of the biggest and most serious issues in my ward, if not the whole of Reading. Usually people who get in touch cannot afford to access the private housing market and are stuck on the Council's huge housing waiting list. The individual cases are heart-rending and I just wish I could do more to help them. It's a national problem and Shelter is running an excellent campaign nationally to highlight this issue.
To get on my soap box for a second...In my view, we don't need more executive rabbit-hutches in Reading and we should resist attempts to turn Reading into a place dominated by high-rise flats. New developments must help to build vibrant communities for people, not estate agents, and be places for all kinds of people, not just those who can afford it.
Reading Borough Council is particularly short of 3-4 bed family homes after a large number were sold off under the Tories. Lib Dems want to see Councils enabled to build more social housing . Ming called for 1 million more social and low cost homes to be built in the next decade. Labour has failed to deliver on its housing promises and the number of people on Council housing waitings lists has grown by 67% since 1997.
Anyway, rant over. The proposed development at Redlands Road is poorly designed and totally out of character for the Allcroft Road area.We need more housing, but housing that's appropriate for local areas. Residents wishing to view the plans should go online to the Council's public access for planning website and get their comments in to antonia.liu@reading.gov.uk by 31 Jan.
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