Hutton Close redevelopment plans submitted

Proposals to demolish homes to make way for 80 new builds

CONTROVERSIAL plans to demolish 54 bungalows in Shaw and replace them with 80 new homes have been submitted.

The proposals, to redevelop Hutton Close, have been put forward by housing provider Sovereign and developer David Wilson Homes.

Last year, the Newbury Weekly News reported that residents – many of them elderly – pleaded not to be “kicked out of their homes”.

However, Sovereign says the current bungalows and flats, built in the late 1950s, have been in a poor condition for many years and are in need of a lot of work to bring them up to modern standards.

It added that they are difficult to heat and have a level of inefficiency, that results in ongoing maintenance issues.

Sovereign has been planning on redeveloping the properties for many years, but the project was put on hold following a reduction in government funding.

In May last year, the housing provider offered each household affected a statutory £5,300 to ‘help’ with their move.

Neighbours Dorothy and Thomas Clapham, who are 86 and 84 respectively, had been living in their home in Hutton Close for more than 20 years.

Mrs Clapham said at the time: “We are all elderly, why couldn’t they just allowed us to spend the rest of our days here?

“It is upsetting because we are not just neighbours, we are all friends and all that will be lost.”

The new proposed buildings will be a mixture of one-bedroom (three per cent), two-bedroom (67 per cent), three-bedroom (19 per cent) and four-bedroom (11 per cent) properties.

In total, 56 of the 80 properties will be on the open market, with the remaining 24 being affordable housing.

Of these 24, the tenure split proposed is 30 per cent shared ownership and 70 per cent rented.

The entrance of the site along the southern boundary will be semi-detached or small terrace houses with the higher-density apartment buildings to the west.

If approved, the properties will be predominantly two storeys in height, with some three-storey buildings.

A decision will be made by West Berkshire Council at a later date.