Fears over dwindling office space in Newbury

Plans to turn more than 60,000 sq ft of offices into flats revealed

FEARS over Newbury’s ability to attract businesses owing to a lack of office space have been raised again, after plans to turn more than 60,000 sq ft of offices into flats have emerged.

An application to turn office units at the Overbridge Square business park, in Hambridge Road into more than 100 one- and two-bedroom flats has been submitted to West Berkshire Council.

The site has recently changed hands with agent Brooks Murray submitting the application which would see the space turned into apartments under permitted development rights.

However, the move would add to fears after a number of businesses have decided to quit Newbury in recent months, with Bayer choosing to relocate offices to Reading.

Speaking at a recent Newbury Town Council meeting, Russell Downing, from Newbury Business Improvement District (BID), warned that businesses looking to expand were struggling because of a lack of commercial space.

He told councillors: “We are losing far too much of new business sites to residential.

“It is quite a large proportion of space lost. If that continues to go on, a lot our new businesses that need the space will disappear.

“Some of our incubator units are disappearing.”

Richard Deal, of commercial property agent Deal Varney, said the situation was worrying, but there was not much that could be done.

He said: “It’s come about because residential values are currently higher than commercial properties.

“If you don’t protect the commercial buildings use, you lose them. and once you lose them it’s very difficult to get them back.

“You’ve only got to look to Reading. Okay, they have got Crossrail coming, it’s a bigger town and it’s a massive success story, and it seems that our loss is their gain.”

Leader of Newbury Town Council, Dave Goff, said: “What we don’t want is to turn Newbury into a dormitory town, where people live here but don’t work here.

“I don’t think we’re heading that way, but it’s a concern in the back of our minds.

“When we see an application, we comment on the loss of business space and retail units in the town, so yes, we have a concern.

“We like to maintain business premises in the town and we would support retaining them.

“But it’s not about what we would like or don’t like, if it’s a planning matter, we would have to consider it under planning law.”