IKEA Calcot still raising traffic concerns as construction could start next year

The Swedish store purchased 140,000 sq ft of land near junction 12 off the M4 near Theale back in 2009, with the intention of building a 40,000 sq m store with a 1,179 space multi-storey car park, cafe, creche facilities and a bus interchange area.
And following four public consultations, attended by more than 500 people, West Berkshire Council approved the plans in April last year - despite 260 letters of objection citing the scale of the development, its impact on traffic and pollution as major concerns.
The final hurdle for assembling the store, which will create 400 additional jobs, was cleared after a planning appeal, lodged by West Berkshire Councillor Alan Macro (Lib Dem, Theale), was thrown out by the Government, and a judicial review from Sainsbury’s, who have a store near the site, was withdrawn.
And while IKEA Calcot project manager Roger Cooper did not confirm when construction would begin, he said that demolition of empty units would continue once existing retailers had left the site by the end of January next year.
He added that IKEA would be investing £5m into local road improvements to help ease traffic along the A4 into Reading.
But Mr Macro said that a lot of concerns were still being raised in Theale about the development’s impact on traffic and about the loss of the existing stores and a bowling alley.
“If you get a queue going to IKEA it could cause a blockage on the motorway and cause a jam in Theale. We have a bit of traffic through Theale sometimes and it won’t only affect residents but businesses as well,” he said.
Mr Macro added that he thought that the amount of developers contributions would not be enough and that more work should be done to improve junction 12 and the A4.
Earlier this year, West Berkshire Council was awarded £1.992m from the Government to provide an additional westbound lane and improvements to the eastbound carriageway.
The balance for the £2.9m scheme will come from developer’s contributions, including IKEA.
Joan Lawrie from the Save Calcot Action Group said: “Very many people welcome having an IKEA nearer to them but it’s the local residents who will bear the brunt of a dramatic increase [in traffic], especially at weekends.
“The utter chaos that will follow soon after the Highways Agency’s widening of the A4... will not help the situation at all. It is the amount of traffic during rush hours to both Reading and the M4 which is the problem and all it will do is convey traffic quicker to a backlog which is not going anywhere.”
District council member for highways and transport, Pamela Bale, was unavailable for comment. However, a spokeswoman for West Berkshire Council, Peta Stoddart-Crompton, confirmed that a £5m transportation package had been agreed as part of the planning permission, including highways improvements being implemented prior to the store opening.
“The [A4] scheme goes far beyond the necessary IKEA mitigating improvements on this part of the network and will deliver far greater benefits for existing and future demand, not just catering for the additional IKEA development traffic,” she said.