Plans for high rise Newbury flats back on the table
Fresh plans submitted for 190 homes on the Sterling Industrial Estate
CONTROVERSIAL plans to build a high density housing block in the centre of Newbury are back on the table.
Following the refusal of its application in October, Nelson Geneva Limited has returned with fresh plans to build 190 homes at the Sterling Industrial Estate, in King's Road, and to undertake a comprehensive redevelopment of the site.
Access from Kings Road has also been factored in, alongside car parking, landscaping and decontamination works.
Previously the designs had been for two skyline-dominating high-rise tower blocks which would have been the second tallest buildings in Newbury at 38.5 metres.
During a meeting of West Berkshire Council's Western Area Planning Committee to discuss those plans, angry residents living next to the site described how being peered down upon by thousands of pairs of eyes would add to the misery of being cast in the shadow of the sizeable structures.
The size and mass of the structure drew sharp criticism and was compared to the overbearing high-rise flats which dominate the skylines of big cities such as London and Birmingham.
Property agents Carter Jonas have said the current scheme has been completely re-designed to take account of the views of the local community, and the new development proposes 190 homes - one more home than the previous proposal - contained within a series of blocks of varying heights, served from a new access off Kings Road.
The firm has said the five and seven-storey parts of the scheme would become a local landmark, making a contribution to Newbury's skyline in the same way that the existing tower has done for the past 50 years, and that the tallest element is 15m lower than the existing Sterling Cables tower.
The site is considered something of an eyesore by Newbury residents and is deemed to be the second most contaminated patch of land in the region, with figures of £2 million named in the design and access statement as the cost of a clean up.
It is for this reason that the high density aspect of the development has been kept, as, according to Carter Jonas, this is the only form of redevelopment scheme that has the potential to be financially viable.
A West Berkshire councillor for the Victoria ward, Roger Hunneman (Lib Dem) has been extremely critical of the proposals in the past and this week said again he could not support such a high density scheme.
