Plans for new station at Readings Green Park approved

£6.4m scheme approved eight years after first plans put forward

THE LATEST plans for a dedicated railway station to serve Reading's Green Park have been approved, eight years after proposals were first brought forward.

The £6.4m scheme, part-funded by the Berkshire Local Transport Body, will also bring a bus interchange, multi-storey carpark, taxi drop-off space and disabled parking facilities, as well as landscaping and associated works at Green Park, including a new entrance from Longwater Avenue.

Planning permission for the station was first granted by Reading Borough Council in December 2007, with renewal permission granted in December 2010.

Planning laws mean permission expires after three years if no work has begun on an approved scheme and so, with construction not having begun by 2013, a third bout of plans had to be submitted for approval, and were given the green light last month.

The latest plans were largely identical to the lapsed permissions, although had been altered to accommodate the electrification of the railway line, increased car parking and a simpler design for canopies on the station platforms.

The new station will be built in four stages, with the service road and bus stop to be completed first, followed by interchange and drop-off parking, surface car park and, finally, completion of the station and multi-storey carpark.

Train operator First Great Western has suggested the new station won't be open until December 2018.