POLL: Would you approve the Eagle Quarter plans for the Kennet Shopping centre in Newbury?

There is still no decision on whether the Kennet Shopping centre will get bulldozed and remade into a new quarter for Newbury.

Attempts to approve the 427-flat scheme were filibustered out at a four-and-a-half hour meeting of West Berkshire Council’s district planning committee on Wednesday night.

That means it was ‘talked’ out of the time allowed by council standing orders, so the meeting which started at 6pm was guillotined at 10.30pm.

So, unless the developer Lochailort decides to appeal to the planning inspector, the matter will have to go back to another district planning committee.

The scale of the build, and lack of affordable housing included in it, with the loss of parking led the objections aired at the meeting.

The Newbury Society has consistently opposed the plans on the basis of the scale and mass of the proposal which would affect the character of Newbury with five- to six-storey height blocks dwarfing the existing heights of Newbury which are of two to three storeys.

If you had been on the planning committee, what decision would you have made? Vote in our poll:

Let us know what you think about the Eagle Quarter plans.