Sterling redevelopment back on the cards as plans resubmitted

Amirantes Company Ltd is seeking permission to demolish existing buildings at the site, including the 250ft Sterling Cables tower, and build 167 apartments in its place, along with relevant car parking and landscaping works.
Eight apartment blocks will be built, the majority over three to five storeys and with one block at eight storeys.
The proposal also includes the provision of the new link road, which will run through the site, from Sainsbury’s to the Hambridge Road junction, and act as a bypass for Kings Road and Mill Lane.
If approved, the road will be part funded by Amirantes and West Berkshire Council, with a £2.35m grant also coming from the Thames Valley Local Enterprise Partnership.
Last month, the Newbury Weekly News reported that plans to redevelop the eyesore site had stalled due to issues over ownership which had made the application invalid.
The latest plans are the same as the previous application, but with ownership corrected.
Plans for the redevelopment of the former town gas work site have been in the pipeline for around 10 years.
In 2010, plans submitted by Nelson Geneva, to provide tower blocks supporting 190 apartments, were refused on the grounds of being overbearing, and in late 2011, revised plans were agreed to be less imposing but provision of the link road was not included.
In June last year, developers told planning officials pollution from the industrial estate was seeping towards the racecourse and Kennet and Avon Canal, and claimed the redevelopment there was essential and inevitable.
The Environment Agency had also revealed the site to be the second most contaminated in Berkshire.
The plans had been criticised previously for failing to include any affordable housing, however it had been claimed that the cost to decontaminate the site and provide the new link road would make it unviable if social housing was included.