Concerns about new flats plan

DELIVERY vehicles could cause traffic to back up on a main road into the town centre if large new flats are allowed to be built, a family has warned,

Burlington Developments has applied to build a fourstorey building with 42 flats on Latimer Road, off Barkham Road.

But the owners of a nearby Nisa Local shop have said the plans would make it difficult for lorries to get access to their shop.

Neighbours and councillors also say there is not enough parking – with only 34 spaces included in the plans.

Wokingham Borough

Council’s planning committee debated the proposals at a meeting on Wednesday, November 13.

Sarika Odedra, speaking on behalf of Nisa, told councillors that plans would mean lorries would have to stop on Barkham Road, holding up traffic.

She said: “Unloading deliveries on Barkham Road would cause a large traffic block, and would impact the traffic flow on Barkham Road which is currently an issue with the railway crossing.”

Emmbrook ward councillor Rachel Bishop-Firth told the committee the building would ‘tower over’ neighbouring twostorey houses.

She said: “This is a proposal to shoehorn a bulky square mass of a four-storey building in between small two-storey Victorian houses in Barkham Road and two-storey 1960s maisonettes on Latimer Road.”

She added: “There wouldn’t even be one parking space for each flat in an area where there’s already a severe shortfall.”

But Wokingham Borough Council planning officers said the building is similar to nearby town centre flats, and the amount of parking is acceptable as they don’t expect every resident to own a car.

Councillors voted to postpone their decision so that they can visit the site in person.