Developer payment could triple

A DEVELOPER has been asked to triple the amount it would pay to Reading Borough Council if a plan to add 70 more homes to a former golf course gets approved.

The Emmer Green Drive development was approved by Reading Borough councillors in 2022 and 2023, allowing 223 homes to be built at the former Reading Golf Course in Caversham.

Since then, work has started on building the homes at the site off Kidmore End Road.

Earlier this year, housebuilding company Vistry revealed plans to add 70 homes to the development on land immediately north of the site.

This land falls within South Oxfordshire District Council’s jurisdiction, which has consulted the borough council on the project.

Members of the borough council’s planning committee debated the application.

Councillor Matt Yeo (Labour, Caversham) said: “Because it’s a development in Oxfordshire, from our point of view, it’s purely about the pressure on our services and Reading Borough Council and for Reading taxpayers.

“So you’ve got the increase in traffic, congestion, and the pressure on the environment in the immediate area in North Reading.”

He then suggested that the council should ask for £150,000 in developer contributions from Vistry, rather than £50,000 as suggested in a report by planning officer Matt Burns.

Opposition councillors argued that all of the impacts of the development would be felt by Reading Borough Council.

Cllr Stephen Goss (Conservative, Emmer Green) said: “The impression I get from this is that South Oxfordshire gets the benefits but Reading gets the headaches from this development.”

He agreed that the council should demand £150,000 and planning officers suggested it could be used on making The Last Crumb junction safer.

Councillors decided to ask for £150,000 from the developers to mitigate the impacts of the new homes.