John Lewis gets go-ahead for 170 flats plan

The 170 flats were unanimously approved by Reading councillors on Wednesday

The John Lewis Partnership has been given permission to build 170 flats in Reading as part of a £70m project.

The company will build them on the site of its former customer collections centre, which shut in 2022, in Crossland Road.

It will also manage and maintain the flats, the plan for which was reduced from an initial 215.

The project was unanimously approved at Reading council's planning applications committee meeting on Wednesday.

"We are privileged and proud to have been part of Reading for over 70 years, employing more than 600 people across our John Lewis and Waitrose stores," Katherine Russell, from John Lewis, said.

"So Reading isn't just a place we trade. It's a community and town where we truly believe we belong, and that's why [the development] feels such a fitting location for one of our very first build-to-rent developments."

Micky Leng, the council's lead councillor for planning, supported the plan.

"I'd like to thank John Lewis for their commitment to Reading. particularly the high street. I'm fully supportive of it," he said.

"You can see the difference in the way John Lewis has engaged with us, because as a partnership they think long-term and put the community at the centre. That's been clear throughout this process."

There had been concerns about the impact the flats and others might have on local NHS services.

John Lewis has offered to pay about £150,000 to the NHS to help pay for a new primary care facility at the town's Broad Street Mall.

Last year, John Lewis was given permission to build about 350 rental flats above a Waitrose in Bromley.