Reading Golf Course: New homes plan unveiled

Fairfax and Reading Golf Club want to build 223 homes on the former golf course

New plans have been unveiled to build fewer homes on a former golf course after previous proposals were rejected.

Plans to build 257 homes at the old Reading Golf Course in Emmer Green were refused in July.

A new application for up to 223 homes is being prepared by developer Fairfax. It said the plans would also deliver "extensive areas of green, publicly accessible open space".

Campaign group Keep Emmer Green said the plans were an "over-development".

The previous plan for the site received more than 3,000 objections and Reading Borough Council's planning applications committee rejected it unanimously, with concerns about the loss of open space, trees, increased traffic congestion and overdevelopment.

Fairfax, which is working with the site's owner - Reading Golf Club - on the development, said the new plans for 30 acres (12-hectare) of land at the site would also include 67 affordable homes, as well as cycling and pedestrian routes.

It said more than 1,000 trees would also be planted but it is not clear how many would be felled to make way for homes, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

The developer added the proposals would deliver a "sustainable development that will not only contribute to the housing needs of the borough and improve housing choices for local people but also deliver extensive areas of green publicly accessible open space".

Is is asking for feedback from members of the public until 1 November before submitting the application to the council.

Keep Emmer Green, which opposes the development, has revealed an alternative proposal to turn the site into an arboretum, should the land come up for sale.

It said this would create 100 acres of open green public space and would be the first new arboretum in Berkshire for over a century.