Reading: Homes on former golf course approved

The 223-home development will be built on the former golf course at Emmer Green

Plans to build a more than 200 new homes on a golf course have been approved.

Reading Golf Club (RGC) has been given the go ahead to build the 223 homes on the former course in the Emmer Green area of Reading.

Developers RGC said the scheme would benefit residents in the future.

Campaign group, Keep Emmer Green (KEG) - which has spent years trying to block the development - described it as "very disappointing".

The group previously claimed 4,500 objections had been received in opposition to the Kidmore End Road development.

Clarence Mitchell, councillor for Peppard ward, said: "This is the wrong plan, in the wrong place, at the wrong time."

Claire Grashoff, of campaign group Keep Emmer Green, said the council should "protect its environment and open space"

Speaking at the Reading Borough Council meeting on Wednesday night, Clare Grashoff, of KEG, said: "It's obviously very disappointing.

"This is not ok. This is not the Reading that our community want. There's more than enough wrong with it [the plan] to reject it.

"It is the council's job to protect its environment and open space and protect democracy."

Other campaigners asked councillors to defer the decision if they felt they were not given enough time to assess the plans.

A previous application for 257 homes was denied planning permission by Reading Borough Council amid more than 3,000 objections.

Reading Golf Club has left its former course and said it wanted to leave a legacy for the area with the development

But a planning officer told councillors the new proposals, with a reduced number of homes, included an investment of hundreds of thousands of pounds into local health care and facilities.

Reading Civic Society supported the scheme and said it should be applauded as one that would benefit Reading and its residents in the future.

Planning consultant Jonathan Walton, speaking on behalf of RGC, said the development would deliver benefits in the health and sport sectors.

He stressed that no veteran trees would need to be felled.

He also told councillors he understood the plans would be "emotive for some", but added: "The reality of planning is to consider what is in the best interest of the borough."