NEWS

The latest property stories coming out of the Thames Valley

03/08/2017

Wokingham bids for £4.75m for 191 more homes

Councillors hope a further 191 homes can be built in Wokingham borough through the Government’s new Accelerated Construction Programme. Wokingham Borough Council hopes for £4.75 million capital funding and £250,000 for additional staffing through the scheme which is intended to speed up house building nationally by making surplus public land available for residential development. The council has submitted its proposals through an expression of interest in the scheme. The homes would be in
03/07/2017

Cllr Tony Page complains over appeals 'inconsistency'

Reading’s planning boss, Cllr Tony Page, has written to the Planning Inspectorate to blast what he calls a ‘high degree of inconsistency’ in appeals. The complaint centres around provision of affordable housing. Reading Borough Council requires affordable housing contributions in even small-scale schemes. In his letter Cllr Page, lead member for strategic environment, planning and transport, points to two appeal decisions made by the same planning inspector, three days apart. In both cases the
03/07/2017

E-Centre spot for broadband provider

T A Fisher has completed a deal to sell a property in Bracknell to the firm rolling out ultra fast broadband in the Thames Valley. Communication services provider BtL which has partnered with CityFibre to roll out broadband speeds of up to 1GB throughout major towns and cities across the UK - and which last year launched in Reading and Bracknell - has acquired 7,500 sq ft Unit 3 at the E-Centre in Easthampstead Road. The deal puts the telecoms provider in the heart of its network and is a
03/07/2017

Driverless car specialist Oxbotica steers growth in Oxford

Driverless car software provider Oxbotica has accelerated its expansion plans with a new office in Summertown, Oxford. The firm is also planning to expand its test grounds and workshop based at Culham in South Oxfordshire. The growth will treble Oxbotica’s office space as both the firm’s software and hardware engineering expertise increases and it takes on more driverless car projects. The growth allows Oxbotica to hire another 60 - 80 staff, a key next step in its strategy - and supports
03/07/2017

Legoland hands Royal Borough £170,000 horror show

A planning dispute over the Haunted House ride at Legoland Windsor has left the Royal Borough having to pay the attraction’s legal costs of £170,000. Legoland had applied to build the ride in April 2014 and in August that year, the council’s Windsor Urban Development Control Panel rejected the proposals unanimously despite an officers’ recommendation to approve. The rejection was largely on highways grounds as councillors thought it would lead to increased traffic. But Legoland appealed the
03/06/2017

View from the riverbank: Are co-workers the tenants of the future?

Listening this week, to the Celtic tones of David Johnston, founder of Maidenhead based co-working office business (ex-director of marketing at CBRE) at the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead Property Forum, I was struck by two simple statistics. Conversions of offices to co-working space are growing at a rate of 24 per cent a year and 79 per cent of UK co-working space owners expect to expand space in 2017. Across the Thames Valley, the property sector stresses about where the next
03/03/2017

Opposition mounts to 423-homes plan

A controversial plan to build 423 homes between Fleet and Crookham is likely to be rejected by councillors on Wednesday, March 8. But the plans by Berkeley Strategic Land, are already heading for appeal. The application was submitted to Hart District Council last summer and was largely similar to one which was refused a year earlier. The homes were planned for land north of Netherhouse Copse in Hitches Lane. The 2016 application was not determined within the statutory time limit and the
03/03/2017

Two South Oxon housing schemes fail to progress

There was little joy for developers at South Oxfordshire District Council’s planning committee on March 1 with one major scheme deferred and another thrown out. Persimmon Homes had applied to build 140 homes on land south of Greenwood Avenue, Chinnor. But the committee decided a site visit was needed and deferred the application. No date has been set for the visit. At the same meeting, plans by Gallagher Estates to build 95 homes in land off Kennylands Road in Sonning Common were turned down,

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Independent Property
NEWS & VIEWS

Reporting daily from the Thames Valley tvproperty.co.uk

News

Wokingham bids for £4.75m for 191 more homes

Cllr Tony Page complains over appeals 'inconsistency'

E-Centre spot for broadband provider

Driverless car specialist Oxbotica steers growth in Oxford

Legoland hands Royal Borough £170,000 horror show

View from the riverbank: Are co-workers the tenants of the future?

Opposition mounts to 423-homes plan

Two South Oxon housing schemes fail to progress