New parking spaces at a popular recreation ground and a school drama studio are in this week’s roundup of planning applications and decisions in Bracknell Forest and Wokingham Borough.
You can view each one by going to the relevant council’s planning website and searching for the application number provided.
Bracknell Forest: Great Hollands Recreation Ground (23/00695/FUL)
Plans to build a new car park at Great Hollands Recreation Ground have been dropped for a second time.
Bracknell Town Council says the new car park at Great Hollands Recreation Ground is needed because the current one often fills up – especially on weekends.
It first applied for planning permission from Bracknell Forest Council in January 2023, but withdrew the application that July. It then reapplied for permission in November last year, but withdrew the plans again this month.
It’s not clear why the plans were withdrawn. But a Bracknell Forest Council biodiversity officer had said the plans would impact the habitat provided by a semi-wooded area currently on site, and that the town council should show it had considered alternative options.
Bracknell Forest: Tesco click and collect (23/00851/FUL)
The Tesco on Whitton Road in Bracknell wants permission for a new ‘click-and-collect’ container outside its main entrance.
A letter submitted to Bracknell Forest Council says the container has already been installed, and the shop now wants retrospective planning permission.
It says the number of customers using click and collect has increased over the last year, although two refrigerated containers were removed.
The letter adds that the container is ‘essential to the efficient operation of the click and collect'.
Wokingham Borough: drama building at Blue Coat School (232925)
Blue Coat School in Sonning can get a new drama building after Wokingham Borough Council granted planning permission.
The private school wants to largely demolish its existing drama building and replace it with a larger one – although a ‘temporary drama studio’ will be made permanent.
A planning statement submitted with the application says the existing building is ‘outdated and has reached the end of its usable life'.
It also says the new auditorium would seat 243 people for stage productions and 300 for assemblies. It would also be available to ‘community groups’ and used as an exam hall.
Wokingham Borough: Four-storey block of flats (232680)
Planning permission has been granted by Wokingham Borough Council for a four storey block of flats in Henley on Thames.
The building would contain three, three bedroom flats at the current site of Thames Bridge House on Henley Bridge, following the demolition of the existing building.
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