News

Illegal flats in Woodley could be knocked down

By Laura Herbert
October 18, 2012

An illegal block of flats in Woodley could be pulled down after councillors voted against it.

Members of Wokingham Borough Council's planning committee decided against a planning officer's recommendation to allow the development in Brecon Road to remain.

The developer was given permission to build the flats in 2007, but the block was not completed until January this year, when neigbhours discovered it was bigger than the original plans.

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Most recent user comments 4 of 4

I hope they're empty. If not, I really feel for the biggest losers in this case; the residents.

Br
23/10/2012 at 13:57

We need more actions like this against people who exceed or don't bother to get planning permission. Occasionally private constructions that genuinely proceeded without the knowledge of what was required should be allowed retrospective permission but commercial developers should be made to correct any violations if necessary by demolition.

PoneRana, Wokingham
20/10/2012 at 11:36

LarryS - as the local Councillor involved with the residents on this I absolutely agree with you. I was quite surprised when the Planning Officers decided to recommend approval of this retrospective application. My many thanks to the immediate neighbours of this monstrosity for their work with me to achieve this success. It was also great to see how many local residents responding to my rrequest to turn up and show the strength of feeling.

This will not be the end of it as I am sure that the applicant will submit an appeal. We have won this battle but not yet won the war.

Cllr Keith Baker
18/10/2012 at 18:29

Excellent news and a big 'well done' to WBC cllrs for having the guts to stand up to these unscrupulous developers. Let's hope they are made to pull the building down. What a perfect example that would set to other developers tempted to ignore the rules that the rest of us abide by.