News from CADRA

CADRA has nearly 500 members, and over 400 of them have email. Your Committee wants to use that to keep you up to date with the issues covered at our monthly committee meetings, so this email summarises the biggest ones and the action we are taking.

We plan to do this on a regular basis. If you find it useful, please forward it to your friends by email or by social media. The more people who know about and support our efforts, the more influence we can have on your behalf.

We'd be glad to know whether you find this useful and how we might improve it. We also plan to use it to gauge supporters' opinions when big issues arise.

Below is a summary of the bigger issues we discussed at our meeting on 12th June. I hope you find it interesting and useful.

Finally, we would love to widen the membership of our Committee and would welcome more help: it's a friendly and committed group and we find it rewarding, so do get in touch if you would be interested. You can contact us on [email protected]

Helen Lambert
Chair, CADRA
www.cadra.org.uk
Please feel free to forward this email to anyone who might be interested, and if you're on facebook then 'like' our page: https://www.facebook.com/cavershamresidents

1. Key planning applications

CADRA is currently monitoring over 30 planning applications in and around Caversham, and regularly makes comments to Reading and South Oxfordshire Councils. These include:

Land off Peppard Road, Emmer Green

Gladman Developments propose up to 245 houses in open countryside abutting the Reading boundary. The application has been refused but has gone to appeal: a first hearing has been held but, because South Oxfordshire's housing plans are in state of flux, the Inquiry is in abeyance until 29 August.
CADRA believes that this will do serious damage, not only to the immediate locality but to traffic and services throughout Caversham and sets precedents for more development in that area. We have submitted evidence to the Inquiry and are actively supporting CAGE, the local pressure groups set up to oppose the scheme. Their website is an excellent source of more information: https://www.cagedunsden.org

St Martin's Precinct

Planning permission has been in place for some time for major additions to our precinct, going beyond the very welcome recent improvements. 'Block A' is part of this scheme, on the vacant site between Marc Antoni and the telephone exchange, next to where the kebab van often parks. There, the developers propose a five-storey building with a restaurant at ground floor and apartments above. They have recently appointed new architects and we feel their revisions are an improvement, which we have welcomed. You can get more detail on the Council's website at Planning application 180673. The 'Planning Statement' is a useful summary.
We will give a fuller account of the precinct project in a later update email.

'Spice Oven' 2-4 Church Street

This listed building is important in views along Bridge St and in the proposed Conservation Area extension.
The owners plan to convert the ground floor to shop units and the upper floors to apartments, clearing the unsightly buildings at the back to provide more apartments. CADRA has been involved in discussions with them and has influenced the design, to include removal of the large sign and reinstatement of a well-designed middle window on the first floor, to restore the building's rhythm, and to ensure the shop fronts are suitable. We warmly welcome this proposal. An earlier version was refused because of design issues on the flats at the rear, but a new application will shortly be determined.

Caversham Park

The future of this site is under preliminary discussion as the BBC withdraw. It is immensely important both as a building and an historic landscape and we will keep you informed of anything we hear.

2. Conservation - extending St Peters Conservation Area

CADRA is part of Reading's Conservation Area Advisory Committee (CAAC), a group of expert volunteers who assist the Council on conservation issues. Its first big project has been to review St Peters Conservation Area here in Caversham, a huge task which CADRA has led. You may recall CADRA's consultation last year on our draft suggestions, which attracted well over 90% approval. The document has now been agreed with Council officers and will go to the Council's strategic planning committee on July 2nd. If approved there, the Council will do its own statutory consultation, which we will launch at Caversham Church Fete on July 14th. We hope the proposed changes will be finally adopted soon after.
The main change is to extend the Conservation Area substantially, to include try Bridge St /Church St junction, Bridge St and Caversham Bridge, as shown on the St Peters Conservation Area Map. The full document makes an interesting and informative read, and you can find it on our website Draft Appraisal July 2018

3. Bus services in Caversham

There are still problems with changes to Caversham bus services, especially the 22, and we continue to campaign on this, supporting 'Concerned of Caversham's campaign.
https://en-gb.facebook.com/ConcernedofCaversham/
The Thames Travel X39 and X40 now diverts on to the 22 inbound from Highmoor Rd onwards https://www.thames-travel.co.uk/news-service-updates/changes-june-2018/

4. Open meeting 6 November 2018

The committee confirmed arrangements for the next open meeting when Terry Marsh, Honorary Fellow of the Wallingford Centre for Ecology and Hydrology will talk about the River Thames.

Caversham and District Residents Association
www.cadra.org.uk
Please 'like' our Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/cavershamresidents

Published: 2018-06-25 11:47:46
Updated: 2021-12-01 00:18:54

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