Garden Centre to Make Way for New Homes

Wokingham Borough Council has approved plans to knock down Ladds Garden Village on the A4 Bath Road in Hare Hatch and replace it with housing.

Nearby residents who backed the application called the site "derelict" and "run-down". The council's planning committee approved the scheme earlier this month.

Council documents say the garden centre's operation had been 'wound down' and the wider site currently supports around eight full-time jobs. Planning officers accepted some job losses but said the impact would be limited because commercial activity had declined and parts of the site were vacant or underused.

Ladds, a familiar feature on the Bath Road, briefly rebranded as The Berkshire Gardener in 2022 before returning to the Ladds name the following year.

All existing buildings on the 1.38-hectare site would be demolished and replaced with 19 homes: 12 three-bedroom houses, three four-bedroom homes, two two-bedroom properties and two one-bedroom maisonettes. The scheme includes landscaped open space, a children's play area and a wildlife pond.

Supporters said the redevelopment would transform a declining site, calling the buildings "outdated and unattractive" and the plans a "much-needed redevelopment" that would "visually enhance the untidy site". Some residents objected over the scale, sustainability and impact on the area's rural character, but officers concluded the benefits outweighed the harms and that the site qualified as previously developed land and would not cause 'substantial harm'.

The approval is subject to a legal agreement covering contributions towards healthcare, green infrastructure, biodiversity improvements, transport measures and affordable housing elsewhere in the borough.

Katie French, Local Democracy Reporter