Tesco has lost three parking spaces at its Tesco Express in Woodley after fitting air-conditioning and refrigeration plant to the rear of the store at the Loddon Vale Centre in Sandford.
The store sits with flats to the rear, and a Pizza Hut takeaway and Busy Bees nursery opposite. The equipment installation needed planning approval from Wokingham Borough Council.
A previous application was refused after officers said the scheme would visually enclose the entrance to the gym at unit 6. A Wokingham planning officer wrote: "By virtue of its location and combined with the height and scale of the built form, the entrance would be visually enclosed, and a restricted space would be created on the pavement behind the enclosure."
They added: "This space would be cramped, unlit, and it would not benefit from passive surveillance, and this could potentially lead to unnecessary instances of crime and or antisocial behaviour." That plan was refused in September last year.
Tesco redesigned the scheme, installing a 2.4 metre timber fence around the plant and proposing gated access. The fence is already in place, so the application is part-retrospective; the gates have yet to be fitted.
A planning officer said the gated access for the plant and Unit 6 would deal with the previous crime-and-disorder concerns.
The works have removed three parking spaces on Hurricane Way behind the Tesco, but the main Loddon Vale Centre car park is unchanged. Officers noted the lost spaces were in a service area for businesses and residents and were not reserved for customers, and that the centre has ample parking.
The installation was approved on the condition that the gates are added, in a decision made on Tuesday, March 10. The enclosure contains two remote gas cooler units and three floor-mounted air-conditioning units.
View the approved application on Wokingham council's planning portal using reference 252580.
James Aldridge, Local Democracy Reporter
Controversial 53 Home Development Approved
