Reading is 'more than just a business location'

Members of the First Tuesday Club heard that Reading is more than just a business location - and that will help it cope with any post Brexit-vote shocks. Nigel Horton-Baker, chief executive of Reading UK CIC, was speaker at the event on Tuesday, July 5 at Green Park, and outlined some of the business and cultural strengths of the town. He highlighted the three million sq ft of Grade A office space in the pipeline for town including one million within 500 ft of the new station. Reading Gateway

Thames Valley can withstand Brexit

Research by Lambert Smith Hampton (LSH) suggests the Thames Valley office market is well-placed to withstand the major challenges ahead. Its annual Thames Valley Office Market report predicts that despite Brexit uncertainty, occupier demand will remain steady against a backdrop of falling supply, leading to increasing rents in 10 out of 11 centres and of solid investor interest. Speculative development will continue across the region, centred in Elizabeth Line (Crossrail) locations and town

BBC Monitoring to leave Caversham Park

The future of Grade ll listed Caversham Park in Reading and its hundreds of acres of grounds is uncertain after BBC Monitoring announced it is to cut 100 jobs and relocate. The BBC has reported at least 98 jobs (65 of them at Reading) will go among its 320 staff and the service will leave its Caversham home where it has been based since 1942. The current building dates from 1850 but the site’s history goes much further back. BBC bosses have said the site will be sold. Last September the Beeb

Oxfordshire bids for up to £30m of transport improvements

A package of up to £30 million of road improvements for pedestrians, cyclists and public transport on three key routes into Oxford has been published. Oxfordshire County Council (OCC) is preparing for 85,000 new jobs and 100,000 new homes over the next 15 years and has now put online a series of reports before the authority goes in search of funding. The three routes, all popular with drivers, are Botley, Woodstock and Banbury Roads. County councillor David Nimmo Smith, cabinet member for

Massive plans around Guildford station rejected

Councillors have unanimously thrown out plans for over 400 flats, nine to 10 retail units, a multi-storey car park and new ticket office at Guildford station. Solum Regeneration, a joint venture between Network Rail and Kier Property, had been in discussion with Guildford Borough Council officers since November 2014 and had applied to build: * 438 residential units * Nine to 10 retail units totalling 3, 427 sq m * A new ticket office * An open plaza and public realm * A multi-storey car park

LEP tells Government 'act now on Heathrow and Western link'

Letters have been sent to transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin by Thames Valley Berkshire LEP (TVBLEP) pressing for urgent action on Heathrow expansion and the airport’s Western rail link. TVBLEP chief executive Tim Smith said he was at the National Infrastructure Forum on Tuesday (June 28) where he heard the minister say he believed the need for extra airport capacity was more important in the light of the Brexit vote. But by Thursday the decision had been put off until at least October

Changes wanted for M3 and M4 smart motorway plans

A committee of MPs has demanded a rethink over plans for all lane running on motorways, over safety fears. All lane running which is due to go into operation on the M4 from J3 to J12 and the M3 from J9 to J14, by 2021/2022 as part of the smart motorway concept, has been described by the Transport select committee as an ‘unacceptable price to pay’ for faster journey times. It involves using the hard shoulder as an additional lane with cameras monitoring for breakdowns so that lanes can be

Heathrow says expansion must be part of Brexit plan

Heathrow is ramping up the case for expansion following the political fall-out over the Brexit vote. After yet another Government delay in making the decision on where expansion should be, this time until at least October, John Holland-Kaye, the airport’s chief executive, said a third runway must be a part of the Government’s Brexit plan. He said: “If Britain wants to be confident, outward-looking and at the centre of the world’s economy then expanding Heathrow must be a key building block in

South Oxon Local Plan will consider 3,500 homes development

Housing in South Oxfordshire will feature high on the agenda of residents at a series of consultations on the Local Plan 2032 across the district takes place throughout July. One of the biggest controversies is likely to be over the seven possible options for a sustainable settlement of 3,500 homes. The council’s preferred option is to build them on the Chalgrove Airfield which is near some present and future employment sites. Most other options are in the Greenbelt. The district council has

New Royal Borough website to target investors

Maidenhead has put itself in the shop window to international investors with the launch of a website to support its regeneration plans. investwindsorandmaidenhead.co.uk was officially launched at the Town Hall on Friday, June 24 in front of an audience of developers, agents and others interested in the town’s regeneration. The Royal Borough teamed up with UK Property Forums to put on the event which heard from leading officers and members from the authority. Council leader Simon Dudley called