IKEA Talks To Worried Reading Residents

By Warren Lee, 2nd April 2012, 14:08

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IKEA bosses agreed to meeting concerned residents after Reading West MP Alok Sharma pressed the furniture store to speak to the public about the plans.

Mr Sharma says a meeting about the proposals for the Pincents Lane Retail Park site is taking place tonight (Monday 2nd April) between 7pm and 9pm at the Beansheaf Centre in Calcot, Reading.

IKEA's plans will on display and you'll be able to quiz members of the IKEA team.

Alok Sharma said: "Many of my constituents are keen on the jobs IKEA will create locally, but many also have concerns about potential traffic congestion issues. This meeting will be an excellent opportunity, ahead of the meeting of the Eastern Area Planning Committee on 4th April which will consider IKEA's application, for local residents to understand IKEA's proposals fully and to ask any queries they have relating to traffic issues and any other matters."

IKEA has already said it'll invest £5m to improve the surrounding roads so they can cope with the extra traffic.

Other aspects of the plan have also been slightly altered.

Previously, Roger Cooper, IKEA’s Project Manager for the proposed IKEA Reading store said: "Since submitting our planning application in February 2011, we have continued to work closely with West Berkshire Council to review the application proposal as well as consider the various comments raised by the local community."

Mr Cooper added: "Where possible, we have sought to address and agree on improvements to the scheme. Revisions to the proposal include a change of colour to the north and east side of the building to a graduated grey and enhancing the landscaping to include 63 new trees alongside additional planting of native hedge mixes, shrubs and wild flower grass land."

The project manager concluded: " We hope that the revisions will enable our application to be approved so we can begin the development and operation of our store".