Private school homes plan unanimously rejected

A proposal to use the site of a former private school for homes has been unanimously rejected after hundreds of people objected.

Churchill Living Limited applied to build 51 retirements apartments on the grounds of Hemdean House School, Caversham, along with 10 flats in its former school house.

The school first opened in 1859 but closed in July 2024 because of "ever-falling numbers and few prospective pupils". Ofsted said it had 44 pupils but capacity for 140 when it shut.

Reading Borough Council's planning committee refused the application after officers gave 22 reasons for why it should not go ahead.

Amongst them, they said the plan was "excessive" for the site and would have created "an overly dominant, visually stark, intrusive and unsympathetic development".

They said some neighbours would have been overlooked, the project would have delivered insufficient car parking and it would not have have adhered to several of the council's planning policies.

A total of 110 letters objecting to the plan were received along with a 600-signature petition opposed to it.