Over the last week I have been at two functions that show the limitations of the planning system in this country.

Firstly, I attended a meeting of Reading BC’s Strategic Transport Board where we looked at plans for the new station and for the developemnt of the southern concourse which is designed to be an attractive glass ‘gateway’ to the town.

Later in the week I popped in to see the new plans on display by Sackville (controlled by John Madjeski) for the redevlopment of Station Hill. Station Hill 2 is the second attempt by Sackville to produce acceptable plans for this area. They have redesigned their original scheme to include more open space and put more thought into the amenities that could be provided for the public. This is very much designed as a showpiece that would change the face of Reading significantly.

The problem is that the two design teams working separately on Station Hill 2 and the new station itself do not seem to have had any contact with each other and however good or bad their plans are, they do not fit together. If built as currently proposed the vast new glass station entrance would be shaded by one of Sackville’s office block skyscrapers and nobody would ever see the magnificent new station entrance from the town and visitors coming in to Reading would be greeted by a concrete block obscuring the sun and light from half the new glass atrium.

And then there is the matter of Reading’s new transport interchange which the council’s team are now designing not as one complex but a series of three transport interchanges that will make changing buses at the central hub of Reading’s bus network a nightmare of long walks up and down stairs before finding that the new terminus is just the old bus stop in Friar Street (or wherever).  The bright new transport terminus is turning in to a different one way bus loop using bus stops spread out over miles of existing town centre roads with their narrow pavements and lack of facilities.

Would it not be possible for both sides, Sackville and Reading BC, to rethink their proposals for the vast area that is ready for redevelopment on the south side of the station and come up with an attractive, unified plan that incorporates the new gateway to Reading, a modern transport interchange (for buses, taxis, MRTs and even Private Hire Vehicles), a welcoming public open space as well as the new office blocks, shops and appartments.

Surely the value of  both developments would be enhanced by  working in unison, rather than each partner pulling in different directions.