Developers have made the decision to cut the number of flats included in plans for Bracknell Beeches after concerns the buildings were 'over-bearing'.

Plans were submitted by the developers S2 Limited in August to demolish the seven office buildings at Bracknell Beeches and replace them with a total of 377 flats, spread across seven tower buildings.

During a Bracknell Town Council advisory planning meeting on Tuesday, January 12, developers announced amendments to the scheme and how it has been adapted to meet the recommendations submitted in the interim.

The scheme has now been amended to include 349 residential dwellings instead of the original 377 which will be made up of private and affordable studio, one bedroom and two-bedroom flats.

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S2 Estates director Sam Berg said: “The ambition is that we can offer a range of unit sizes so they’re not just getting the small units given over to affordable and there’s a good mix for people getting their foot on the housing ladder.”

But town councillors Alvin Finch (Conservative, Garth) and Paul Bidwell (Conservative, Priestwood) objected to the reduction in flats because the developers have also reduced the number of affordable housing to 13%.

Planning consultant for the development, Tom Vernon said: “We would have liked to have provided the 25% but the scale had to be reduced to address the various comments that have come along the way over the last two plus year journey we have been on.

“That journey has had an impact in terms of costs of it all and the revenues that the scheme can support in terms of infrastructure.”

The reduction in residential dwellings comes following complaints about various aspects of the plan raised during a public exhibition.

Tim Chapman-Cavanagh, the lead designer, explained: “The majority of the change happens along this boundary edge and that was to deal with some of the points that were raised by the case officer and their team.

“It was felt that the height of the three buildings A, B and C were slightly over-bearing in regards to the residents so there is a dramatic change from the heights that we had before.”

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Further issues that had been raised about the original application including the landscaping and the height of the tower block at the train station entrance.

The landscape strategy has been adapted to try and maintain as many mature trees in the scheme as possible and protect the bio-diversity and habitat in the area. This has come with working alongside their in-house landscaping team.

Mr Chapman-Cavanagh, lead designer, said: “The strategy offers a landscape buffer along the boundary edge and all of the mature trees that sit around the edge of the site, and making sure that we retain as many as is physically possible.”

“We’ve adapted the scheme to adjust technical issues that have come up but it has had the effect of reducing the number of affordable homes that it can provide on the site.

“It’s finely balanced but what we’ve been able to retain within the scheme is a dedicated block which could be all shared ownership or we could pepper-pot them around the rest of the scheme.

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Planning consultant Mr Vernon added: “In terms of the tower there is a great opportunity to offer a point to mark the train station and that’s always been a centralised part of the scheme.

"We felt quite strongly, there’s a real opportunity to put a really high-quality piece of architecture at the train station and mark the new entrance to the train station that the scheme would bring."