A razor wire fence at Vodafone and an outdoor bouldering wall are in this week’s roundup of planning applications and decisions in Bracknell Forest and Wokingham Borough.

You can view each one by going to the relevant council’s planning website and searching for the application number provided.

Bracknell Forest: Vodafone security fence (23/00752/FUL)

A rise in criminal attacks on Vodafone IT facilities have led the company to seek stronger security at its premises at the Sterling Centre business park.

Plans submitted to Bracknell Forest Council say the telecoms company wants to put up a new razor wire security fence outside its data centre at the business park. It also wants to upgrade its existing fence with an anti-climb mesh.

A statement submitted alongside its planning application says: “Due to an increasing number of criminal attacks on Vodafone data centre sites across the country, a programme of security upgrades is being rolled out across the network.

“Additional protection is required to any external plant and vulnerable access points into the building.”

Bracknell News: Plans to cover the ourdoor bouldering wall at Oakwood Climbing CentrePlans to cover the ourdoor bouldering wall at Oakwood Climbing Centre (Image: Oakwood)

Bracknell Forest: Outdoor climbing (23/00723/FUL)

Outdoor climbing could soon be offered even in wet weather, due to plans in the works at Oakwood Climbing Centre neat Jennett’s Park.

The climbing centre on Waterloo Road has asked for planning permission to put up a tent covering over its outdoor bouldering wall. It says this will “provide shelter from the elements, allowing climbing to take place in wet weather.”

Bracknell Forest: ‘Cramped’ house on Ardingly (23/00533/FUL)

Plans to demolish a garage and car port and build a house in their place would have been “cramped,” harmed nearby trees, and would not have had safe or suitable parking, planning officers have ruled.

A two-storey house would have been built alongside an already existing one on Ardingly in the south west of Bracknell.

But Bracknell Forest Council refused to grant permission, saying the house would have been a “cramped form of development out of keeping with the character of the area, providing insufficient space for parking.”

Wokingham Borough: Caravan in Hare Hatch (232580)

The owner of a house on Milley Lane in Hare Hatch has been granted permission to keep a static residential caravan on site.

Wokingham Borough Council planning officers certified that it was lawful to put the caravan on the grounds of The Old House, ruling that it 'does not amount to operational development' and that its use is 'incidental to the enjoyment of the main residential use on the site'.