Wokingham council withdraw plans for town centre revamp

Plans to redevelop a Berkshire town centre and to build new homes, a supermarket and a hotel on nearby parkland have been withdrawn.

Wokingham Borough Council says it will resubmit applications for Elms Field and Peach Place "in the near future".

The council added it remains "committed" to the £95m regeneration process and achieving a development of excellent design quality.

Opponents welcomed the decision to take more time to look at the plans.

Council leader David Lee stressed it was important to get the design of "a development for the next generation" right.

He said: "We need to give a little more thought to making sure the design is of the highest possible quality.

"We're not ruling this idea out and waiting for another one, nothing is changing in the overall concept.

Councillor Prue Bray, leader of the Liberal Democrat opposition, said: "The council appear to have seen sense and now maybe there's an opportunity to listen to what people are saying in Wokingham."

The Elms Field park development was discussed at an extraordinary council meeting earlier this month.

Campaigners collected more than 2,000 signatures to trigger a three-hour debate.