Further to Minute 12 of the meeting held on 19 November 2025, the Committee considered a report that outlined the results of the public consultation that had been held in relation to the draft Eldon Square Conservation Area Appraisal. The report recommended adopting a final version of the Appraisal, within which minor extensions to the conservation area boundary were proposed. The following documents were appended to the report:

The report explained that Eldon Square Conservation Area, Reading’s oldest conservation area, had first been designated in 1972 and had been expanded in 1982 to include Watlington Street, Eldon Street, Victoria Street and Montague Street. The last appraisal review had taken place in 2007 and had not resulted in any further boundary changes.

The latest review had been carried out by means of a community?led project by the Reading Conservation Area Advisory Committee (CAAC) on behalf of Reading Borough Council, supported by Council planning officers and interested community representatives. The review had utilised the Oxford Character Assessment Toolkit, recommended by Historic England as a methodology for assessing landscape and built environment character, but with the approach adapted by the CAAC to suit local circumstances.

The review had formed the basis of the draft Eldon Square Conservation Area Appraisal prepared by the CAAC. The draft Appraisal had been considered by the Committee at its meeting on 19 November 2025, at which approval had been granted for public consultation. In addition to comprehensively assessing the conservation area, identifying issues and vulnerabilities, and setting out an Action Plan for the area, the Appraisal also proposed minor extensions to the boundary to bring an additional five addresses into the conservation area. The existing and proposed amended boundaries were shown in Figure 1 of the report and in the proposed Appraisal at Appendix 3.

The public consultation had been conducted over an eight-week period between 25 November 2025 and 20 January 2026. A total of 14 responses had been received, which were summarised in the Statement of Consultation at Appendix 2. Points raised during the consultation included suggested wording changes, proposed amendments to maps, a query regarding the consideration of the climate emergency in relation to expanding the conservation area, and concerns about waste management, traffic management, and newly painted double yellow lines. The Statement of Consultation also set out the Council’s responses to each of the comments received. 

An updated version of the Eldon Square Conservation Area Appraisal was attached to the report at Appendix 3, it incorporated detailed amendments to wording and maps, as well as other updates to ensure the document remained current. The changes made arising from the public consultation comments were highlighted in the Statement of Consultation (Appendix 2).

At the invitation of the Chair, Evelyn Williams, Chair of the Reading CAAC, gave a presentation on the work undertaken by the CAAC to develop the Eldon Square Appraisal, as well as on its future work that included the next planned appraisal of The Mount Conservation Area.

The Committee discussed the proposed updated Appraisal for Eldon Square and expressed its thanks to the CAAC for its ongoing work.

Resolved –

(1)           That the responses received during the public consultation on the draft Eldon Square Conservation Area Appraisal, as set out in Appendix 2, be noted;

(2)           That the Eldon Square Conservation Area Appraisal, as attached at Appendix 3, be adopted;

(3)           That the Eldon Square Conservation Area be extended as set out in the Appraisal (Appendix 3).