Plans for a 13th Tesco store in Reading have been deferred for the second time over traffic concerns, despite an offer of more than £100,000 towards transport infrastructure.

Councillors on Reading borough council’s planning committee decided to defer the application for a Tesco Express on Oxford Road less than a year after rejecting a similar application. Following the first rejection last October, Tesco commissioned a traffic study which dismissed concerns over the traffic flow and offered nearly £114,000 towards transport infrastructure. 

But the councillors stood firm, with one arguing that the 12-space car park could endanger pedestrians. “Oxford Road Community School is just across the road and these pavements are in constant use - now they are going to be used by traffic coming in and out of the car park,” said councillor Sarah Hacker at the committee meeting last week. 

“We have a Tesco half a mile to the east and half a mile to the west. It’s going to impact on local family shops which are people’s livelihoods,” she added. Local traders had launched a petition opposing the plans.

However, Tesco plans to open another Express store on the site of a former pub within half a mile of the Oxford Road site.

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