A deserted car park near the Showcase Cinema which has become notorious for flooding has found a new use as a base for a building business.

The car park used to serve as the Loddon Bridge Park and Ride which closed for good in October 2015 in part due to the regular flooding. The site has laid deserted ever since.

Now, developers Hochsoll Properties Ltd has won planning permission to use the old car park as a storage facility for equipment and building vehicles.

There will also be a portacabin on the site for staff welfare, and wooden and green painted steel bar fencing to secure the site from trespassers.

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The biggest concern councillors had was over the continued flooding at the car park.

Councillor Prue Bray, a Liberal Democrat representing Winnersh, said: “This site floods. That doesn’t have to prevent it being used for storage in the way envisaged, because it’s well understood that there is a flood risk.

“One of the flooding incidents at this site in 2007 was catastrophic. A large number of vehicles had to be written off. A lot of people did get flood warnings, and did move their cars in time, but some did not, and some could not even though they got the warning, and that’s because while their cars were parked in an area of the car park which had not yet flooded, they were effectively marooned there. Their route out was blocked out, so there cars couldn’t be moved, and their cars ended up having to be written off. I would hate to see vehicles stranded and written off in the same way.”

There was also major flooding in February 2009.

Bracknell News: The old Loddon Bridge Park and Ride, which will now be turned into a facility for a building business. Credit: Wokingham Borough CouncilThe old Loddon Bridge Park and Ride, which will now be turned into a facility for a building business. Credit: Wokingham Borough Council

She therefore proposed that the developers be aware that while parts of the site may not be flooded, the access road could be cut off by flood water.

A condition of approval was that no chemicals that could contaminate the nearby River Loddon be stored at the site.  Cllr Bill Soane (Conservative) asked whether diesel or lubricating oil  for any vehicles would be stored there.

Planning officer Simon Taylor said that storage for diesel and lubricants would be banned from the site as part of the conditions.

Work will take place from 7am to 7pm weekdays and 10am to 5pm on weekends once the site is ready, and it will be accessed from Bader Way.

Additionally, the developer donated part of the land of the site to allow Wokingham Borough Council to widen the River Loddon Footpath and improve footpaths to Winnersh Triangle train station and the park and ride.

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The plan was approved by Wokingham Borough Council’s planning committee yesterday (Wednesday, July 14).

It was approved on the condition that contaminants are not stored on the site, and that the construction company must follow an evacuation plan in the event of flooding.

The old Loddon Bridge Park and Ride was replaced with the Winnersh Triangle Park and Ride in October 2015.