Live music venue expansion plans given green light

Expansion plans for a popular live music venue have been approved by councillors.

Proposals for the Purple Turtle in Reading to expand to the adjacent Grade II Listed building were discussed at a Reading Borough Council planning meeting on Wednesday evening.

Planning officer Matthew Burns said they would have only "low level" harms to the local area and nearby residents, and recommended them be given the go ahead.

The planning application and listed building consent were both approved unanimously.

Mr Burns said the next door property was currently in "poor condition".

He said the benefits of the plans to convert it to a cafe and expanded facilities for Purple Turtle, bringing it back into "viable use", outweighed any harms.

The council received two objections, both relating to the potential impact of the Holy Brook.

But Paul Tunstall from JWPC Planning Consultancy, on behalf of the applicant, said there was only "a small stretch" of the Holy Brook in the vicinity, and ecologists found it to be of "no real ecological value".

Purple Turtle recently secured £29,502 of Arts Council funding to fund two cameras to record and stream bands online.

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