WINNERSH park and ride will be expanded with 104 parking spaces in a two-storey car park.
On Wednesday, July 8, the planning committee approved the plans submitted by the borough council.
The car park will have a solar panel roof, but electric car charging will only be installed if “the demand is demonstrated”.
It will also have a lift and disabled bays. The plans do not currently include any parent and child spaces, as the borough council does not have a formal policy on this.
Cllr Stephen Conway, Liberal Democrat councillor for Twyford, said: “There appears to be no parent and child spaces allocated.
“Given what has been said about the possibility of discussing the design features after, could we incorporate a suggestion for these spaces?”
Highways development manager at Wokingham Borough Council Judy Kelly, said: “We don’t have any standards of requiring parent child spaces, they’re not common for park and rides, more likely supermarkets.”
To allay concerns, the committee decided to ask the borough council to evaluate and consider whether parent and child spaces should be considered on ground floor.
This was approved by majority, but rejected by Cllr Pauline Jorgensen, Conservative councillor for Hillside and executive member for highways and transport, and Cllr Malcom Richards, Conservative councillor for Norreys.
Cllr Conway also used the opportunity to suggest a similar car parking scheme for Twyford railway station.
The scheme will involve building a fourth arm to the roundabout on Wharfdale Road, and the parking will be moved to a temporary location when construction begins.
Cllr Rachelle Shepherd-DuBey, Liberal Democrat councillor for Winnersh, asked planning officers to brief Winnersh Parish Council when a decision had been made for the location of temporary parking.
Cllr Andrew Mickleburgh, Liberal Democrat councillor for Hawkedon also questioned whether the new parking location would impact congestion around Showcase roundabout and Lower Earley Way during rush hour.
But this did not seem to be a concern to the planning officers or highways manager.
