British Rowing wants to revamp training base near Caversham

A plan to revamp a facility used by the country’s elite rowers has been submitted for approval.

British Rowing wants to “improve and modernise” the Sherriff’s Boathouse at the Redgrave Pinsent Rowing Lake in Caversham and build a new boathouse on the site.

The facility was built in 2006 and extended in 2013, but athletes’ needs have “evolved” since then, it said.

It is used by about 60 world class rowers and 20 staff on a daily basis, mostly between October and July.

An improved physiotherapy room and coaching offices, along with more accessible changing facilities for women, are proposed.

Currently offices in the boathouse are “fitted in and around other facilities within the building, limiting collaboration between different coaching teams”.

Approval would help improve that and also “provide areas for athlete privacy, which is currently lacking”.

The current boathouse is named after businessman David Sherriff, who came up with the idea of the British Rowing base, donated the land, and paid for the project to go through the planning process.

The plan has been submitted to South Oxfordshire District Council for approval.

Reading Borough Council has objected because of what it said was “insufficient information” about the proposal’s impact on nearby roads.

British Rowing said it expected no extra traffic to be generated by its proposal.

But Reading Council said it thought it was likely to cause more of it and “would adversely affect the safety and flow of users of the existing road network”.