Campaign to save Reading Gaol site hots up

19th April 2023

REDA joined the recent Reading Gaol protest march which culminated in a gathering of some 500 proud local people exasperated about the lack of progress towards the sale of the Gaol site by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ).

REDA Executive Director, Nigel Horton-Baker, laments the lack of Government action and makes the case for local ownership.

The organisers of the recent march, Save Reading Gaol, encouraged each and every one of us to send a personal email to the Prisons Minister Damien Hinds MP.

As reported in the Guardian in March,  it is now nearly 10 years and 15 Ministers since the Gaol closed and we are still hearing the same old story from the MoJ, that they are in the process of selling the Gaol and negotiating the matter with an interested party.

This is despite a valid and professional corroborated financial offer to buy the prison by Reading Borough Council, which Is still on the table but not being considered.  Ten years on, we ask ourselves, is it not obvious that this is not a commercially viable site that a developer could just cover with high rise top of the range flats?  Listed Building status and history is mitigating this.  Is it not obvious that recession, pandemics and dilapidation must have knocked the bottom out of any inflated Thames Valley property market valuation of the site.  Is the MoJ just being greedy and unrealistic about the price they can achieve and never likely to achieve? It’s time that the MoJ seriously considered the impact of depriving Reading of the economic development value of the site for 10 years and what a great opportunity it holds to invest in an economic regeneration project to underpin our town centre economy, preserve history and create a global visitor attraction, as well as provide an arts, cultural and community facility for local people.

Over the past 9 months, REDA with its business partners, along with key members of the arts and heritage community, have been developing a more strategic approach to tackling a situation that has seen well-meaning local people passionate about the Gaol ignored and all of us just going around in circles.

REDA and its partners have shared their collective thoughts and strategic case with the Council and our local MPs Matt Rodda and Alok Sharma, both present at the march and who have taken our case to the Prison Minister, Damien Hinds MP.  Any new negotiations however seem still to be predicated on the conclusion of discussions with a third party as yet so far unknown and who hasn’t approached the local planning authority ahead of any final decision to purchase the site.

It will be 10 years in September since the decision was made to review prison sites and instigate a closure programme. As we approach this sad but real anniversary we fully intend to put pressure on central Government to make a decision and to engage with us locally.