Reading University's London Road Campus

Big news this week that the University of Reading is to invest £30 million into refurbishing its London Road campus, much of which falls within the ward.

This is long-overdue; much of the campus has been near-derelict or in a state of some neglect for a long time, with a chequered modern history.

However, the announcement of the refurbishment/redevelopment will go down less well in some quarters.  Local residents are still seething about the plans for the massive redevelopment of a 700-bed new private Halls of Residence at Mansfield Hall (in and very much affecting Katesgrove) by the company Unite - overwhelmingly rejected by Borough Councillors on firm grounds for officers by, staggeringly, an unelected official in Bristol who didn't appear to know what he was doing - with very little that can be done about it.  (Unite are clearly onto a good thing - for them at least; the Halls have no social facilities and can cost upwards of £150 per week!).  University staff and students might also question the spending given the recent cuts to PCSO funding on and around campus, and to staff numbers among other things.

I have written to the University on a number of these points and have pointed out that they will need to repair their relationship with local residents with as much care as they need to take on the numerous listed buildings on-site. 

Comments

[Chris Wood]

Gareth.

I cannot make sense of this sentence:

Local residents are still seething about the plans for the massive redevelopment of a 700-bed new private Halls of Residence at Mansfield Hall (in and very much affecting Katesgrove) by the company Unite - overwhelmingly rejected by Borough Councillors on firm grounds for officers by, staggeringly, an unelected official in Bristol who didn't appear to know what he was doing - with very little that can be done about it.

I suspect there are some words missing.