The decision of the Licensed Trade Charity to close the Elvian School in Bath Road at the end of the summer term has come as no surprise to Southcote Councillor John Ennis, who called a public meeting last summer about LTC's planning application and spoke against it at Planning Committee.
He says he's always been worried that LTC saw the site more as a business opportunity than an educational mission, and believes it's very likely they'll now try and sell the whole site for housing.
But, he points out: "We've already persuaded Reading Borough Council to produce a development brief against which to benchmark any new planning application. The brief will cover issues like protecting the trees and the playing fields and, very importantly access to the site and will be the subject of public consultation so as to make sure it takes the views of local people fully into account."
And Labour parliamentary candidate Naz Sarkar adds: "One of the things the Council needs to look at is whether they ought to reserve part of the site to allow for Blessed Hugh Faringdon Catholic School next door to expand to cater for the growing numbers of children needing secondary school places."
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