Labour's Naz Sarkar has accused West Berkshire Council of "gross neglect" of the Underwood Road shopping precinct, where the Happy Pea pub has been in flames after what was probably an arson attack.
Mr Sarkar says Labour put out a West Berkshire Banner last year in which they pointed out that "three years after West Berkshire Council announced it was considering a Compulsory Purchase Order for the dilapidated Underwood Precinct, the site remains a blot on the landscape" and that "West Berkshire Tories are happy to spend money on a new cinema for Newbury but won't spend anything here on the borders of Reading."
"Shortly after that Banner had been distributed," Mr Sarkar continues, "local Tory Councillor Brian Bedwell announced he had initiated a 'Councillor's call for action'. Quite why he hadn't been calling for action for years is not clear to me or to local people, but more importantly the call seems to have fallen on deaf ears. Nothing's happened except that the Happy Pea has been vandalised and a fire started there. And what's happened to the Happy Pea could happen to other parts of the precinct too. This place is a public danger."
"I am calling on the Chief Executive of West Berkshire Council," he says, "to take urgent action to secure the site and get the buildings demolished on grounds of public safety. And then if they can't get a developer to budge, get on with this Compulsory Purchase Order they've been talking about for so long. Real action, not pretend words, is what is needed now.!
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