Essential works to allow a major development at the Reading FC stadium to go ahead have been approved.
Plans have been in the works for a decade to completely redevelop the area surrounding the Select Car Leasing Stadium, the home ground of Reading FC, into a place to live and a leisure destination.
The project involves the creation of 600 apartments, a 246-bedroom hotel, an ice rink and a convention centre.
The plan was initially submitted in 2016 and approved by Reading Borough Council in 2018.
But in order for work to go ahead, details of the risks of working on contaminated land have to be approved by the council.
These details were discussed at a council planning applications committee meeting.
There was confusion over who the developer is, as the applicant was wrongly identified as Reading Borough Council in a report, which was swiftly corrected at the meeting.
There was even discussion about the name, as councillor Jan Gavin (Labour, Caversham) said she was glad to see it referred to as the Madejski Stadium in the report.
At the time, that was the name of the ground, until it was rebranded the Select Car Leasing Stadium in July 2021.
Praising the sponsors, cllr John Ennis (Labour, Southcote) said: “They have been very good for Reading FC in times of trouble, so we should respect their hard work in renaming the stadium even though it’s a longer word.”
He then asked for the name of the developer, with planning officer Alison Amoah clarifying that it is RFC Prop Co Ltd.
There was also speculation about the association of the development with Dai Yongge, who owned Reading FC from May 2017 to May 2025.
Cllr Micky Leng (Labour, Whitley)_said: “I have heard the company is still something to do with Dai Yongge, I think he’s still involved in it, so you’ll have to keep an eye on it.”
Cllr Gavin intervened by saying that the identity of the developer is immaterial.
She said: “For us, the ownership is no consequence, unfortunately sometimes, but that is the case, we cannot make a planning decision based on who owns the land.”
After that, cllr Leng corrected himself and made a quip about the discussion of the name of the stadium, as the development has been branded Royal Elm Park in honour of the club’s previous ground in West Reading.
He said: “I welcome this, I think the residents’ focus on this will be the ice skating rink, which they keep talking about.”
Ultimately, the changes to the gas and contaminated land conditions were unanimously approved at the meeting on September 9.
On Companies House, the secretary of RFC Prop Co is John Roddison, and the company is directed by Horst Joachim Franz Geicke, a German national residing in Hong Kong, Taweesuk Srisumrid and Sumrith Thanakarnjanasuth, who are both from Thailand.
You can view the approved application by typing reference PL/25/0705 into the council’s planning portal.
