READING MPs Matt Rodda and Alok Sharma have announced that they are meeting with the Prisons Minister to discuss the future of Reading Gaol.
The site has been empty since 2014 and is currently owned by the Ministry of Justice, which has sought to sell the site.
Mr Rodda and Mr Sharma have been in agreement that the site should be used for the benefit of the town as a whole.
Now Mr Rodda has announced that they are both set to speak with Damian Hinds, Minister for Prisons, Parole, and Probation at a meeting on Monday, February 27.
The news comes shortly after Save Reading Gaol, a campaign group seeking to reserve the space for public use, announced it would stage a protest march next month.
Members of the campaign are set to march from The Hexagon to the site of Reading Gaol, seeking to give the Ministry of Justice “a clear message: we don’t want the historical gaol to become luxury flats.”
A petition calling for the Ministry of Justice to approve a bid that would convert the prison for arts use received approximately 9,000 signatures as of last year.
Mr Rodda and Mr Sharma met then-Prisons minister Victoria Atkins, the Conservative MP for Louth and Horncastle, to discuss the plans last year, but she was subsequently replaced in the role.
Mr Rodda said last year that he was working with local arts and community groups and Reading Borough Council to develop an alternative proposal for the Gaol’s future.
He also said he had been in contact with artist Banksy regarding the site, which currently sports a piece of his original artwork depicting a prisoner escaping with a typewriter.
Banksy themselves joined Stephen Fry, Kate Winslet, and Dame Judi Dench in backing proposals for the site to become an arts hub.
Last year, Gyles Brandreth said of the site: “It’s exciting to have Banksy-style murals, and the potential for doing interesting things with it is very, very great.”
Mr Rodda said: “I am optimistic about the meeting and I hope it can be a turning point after 10 years of having the gaol moth balled by the Ministry of Justice.
“The Ministry has been trying to sell the gaol to their preferred bidder for some time without any success, I do think it is now time for them to think again and to work with Reading Borough Council, Banksy, local arts and heritage groups and with me.
“There is a real opportunity to deliver something amazing for our community and for the country as a whole, to find an exciting new use for this incredible historic building.”
MPs Matt Rodda and Alok Sharma are due to meet with the Prisons minister on Monday, February 27.
The Save Reading Gaol campaign march is due to take place on Saturday, March 25, from midday, at The Hexagon.
