East Reading residents are speculating about plans to sell off a playing field, with some fearing up to 100 homes could be built on the site.
Based in Morgan Road, it is currently owned by Reading School, a selective grammar school for boys in Erleigh Road, and used for football and other sports.
In late 2020, the school began a consultation on selling part of it to fund enhanced indoor sporting facilities and improved pitches, including a 3G pitch at the Morgan Road site.
Neighbours speculated that the field could be turned over to a developer to build around 100 homes or apartments on it.
Concerns about a future apartment development have been expressed by the Save Morgan Road Playing Fields group, which has a presence on Facebook and Twitter.
Recently, the group has engaged in a leafletting campaign. This states: “Since the 2020 PR exercise, there has been complete radio silence. Have they abandoned the scheme? Definitely not.”
Reading School has been accused of ‘saying nothing’ and ‘avoiding public debate’ about the the future of the playing field until a formal planning application is submitted.
The group say a developer has ‘signed up’ and is likely to apply to build 100 apartments in blocks that would be three or four storeys tall, with approximately 130 parking spaces.
They claim to have obtained this information in a Freedom of Information request, adding that a 100-home development could be worth £4.5 million.
However, the homes is currently speculation, as no buyer for the land has been selected yet.
In December 2020, it was reported that The Abbey School had expressed an interest in purchasing the land for sports use.
Responding to the claims made by the campaign group, Ashley Robson, headmaster of Reading School, said: “We understand that there has been concern from some local residents expressed on a Facebook group in relation to the development on land located on Morgan Road currently owned by Reading School.
“We do not recognise some of the claims made on the Facebook group.
“We can confirm that permission has been granted by the Secretary of State to sell a small proportion of the land and that any potential proceeds will be used to fund much needed upgrades to Reading School sports facilities.”
The Local Democracy Reporting Service has attempted to contact the Save Morgan Road Playing Fields but so far has been unsuccessful.
