Stadium development plan approved

Works that would mean a major project to transform the grounds surrounding Reading's Select Car Leasing Stadium can proceed has been given the go-ahead.

The Royal Elm Park project, which includes 600 apartments, a 246-bedroom hotel, an ice rink and a convention centre, was given planning permission in 2017.

Reading Borough Council councillors approved enabling works for it, including ensuring that land that could be contaminated by gas and waste is made safe, at a meeting on Wednesday.

The site was previously a landfill site between 1972 and 1985 and was used as surface-level parking when the stadium opened in 1998.

Last year, the Reading FC Property Company got approval for adjustments to contaminated land conditions to enable work to begin the first phase of the project, which involves the construction of a multi-storey car park.

The company also applied to change the wording of contaminated land conditions to enable further works to go ahead.

The changes effectively state that land management and remedial works must be carried out until the council is satisfied that waste and gases are unlikely to be a hazard.

The proposed wording also states that ground gas risks should be assessed to British standards.

It also states that the Reading FC Property Company must pay a land management monitoring contribution until the council is satisfied that the gas and waste hazard has been removed.

Because of the legal nature of the changes proposed, the decision was taken by the council's planning applications committee.