Work begins on major leisure project in Reading

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Thu 5 August 2021:
Your regular update from Reading Borough Council on our response to the COVID-19 pandemic and how you can help

A message from Reading Borough Council leader Jason Brock

Having peaked again in mid-July, the weekly rate of COVID-19 cases is now falling, which is welcome news. However, COVID-19 has not gone away and there are things we need to do to protect ourselves, our loved ones, vulnerable people in our community and ensure we can keep doing the things we enjoy. These are:

Getting vaccinated. Make sure you get your first and second dose, and please encourage the people you care about to get vaccinated too. Our large-scale COVID-19 vaccination programme has moved from the Select Car Leasing Stadium to a new venue in the Broad Street Mall, where appointments are available from 8.30am to 7.30pm every day. There is also a vaccine clinic at Boots on Broad Street. You can book your vaccine online on the NHS website, or by calling 119.
If you have symptoms, book yourself a PCR test, and isolate if you test positive or are asked to by NHS Test and Trace.
If you don’t have any symptoms, please still do your own regular COVID testing at home. 1 in 3 people with COVID don’t show symptoms, but can still pass it on. Order your free tests from the Government website or by calling 119, or find your local click and collect centre on the NHS website.
Make the most of fresh air, and when meeting family or friends try to meet outside or open windows if indoors.
Continue to wear masks in and around Reading. Thank you if you are doing this – it’s especially important when indoors and in crowded, poorly ventilated areas, and where groups of us mix frequently such as shops, pubs and cafes, public transport and entertainment venues.

Royal Berkshire Hospital is seeing record numbers of people visiting A&E, and many of them require support in their home when discharged. Our social care teams are working hard to ensure residents get the help and support needed, but these high numbers are putting pressure on the teams. If you’re not sure if you need to visit A&E please call NHS 111 first who will be able to help you access the most appropriate service. As the pandemic continues to have an impact, please look on the Reading Services Guide website where you can find a wide a range of services that can help with advice, care and support.

Green bin collection update
COVID-19 continues to have an impact on people’s working lives, especially with so many people having to self-isolate. This has been the case within the Council, and our garden bin collections are currently suspended to ensure we can put available resources and staffing on priority waste and recycling collections. Now, with some additional successful recruitment to the waste team and an ease in the number of staff isolating, we are hopeful of resuming the service around 16 August, should the situation continue to improve. No one paying for the service will miss out due to the suspension, with all subscriptions automatically extended.

Leisure development begins
Despite the challenges of COVID-19, Reading’s major leisure project took a significant step forward this week, as work began at Palmer Park on Monday. This is a key milestone in our £40M investment in modern leisure facilities for the town, including delivering two brand new pools, a modern leisure centre and improvements to existing leisure facilities. You can read more about these exciting changes below.

Reading Children’s Festival 2021
The Reading Children’s Festival began on Saturday and runs for three weeks, with lots of activities to get involved with. You can find out about the wide range of live and digital events taking place in our online publication.

LEISURE DEVELOPMENT BEGINS

Reading’s major leisure project took a significant step forward this week, with work beginning at Palmer Park on Monday. This is key milestone in our £40M investment in modern leisure facilities for the town, including delivering two brand new pools, a modern leisure centre and improvements to existing leisure facilities, by spring 2023. Click the video above to see more about what is taking place.

At Palmer Park, in addition to the refurbishment of the existing stadium building, there will be:

A modern new 25 metre, 6-lane community pool
A 100-station gym with three studios
An activity zone for children with party rooms
And a new café and information hub

Phase 1 of the Palmer Park construction, which got under way on Monday, will complete by the end of September. The initial focus will be on creating the new overflow carpark / coach drop off, then moving on to removing the single-story front entrance.

During the first phase, the area of work will be surrounded by heras fencing for the safety of the public. The contractors working on the construction will aim to keep disruption to stadium, sports, clubs and park users to a minimum. There will be regular updates provided on any impact to the existing car parking at the stadium during the construction.

In phase 2, major work will begin on the construction of the new swimming pool, changes to the existing entrance and the creation of the new café and information hub space. The new community pool and facilities will open to the public in late 2022.

Work is anticipated to start at the Rivermead site on 30 August after the Reading Festival. The new Rivermead facilities will include:

25m 8-lane competition pool, with moveable pool floor
Splash pad for younger users
Diving pool with moveable pool floor
25m 5 lane club/swim lesson pool (demountable pool)
A café, information hub, and soft play

There will also be improvements at South Reading and Meadway leisure centres starting later this year.

For further information on the leisure project visit www.reading.gov.uk/newleisure or follow us on social media - links are at the bottom of this email.

KEEP UP TO DATE WITH THE LATEST COVID-19 RESPONSE NEWS FROM READING BOROUGH COUNCIL

With the latest advice and service information changing regularly, you can keep up to date by following our dedicated page to the Covid-19 response here: https://www.reading.gov.uk/coronavirus
Please also follow us on Facebook and Twitter (links below) for regular updates.

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