Affordable housing go-ahead at former Reading Swimming pool site

New homes can be built on the long-dormant Reading Central Swimming Pool site that has been vacant for over five years.

The Central Pool in Battle Street, which was run by Reading Borough Council, was closed at the end of January in 2018 as it would have required a £5 million refurbishment which the council felt was ‘very poor value for money’.

Following its closure, the pool was demolished and the council submitted a plan last year to replace it with seven buildings to provide 49 affordable homes and 13 supported living accommodation places.

Of the 49 affordable homes, 29 are reserved for those aged 55 and over.

Demolition of the Central Pool took place later in 2018.

Cllr Tony Page (Labour, Abbey) reflected that the pool was new when he became a councillor, but had ‘deteriorated’.

He said the car park had become ‘plagued with anti-social behaviour, ranging from the infamous Oxford Road sex workers to drug dealers, drug takers, the environment there at times was far from salubrious’.

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