Campaigning for better facilities for residents in Southcote

This afternoon I popped down to Coronation Square in Southcote to support a campaign being led by local Lib Dem campaigner Dave Warren to get the Council to ensure developers include delivery of new community facility as part of the redevelopment of the former Happy Prospect pub site.

It was great to catch up with Dave who along with local shopkeepers and residents is collecting signatures for a petition to Reading Borough Council to be presented later this year.


Clearly it is important to provide more housing on the site but given the loss of a pub is also the loss of a local community facility there also should be some compensation for residents who live in the area.

Hard copies of the petition are being circulated but you can also sign it online here.

Dave is a great community activist who lives in the heart of Southcote and cares deeply about his area.

I was shocked the way that Cllr Pete Ruhemann, local Labour councillor for the area tried to misepresent the campaign at the full Council meeting.

This was totally uncalled for and not what I would expect from someone who is both a ward councillor for the area and Chair of the Planning Applications Committee.

Doing this hardly encourages residents to get involved in improving their neighbourhoods.

I hope going forward Labour councillors can put politics aside and support Dave's campaign

Anyway, it was good to speak to local shopkeepers in the area today and hear of their support for what we are doing.

This is the latest in a series of things local Lib Dems have have done to improve Southcote for residents.

In fact, Lib Dems have led improvements in Southcote in recent times via the Council's innovative Decent Neighbourhoods Fund, including:

• Funding of a water supply to enable an allotments project to proceed in Southcote (part of the ‘Surf and Turf’ initiative)
• Delivering a new outdoor gym specifically aimed at older people. Improvements to the nearby children’s play area are an additional part of this project.
• Additional street lighting

We also supported the local GrowAllot Campaign for a community allotment and it was great to see this win funding for the project from the Big Lottery Fund.

We'd love to hear from residents who would like to get involved in our campaigns to improve Southcote after years of neglect by Labour councillors for the area.

Please join us on Facebook or contact me.