Member Article

Green light for Reading FC training facility plans

Wokingham Borough Council has granted planning permission for Reading FC’s new training and Academy facility at Bearwood Park in Wokingham.

The plans have been in the works since contracts were initially exchanged with the Royal Merchant Navy School Foundation for the purchase of nearly 120 acres of land back in October 2013.

According to [FCBusiness](http://fcbusiness.co.uk/news/article/newsitem=3790/title=reading%92s+new+training+ground+gets+green+light), the club, which has had its current training facilities at Hogwood Park since 2004, hopes that the new development will help to maintain the best possible Academy category status within that structure.

The new site plans to host a total of 13 different-sized football pitches, including three full size first team pitches which will be designed to mirror the exact dimensions of Madejski Stadium, a floodlit all-weather surface and two goalkeeping practice areas

The stadium will be home to a purpose-built first team building and a separate Academy facility as well as a number of various other ancillary buildings.

Development work on the site is due to begin shortly and it is hoped that some of the facilities will be in place for use in the summer of 2016.

Reading Football Club’s chief executive, Nigel Howe, said “We’ve been working on this development for a couple of years, not including the years we spent looking for the right site. So now, to have planning permission granted, it is an incredible result for Reading Football Club

“When we first relocated to Hogwood Park, we thought we had the perfect facility. And it has been a fantastic venue for the club’s second home. But especially in terms of the EPPP requirements on the club, we have now outgrown it.

“This new site will be host to Academy players from the ages of eight to eighteen as well as our young professionals and the first team squad, coaching staff and management. It will be a facility that demonstrates our ambition to improve, a training ground which will hopefully help us to attract the best young players to the club.

“There is still a little bit of final legal work to complete with the council before we can get started, but we are looking forward to seeing an exciting development start to take shape.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .