Sir David Amess Summer Adjournment

Matt Rodda Excerpts

Tuesday 22nd July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Matt Rodda (Reading Central) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to be able to speak in this afternoon’s debate. May I pay a heartfelt tribute to Sir David Amess? He was a wonderful man. I also pay tribute to Ian Gow MP for his vital work earlier in the history of this country.

I am very proud of our town, and want to speak about Reading and in particular my constituency of Reading Central. It is a new constituency, although it covers almost exactly the same territory that the Reading constituency covered in the 1950s, so there is some history there. It is very much focused in the town centre and the nearby parts of the town. We have had a year of contrasts, and I want to raise a few important points about my constituency and thank many local people for their work in our community.

It is vital that I start with the recent developments at Reading football club. I say an enormous thank you to Rob Couhig for buying the club and helping us out of the terrible trough that we were in. I also thank the Government for their work, including previous cross-party work, on the Football Governance Bill, an important piece of legislation that I believe will prevent any other English club from suffering the dreadful fate that Reading suffered for five years under an irresponsible owner who threatened its very future. I want to thank not only the new owner but the players and fans of Reading who have been through an unimaginable time. It is with great pride that we support our club and we look forward to a better season in the new football season later this year.

I appreciate the pressure on time this afternoon, so I will try to focus my remarks on a few other key issues in our community. One other vital issue for many of my residents, and for me, is the future of Reading jail. This wonderful historic building, which dates back to the 1850s, has been left empty for some years, and I have campaigned for some time, as many colleagues may know, for it to be turned into an arts and heritage hub in memory of Oscar Wilde, who was incarcerated there. It would be the most incredible facility for our town, bringing new opportunities in the arts and heritage to Reading. Indeed, it would also encourage tourism to the town, given that we are the western terminus of the Elizabeth line and very close to not only London but cities such as Oxford and Bristol.

I am pleased that the jail was bought by a sympathetic developer, and I look forward to a successful tender exercise for a new architect and further planning work being carried out.

I am also pleased that in the interim, the jail is being used for filming. If anyone watches crime thrillers, they may notice that some prison interior shots are filmed in Reading jail. That is an indication of just how wonderful the site could be. Back in 2014, there was an incredible exhibition at the jail run by the charity Artangel, in which individual cells were used for installation art, and Oscar Wilde’s poetry was read in the prison chapel. It was an incredibly moving experience. One member of the arts world from London was talking on his phone in front of me as we walked down one of the cast-iron walkways, which looked like something straight out of “Porridge”, and he said the wonderful words, “I’m in Reading. It’s really rather good.” I hope that more people can appreciate our town and understand how really rather good we are.

I would like to briefly celebrate our rivers and wonderful green spaces. There was some great news yesterday from the Environment Secretary about action to tackle pollution in rivers, a huge issue locally in both the Thames and the Kennet, a major tributary, and other watercourses such as Holy Brook, which have been polluted shockingly in recent years. We have also suffered from flooding. However, there is great news of important improvements to parks and riverside spaces led by Reading borough council and in partnership with many other community organisations.

I am aware that I have limited time, but I would like to briefly plug other local heritage, including the restoration of Cemetery arch, a historic landmark in Reading. I pay tribute to our dear friend Nick Cooksey, who sadly passed away, who had been leading the project brilliantly. I look forward to further work on the project. I thank our wonderful voluntary groups and our many small businesses that make us such a vibrant town and the major shopping centre for southern England. I am grateful for the new investment in the town at Station Hill where nearly £1 billion has been spent renovating the area and improving it dramatically, with a super new tower full of business accommodation and several new large blocks of flats in the area, which was once home to a car park.

I want to celebrate our public services, particularly our NHS, schools and police, who do such a wonderful job. I conclude by thanking you, Mr Deputy Speaker, for the opportunity to speak, and I once again pay tribute to Sir David. This is a wonderful tradition, and I am proud to have contributed.