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Dear Resident Re: Reading Community Church Oxford Road (Grovelands) Building As you may know our church has been working for sometime to redevelop the Oxford Road (Grovelands) church building, on the corner of Oxford and Wilson Roads. The building is now in a poor state of repair and increasingly unsuitable for the variety of activities run from it. We originally obtained planning permission to renovate the building in 2005. However, after looking at the options, the church leadership now believe that it would make more sense for us to demolish the existing old building and rebuild a new church and community centre. We believe this would allow us to develop a much more suitable facility with a range of church and community facilities. This new build option would give us the same space as previous renovation plans but with a better overall lay out. We also understand, from our professional advisors, that it would actually be cheaper to develop a new building. And certainly it would be more energy efficient and cheaper to run in the longer term. We could also look at additional space such as 1 or 2 bed flats for church workers, volunteers or local people. Plans will be available on our website, www.readingcommunitychurch.com. Before we put any planning application in, we want to ask our local neighbours around the Oxford Road/Grovelands site what they think about our proposals. We would also like to know what community facilities and services you would like to see in the new building? Please return the attached reply slip to the church building, or ring us via our church office on 0118 9415557. We would also like to invite you to an open meeting at the Oxford Road/Grovelands Church site on Wednesday 1st July at 7.30pm to discuss this matter. Reading Community Church’s vision for the Oxford Road is exciting – we want to link a vibrant worshipping Christian community with the arts, local charities and statutory services, social action, business, education and young people to serve the local community as we live out the every day reality of our faith in Jesus. This is an exciting and ‘once in a generation’ opportunity. We are committed to this - indeed, our church members have already given over £100,000 towards the £1million plus we will need for this! So we would be grateful for your time and views as we plan the future for this vital local community and church resource. Yours sincerely Rev AdeYinka Oyekhan JPSenior Minister
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