St Laurence Church wall will finally be repaired after around 30 years of being held up by scaffolding

The church has had scaffolding on it since the 1980s, but Reading Borough Council has now given permission for parts of the wall to be demolished and rebuilt

The Grade II-listed wall of St Laurence Church propped up with scaffolding since the 1980s is to be repaired at last.

Reading Borough Councils planning committee approved plans on Wednesday to demolish five sections of the wall and rebuild them on new concrete foundations where necessary and reusing existing bricks.

It's wall beginning to come together finally

The work programme has been backed by English Heritage, but must be approved by Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles.

In a report to the planning committee, English Heritage said: The poor condition of the wall and its unsightly scaffold supports has been a blot on the townscape for many years and this opportunity to address the problem should be seized.

These repair and rebuilding proposals have been formulated following extensive discussions

between the council highways team, its conservation advisors, specialist conservation engineers and English Heritage.

The scheme retains as much of the historic fabric as possible while stabilising the structure, retaining the trees (which are acknowledgements being important in townscape terms) and ensuring that the pavement adjacent is usable.

Lead councillor for strategic environment, planning and transport Tony Page made his often-repeated joke that the scaffolding had been up so long it ought to be listed too.

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St Laurence Church wall will finally be repaired after around 30 years of being held up by scaffolding