THE bidding period for Reading gaol will run until December 6, it has emerged.
The historic Grade-II listed building has been put on the market by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) who intend to sell the site to the highest bidder.
READ ALSO: Reading Gaol officially put up for sale.
Deputy Leader of Reading Borough Council (RBC), Tony Page, explained the MoJ has allowed a two month bidding period that will run until noon on Friday December 6, 2019, for any interested person or organisations to submit a bid.
He revealed: "The council or Theatre and Arts Reading will be submitting a bid which I would describe as the community interest bid.
"We, the council and TAR, are looking at detailed work at the moment and we will be in a better position to give more details closer to that time.
"But there will be a bid going in that seeks to protect the longer term interests of the prison in terms of promoting the maximum public access and raising its profile nationally and internationally."
Hilary Scott, TAR's executive secretary, explained the bid will either be a joint bid with the council or will come from the council or TAR themselves.
READ ALSO: Theatre and Arts Reading reveal their proposals for the gaol.
She said: “We are absolutely working with them (Reading Borough Council).
"We said if they want to bid themselves, we’ll share our bid information with them and we would not bid against them.”
Campaigners have rallied together to try and save the prison and turn it into an arts and heritage site for the community.
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