Improving Crescent Road roadsafety

We know that roadsafety on Crescent Road is a priority for residents and we are working to improve the situation. Below is a (slightly updated version of a) street letter we delivered to Crescent Road recently.

Re: Improving Crescent Road roadsafety

Dear resident,

We know that unfortunately the parking congestion on Crescent Road has worsened causing traffic congestion and further dangerous behaviour such as driving on the pavement. We were also very alarmed by the car which turned over! Your Green Party councillors remain committed to tackling this problem as a priority to keep our community and especially our children safe.

As you know this situation stems from the introduction of the nearby hospital and university parking scheme and it has worsened with term starting at the University. We lobbied for a Park Ward scheme to be introduced at the same time or shortly after the nearby scheme but this has not been prioritised by the council.

In the short term we have requested an increase in the number of traffic warden and police visits (call 101). We are also helping with getting a crossing patrol at Alfred Sutton back. Finally, the yellow line passing places are still progressing.

You may be interested in getting a white access protection marking to protect your drive access – visit www.reading.gov.uk/maintenanceandroadworks for more information.

We will continue to press for a combined permit parking and yellow line scheme for the area, as well as measures to cut rat running. If you are not currently getting emails from us on this subject let Rob know and he can add you to the list.

We care about the area and will keep working with you to improve it and tackle problems.

Yours faithfully

Rob White, Josh Williams and Brenda McGonigle

Green Party councillors, Reading

PS: we produce a monthly email newsletter with more general information about what is going on in the area. If you want to sign up you can do so here: http://greenparty.org.uk/signup.html

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Pothole repair trial in Reading

We have been lobbying for a long time for shallow potholes – which the council doesn’t currently patch if they are less than 5 cm deep – to be fixed.  These potholes are a hazard for all road users especially cyclists. It is great to hear that the council has just conducted a trial on fixing these potholes. Let us know how this trial goes if you use one of the roads mentioned below.

If you want to get email updates from us about issues like these sign up here: http://greenparty.org.uk/signup

From the council:

“Please be advised that Streetcare Services Highway Maintenance Team will commence a week’s trial of an alternate pot hole repair solution that uses a pressure injection system on pothole defects. We are proposing to use the trial on roads where the depth of defects are below our current 50 mm depth investigatory level.

The trial will target roads of different construction make up, from concrete roads with very thin bituminous / surfacing layers that have scabbed off, to roads where the thin micro asphalt material has worn away. The repair system is a quick / speedy solution that will seal the road in advance of the coming winter, which will provide us with an ideal trail period to evaluate whether this would be an appropriate and durable solution to consider for future use.

Velocity UK Ltd will commence work on Monday 2nd October and are expected to complete by Friday 6th October.

The roads that are scheduled for repair during this trial are:

1.    Whiteknights Road

2.    Redlands Road (Addington to London Road)

3.    The Meadway

4.    Southcote Lane

5.    Portman Road

6.    Trafford Road

7.    St Marys Butts, junction with Castle Street

8.    Kiln Road

9.    Peppard Road service road by no 335

10. Valpy Street

11. Minster Street

12. George Street (Reading)

13. Northumberland (Hartland roundabout to Honiton Road roundabout)

The roads were selected to provide a good spread of roads with different construction makeup, vehicle type and volume use, presence of defects which currently fall below our 50 mm investigatory level criteria for repair, are ordered to provide a reasonable route for the contractor to follow and will be completed subject to available time and weather constraints. The work will be carried out under localise rolling traffic management by RBC Highways & Drainage Team and the working hours will be between 8 am and 5 pm.

We do not anticipate much disruption using this solution as it is quick process and moves along the length of the road fairly quickly. The Highways & Drainage operatives are on hand to provide traffic management and assist local residents who may be affected for a short period of time when any work is directly outside their homes.”