Wokingham Road cycling scheme update

On the Wokingham Road cycle scheme, Reading Council has admitted that it has run out of money and won’t be doing any more of the works related to this scheme. We are letting you know as the council doesn’t appear to have told anyone. There are both pluses and minuses to the remaining elements of this scheme not being taken forward.

Green councillors obviously support measures to boost walking and cycling, but we have shared the concerns of residents about some elements of this scheme. We have been critical of the Tiger crossing by Palmer Park as well as measures which have put cyclists onto narrow pavements – this is especially problematic outside Alfred Sutton primary school. We think this scheme has been a wasted opportunity for more decent on road cycling facilities.

One of the measures which the council disappointingly will not be able to implement because they ran out of money is changing the angle of the entrance to side roads from Wokingham Road. They were due to be made more severe – which would have slowed cars down. This is true for the junctions of Wokingham Road and Holme Road, Regis Park Road, Belle Avenue, Grange Avenue, Pitcroft Avenue which were due to also have similar changes to slow down cars.

Sadly, the Herringbone crossing markings designed to improve things for pedestrians by slowing cars down will not be done at the junctions of Wokingham Road and Belle Avenue, Regis Park Road, Early Hill Road and Holmes Road.

None of the road safety works will be done at the junction of Hamilton Road and Whiteknights Road. This is particularly disappointing with the increased school traffic at this junction which will only increase when Hamilton School which is being built now opens.

However, the council running out of money also means that thankfully the pushbutton pedestrian crossing across Wokingham Road, near Pitcroft Avenue over to the Alfred Sutton school will stay. It will not be replaced with another Tiger crossing like the unpopular one near Palmer Park.

Also, we are pleased that the small pedestrian traffic island in the middle of the Wokingham Road, which residents campaigned for, in between the junctions with Talfourd Avenue and Melrose Avenue will now stay. It will continue to do a good job of helping people cross the road.

The original plans for the scheme can be found on the council’s website here: https://www.reading.gov.uk/council/policies-finance-and-legal-information/transport-schemes-and-projects/ncn-cycle-route-422/

We care about the area and will keep working with you to make it easier and safer to get around especially on foot and by bike.

If you want to get emails on street issues like this for your road let us know.

Tackling road safety and parking problems on the Wokingham Road

We (Green councillors Brenda McGonigle, Josh Williams and I) have been working for number of years to try and tackle road safety and parking problems on the Wokingham Road opposite Alfred Sutton school. Still some way to go! Let me know if you can help.

The Council's proposed solution was of course the double-red lines - these can be enforced by car (with camera) and so don't require an enforcement person on foot. Plenty of tickets have been issued but this obviously hasn't done enough. 

We've had the Council confirm that the camera car can issue tickets for parking in the hatched areas and double parking, so hopefully the message will get across to repeat offenders as they receive tickets. Enforcement stopped during lockdown, but has started again now.

But this also isn't enough - the camera car travels the whole section of the red-route and so is only at that stretch of road every so often for a minute or so. So we have requested a permanent enforcement camera to be located at that site, which the Council has said is an option, but is on hold during Covid, as so many things are. When things become more normal again, we can lobby again for this.

Finally, there will be new pay & display machines by the bays at the shops (although implementation of these is also on hold during Covid) which will make enforcement much easier - no parking ticket will be a fine. At the moment, the bays are 30 minutes free, which means officers have to come back 30 minutes later, by which time cars have moved around.

The pay & display machines could also work with a free period – which we have asked for. You would still need a ticket from the machine for the free period – which as above means only one traffic warden pass is needed to issue tickets whereas at the moment 2 passes are needed.

Hopefully the combination of pay & display, with the car and perhaps the permanent camera we will see significant improvement. We will keep lobbying on this issue. Send me an email if you have time to help with campaigning on improving road safety in this area rob@readinggreenparty.org.uk

East Reading gas holder to be demolished - unfortunately

At the last Planning Committee, unfortunately approval was given for three large blocks of flats to replace the existing East Reading Gas Holder. The blocks range in size from 2 to 9 storeys, and you can see the report that came to Committee here: https://democracy.reading.gov.uk/documents/s9032/ABB%20-%20190627%20Gas%20Holder%20Site%20PAC.pdf

Residents attended the meeting and spoke against it for its overbearing nature, sheer size and the fact that it was unsupported in the Local Plan. Green Councillor on the Committee, Josh Williams, also spoke against it as over-development on a small site, and the mass and scale of a 9 storey building being completely inappropriate for the area. He, along with three other members of the Committee, voted against the development going ahead, but sadly, all Labour Councillors voted for the application to be approved meaning that it was.

Thank you to all residents who took the time to engage with the planning process, with many objecting, and especially to those who attended the meeting itself.

We will miss the gas holder as piece of our industrial heritage and a landmark of East Reading. We don't object to development, especially for much needed housing, but we will continue to support residents against inappropriate and over-sized flats.

Council plans to relocate Phoenix College to Hamilton Centre #rdguk

The Reading Council consultation event on relocating Phoenix College to the Hamilton Centre - where the children's centre used to be until it was closed by the Labour council - is planned for Thursday 12th September between 3.30pm & 6.30pm and will take place in the Community room at Alfred Sutton Primary School.

Proposed works include:

Refurbishment of Existing Hamilton Road Centre
To provide general and specialist teaching accommodation,
ancillary and support spaces including recladding, re-roofing and
re-glazing of existing building.

New Build Hall Block
The construction of a single-storey block comprising main
entrance, dining room, kitchen and changing rooms and a double
height sports / assembly hall.
Associated hard and soft landscaping

Let us know what you think? rob@readinggreenparty.org.uk

We will share more on the planning application when it is submitted.

New Wokingham Road #rdg tiger crossing road safety audit...

The council has responded to our raising residents road safety concerns on the new Wokingham Road tiger crossing with details of the latest road safety audit. No major changes for now but keep letting the council know about any problems and copy us in (network.management@reading.gov.uk and rob@readinggreenparty.org.uk). We will keep working to improve road safety across Reading.

"We can confirm that a road safety audit was undertaken on changes to the crossing on the Wokingham Road in July, including two separate site visits at the end of the school day and a further visit at night. The audit was attended by a representative from Thames Valley Police and RBC officers, in addition to the independent assessor and another road safety professional. As part of the Stage 3 audit, the independent assessor considered concerns raised by members of the public, including those regarding the visibility of pedestrians on, or waiting to cross, the road.

Whilst the draft Road Safety Audit report does not recommend any fundamental changes to the design of the crossing at this time, it does set out the following three recommendations; the application of anti-skid or improved road surface on approach to the crossing, additional tactile paving outside the park to warn those with visual impairments that cyclists are joining the foot/cycle way and reducing the overhang of the tree on the northern footway outside the park to improve visibility of pedestrians/cyclists to eastbound traffic. These are currently being investigated and will be taken forward shortly.

The auditor has also suggested that both driver and pedestrian behaviour continues to be monitored over a short period of time and is reported back to him."

East Reading power cable roadworks - road closures and lights

The council has got in contact with more information including timescales and specific road closures in connection with the SSE power cable installation roadworks – currently causing disruption on the Wokingham Road. More information below. Let us know how this goes and we will keep up the pressure for it to be done as quickly as possible.

If you have any questions contact Luke Massey at the council Luke.massey@reading.gov.uk if you are struggling to get an answer email me rob@readinggreenparty.org.uk

The council says:

"SSE are in the process of laying a new 33khw cable to increase the power supply to Readings Network/substations due to the current supply nearing capacity. The works began outside of Reading Borough (Wokingham Borough from A4 London Road) and will ultimately end at Northumberland Avenue/Cressingham Road sub-station. Due to the location of existing services within the carriageways, and the required space to direct the substantial cables along a suitable route, SSE has considered it necessary to close some streets for safety reasons while the works are carried out.

The works have been taking place on Wokingham Road under temporary traffic signals while ducting is laid between Palmer Park Avenue and Crescent Road. This phase of these works is due to be completed by SSE on 21^st July, then to progress along Crescent Road under their full road closure until 1^st September (throughout the School Holidays to minimise disruption to the schools within this Street).

SSE have committed to issuing a press release and to conducting a letter drop to affected properties prior to the works beginning here. They have provided the below programme of works, but please note this is subject to change dependant on any unforeseen engineering difficulties that they may encounter. SSE’s manager for this project has offered to host a meeting with local councillors to discuss the works in detail should you wish and will keep us updated on any significant developments.

Road Name	Area	Guide Dates	Traffic Management
Wokingham Road	Between Crescent Road and entrance to Palmer Park	17/06/19 – 21/07/19	Traffic Signals
Crescent Road	Between Wokingham Road and Addington Road	21/07/19 – 02/09/19	Road Closure
Cressingham Road	Between roundabout with Northumberland Avenue and Shinfield Road	05/09/19 – 26/10/19	Traffic Signals
Addington Road	Between Crescent Road and Alexandra Road	02/09/19 – 20/09/19	Road Closure
Alexandra Road	Between Addington Road and Upper Redlands Road	20/09/19 – 04/10/19	Road Closure
Upper Redlands Road	Crossing between Alexandra Road and Elmhurst Road	04/10/19 – 14/10/19	Traffic Signals
Shinfield Road	Between Cressingham Road and Elmhurst Road	26/10/19 – 21/12/19	Traffic Signals
A4 London Road	Between entrance to Palmer Park and Roundabout with A3290	14/10/19 – 03/11/19	Traffic Signals
A4 London Road	Across roundabout with A3290 to near Aisha Masjid & Islamic Centre	03/11/19 – 05/12/19	Lane Closures
Elmhurst Road	Between Upper Redlands Road and Shinfield Road	06/01/20 – 28/01/20	Closure
Northumberland Avenue	Between existing substation across roundabout into Cressingham Road	06/01/20 – 11/01/20	Traffic Signals
Palmer Park	Works within park land between Wokingham Road and London Road	TBC	TBC

Wokingham Road #rdg roadworks

We have got more information through on the Wokingham Road roadworks. We are still trying to get a better idea on the timescale for these works. We will keep pushing for them to be over as soon as possible.

"Thank you Councillor, for raising your concerns regarding disruption caused by Roadworks  on Wokingham Road. We wish to clarify the works currently in progress are not related to the National Cycle Network which will follow later this year.  The works in progress are part of planned major works being carried out by SSE for the installation of a new 33khw cable being installed along the A4 corridor. The cable enters Reading Borough on London Road under the Network Rail Bridge, adjacent to the A3290.

At this juncture the cable will be divided into two, running in opposite directions; parallel to the rail line, towards the Tesco store, Napier Road and Vastern Road to connect in to the SSE sub-station. The other cable will cut across the back of Palmer Park and parallel to Palmer Park Avenue, exiting on Wokingham Road, leading into Crescent Road, Alexandra Road Elmhurst Road, Shinfield Road, Cressingham and down to Northumberland Avenue to feed in to SSE sub-station.

To help minimise disruption to Road Users in Wokingham Road these works have been planned under temporary traffic signals and allow for continuous use by Road Users. In comparison other sections of the works are planned with road closures and reduced lane availability in consideration of the timing of works during school term times or Summer holidays around Crescent Road Alexandra and Elmhurst Road. 

We are in frequent contact with SSE and the works are being closely monitored to ensure the works are being completed in a safe and timely manner. 

Should you Councillor, or your Constituent wish to discuss the works further directly with SSE we have been advised they would be happy to explain their works and we would be happy to arrange contact.

Please feel equally welcome to direct any further enquiries regarding these works through myself within the StreetWorks Team."

Why we oppose the Wokingham Road #rdg “cycle” scheme

The current Wokingham Road cycle scheme works are in connection with a cross Berkshire cycle route. As you would expect the Green Party is in favour of improving facilities for cyclists. However we don't support this scheme.

Unfortunately much of this scheme puts cyclists on pavements. We worked with Reading Cycle Campaign campaigners and lobbied the council to redesign the scheme with more on road facilities but the council did not listen. So we opposed the scheme. Of particular concern is:

– along much of the Wokingham Road rather than improving on road facilities the council has taken the approach of putting cyclists on the pavement

– because the council is putting cyclists on the pavement money has been wasted on things like replacing the pushbutton traffic light pedestrian crossing with a Tiger Crossing (zebra crossing for both cyclists and pedestrians) by Palmer Park to cross cyclists from the pavement on one side of the road to the pavement on the other. Another of these is going in replacing the pushbutton traffic light pedestrian crossing across the Wokingham Road by Pitcroft Avenue

– the traffic island in the middle of the Wokingham Road near to the junction with Melrose Avenue is being removed (as this is a pinch point for cyclists) however no other crossing facility is being put in at this location

The full plans for the scheme can be found here: http://www.reading.gov.uk/article/11824/NCN-Cycle-Route-422

The scheme will be safety audited after it has been completed. If you have concerns about the scheme please email the council at: network.management@reading.gov.uk and keep us posted.

We don’t support this scheme, but Green councillors will keep working to improve facilities for cyclists and pedestrians.

UPDATE: following our lobbying the council has installed extra signs and road markings alerting drivers to the crossing.

Deadline for East Reading permit parking consultation is approaching…

The council is now conducting a final consultation on permit parking for your road and area – and the deadline of Thursday, December 20 is approaching.

Your Green Party councillors have been working with residents and transport planners to create a scheme which helps tackle parking congestion and improves road safety.

Following the previous rounds of consultation council transport planners have considered peoples’ views and produced a final version of the permit parking scheme designs. The consultation on the final designs is now live – this is the legally required consultation for the Traffic Regulation Order.

The consultation and design can be found here. Please respond saying if you are in support of or against the scheme:

https://consult.reading.gov.uk/dens/east-reading-study-resident-permit-parking/

The deadline for responses is Thursday, December 20.

The results of this final consultation will go to the Traffic Committee on Thursday, January 10. Councillors will then vote on whether to proceed or not. If the scheme gets the go-ahead the council will start writing to residents about applying for permits and lining and signing the scheme. This would mean that the scheme would go live in the spring/summer 2019.

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

South Park Ward concept drawings for permit parking scheme

Green councillors have been working with residents for a number of years to improve road safety and tackle parking problems in the South Park Ward area (bounded by Eastern Avenue, Whiteknights Road, Church Road and Wykeham Road).

Following the council consultation on the idea of permit parking for the area (which showed a majority in favour of investigating permit parking), council transport planners have produced some concept drawings for consultation showing what a permit parking scheme could look like.

We have input into the concept drawings following the meetings we had with residents. Transport planners have taken some of our contributions on board but unfortunately not all of them.

Have a look at your road and the plans for the area and let us know what you think. The plans are in alphabetical order by road name.

The roads on the west of the Wokingham Road all have fairly standard permit parking with shared use (meaning that visitors can come between 8 AM and 8 PM for up to 2 hours without needing a permit).

Many of the roads between Grange Avenue and Wykeham road have a different sort of permit parking (permit parking beyond this point). With this type of permit parking there are no marked bays and you can park on both sides of the road. However you can’t have shared use (where visitors can come at certain times without needing a permit) with this type of permit parking. Therefore all visitors need a visitors’ permit – you get 2 free books but then have to buy more.

The reason for permit parking beyond this point in many of the roads to the east of the Wokingham Road is council transport planners say the roads are too narrow to have bays on both sides and shared use (free visitor parking at certain times of the day). We disagree with this. If you live in the area you may wish to respond to the consultation saying that you want permit parking bays on both sides with shared use.

The council will be running a consultation on the concept drawings to find out what residents think so the scheme can be updated. I will update this blog post with details when I have them.

As we have said before, if a road is opposed to permit parking we will not impose it against the wishes of residents.

We have also produced a short guide on how permit parking works: http://cllrrobwhite.blogspot.com/p/frequently-asked-questions-about.html

Green councillors care about the area and we will keep working with you to improve road safety and tackle parking problems.

Working to tackle queues at the Three Tuns traffic lights

A number of people have contacted me about problems at the 3 Tuns traffic lights creating unnecessary queues of traffic. I have lobbied Wokingham Council on this issue and they are taking some action to improve things.

What do you think? Have things improved at the traffic lights? Full response below.

"Dear Councillor White,

Thank you for your recent letter regarding the traffic lights at the Three Tuns Crossroads in Earley, which has been passed to me for reply.

I have spoken to our traffic signals engineer regarding the timings.  He is aware of issues with these lights and has been working with Siemens to resolve them.  I understand that there are problems with the detectors and that the controller needs upgrading.

Following discussions with Siemens, I understand that the detectors will be replaced on the 5^th of June.  In addition to this, the controller will be upgraded on the 6^th of June.  It is intended to have the controller run MOVA (Microprocessor Optimised Vehicle Actuation), which should help improve the responsiveness of the lights to queues.

It should be noted, however, that while this will significantly improve the situation, it will not eliminate queues entirely.

I hope this helps to answer your query.  However, if you would like further information, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Kind Regards,".

Progress on letting the building that was the Chalkboard café…

Things have started to move with the council letting the building that was the Chalkboard Café. Green councillor Brenda McGonigle asked a question on this earlier in the week (question and response below).

If you are interested in getting something going at the building in Palmer Park that was the Chalkboard Café then the documentation can be found below.

Palmer Park Lodge application form
Palmer Park Lodge scoring system
Voluntary sector bidding opportunity – Palmer Park Lodge

As a parent and regular user of the park over the winter I have been sorely missing being able to grab a hot chocolate, warmup and use the toilet. Having no Café has left a hole in the community. I hope it can be opened up as soon as possible!

QUESTION Palmer Park Building

Can we have an update on the building that was the Chalkboard Café in Palmer Park. Are there any plans for its use in the near future?

REPLY by the Lead Councillor for Culture, Sport and Consumer Services (Councillor Hacker):

Thank you for your question Cllr. McGonigle. 

As you may be aware the previous occupier who was running the Chalkboard Café withdrew from the lease agreement because the business was not financially viable.  The Council is therefore looking for a new occupier and will be launching a new community letting process by the end of the current financial year.  This will include all relevant application documents and information relating to rental fees for the site with a view to having a new operator in place ready for the busier trading period from May onwards.  The opportunity will be advertised publicly through both the Council’s and Reading Voluntary Action’s (RVA’s) websites and networks.

A bit closer to better crossing up near the Three Tuns…

We have been keeping up the pressure to make sure Wokingham Council looks into the feasibility of a new pedestrian crossing near the Three Tuns. At the moment there is no direct formal crossing over from the estate agent to the Co-op at the junction of Wokingham Road and Church Road. Update from Wokingham Council below:

"Wokingham Borough Council have commissioned their consultants, WSP, to undertake the assessment and I can also confirm that traffic, pedestrian & cycle surveys and initial data collection has been completed.  The consultants are now preparing a traffic model of the junction prior to testing the provision of a formal crossing facility.  Following that, there will be design considerations before a final report is provided for the council to consider which is currently expected in April 2018."

Detailed consultation results for East Reading permit parking scheme

Above: map showing consultation results. Click on it for a bigger version.

Thanks to everyone who responded to the East Reading permit parking consultation. The council have done the initial analysis of the results.

Recently councillors and transport planners met to look at the initial analysis. From the consultation responses, across the area there is a majority in favour of introducing permit parking.

Below is a link to the detailed consultation results for the East Reading permit parking scheme. Please be aware the report linked to below covers a number of different permit parking schemes, the detailed road by road breakdown is at the bottom of the report in Appendix 2.

http://www.reading.gov.uk/media/8427/Item07/pdf/Item07.pdf

If given the go-ahead at the March committee Transport Planners will then design a scheme for the whole area.

This scheme will be informally consulted on over the summer and the final formal consultation will be done towards the end of the year. A scheme could then be implemented in 2019.

Not all roads had a majority in favour of permit parking. However it was decided to produce a scheme for the whole area to minimise any displacement of parked cars, without permits, from new permit parking roads to free parking roads at the edge of any new zone. The informal consultation over the summer and the formal consultation later in the year will be opportunities for any people opposed to permit parking to voice their concerns. If the strength of feeling in any roads is great enough then they could be removed from the permit parking scheme.

We will continue to keep people updated by email, paper letter and by holding more street meetings and public meetings as we did over the consultation period. We believe it is important that residents are kept informed so you can respond thoughtfully to consultations and get the best result for your road.

We do not have emails for everyone in the area so please forward this on to anyone who you think might be interested. If you receive a forwarded email let us know if you would like to be added to the list for future updates.

Your Green councillors care about the area and will continue to work to with you to improve it.

Respond to Wokingham Road pay-and-display consultation

The council is now consulting on introducing pay-and-display in a number of areas across the town including the Wokingham Road shopping area near to Alfred Sutton primary school.

Green councillors think pay-and-display in this area will help tackle some of the parking problems and improve road safety. However we want to see a free initial 20 minutes. If you agree with us respond to the consultation by March 1, 2018 saying that you want an initial free period for the Wokingham Road pay-and-display. You can respond to the consultation by emailing: highway.objections@reading.gov.uk

The proposed charges are:

8 am – 8pm
Up to 20min – 70p
Up to 40min - £1.20
Up to 1hr - £1.60
Up to 1hr 20min - £2.20
Up to 1hr 40min - £2.70
Up to 2hr - £3.20

Full consultation details here: https://consult.reading.gov.uk/dens/proposed-pay-display/

Your Green councillors care about the area and will keep working with you to improve it.

Stopping drivers from mounting the pavement on Crescent Road

Many people have contacted us about drivers mounting the pavement on Crescent Road and putting people in danger. Some people have even been clipped by cars! Your Green Party councillors agree that this is totally unacceptable and have been working with residents, schools and the police on this issue.

Following our request the council will be painting some stretches of single yellow line along Crescent Road – on the section opposite to the schools. These will act as passing places for the traffic. There will also be signs on the pavement which will act as bollard's deterring drivers from mounting the pavement.

These measures have already been consulted on and we have been lobbying for them to be installed as soon as possible. The council says that this will happen in the next few months.

We know that more action is necessary to truly address this problem along the whole of Crescent Road and we will keep working with you to tackle this road safety concern.

Wokingham Road area permit parking consultation deadline this Friday

The deadline for the Wokingham Road area permit parking consultation is Friday this week (February 2, 2018). Please respond to the consultation or you could submit further comments to responses already submitted online using the link at the bottom of this information. A few things to keep in mind:

• The Red Route will be implemented soon along the Wokingham Road pushing more parked cars on to the side roads. Also pay-and-display is to be consulted on for the Wokingham Road shopping area and Palmer Park. Again this will push more cars on the side roads.
• Hamilton Road and some other roads have severe parking problems – go for a walk down there if you haven’t been recently. Hamilton Road residents were surveyed recently and 86% of them supported permit parking.
• If residents say yes to permit parking then the council will draw up a detailed scheme. The detailed scheme will then be consulted on.
• If residents say no to permit parking in some roads and yes in others then the council has said it will draw up plans and consult on a smaller scheme – most likely and as a minimum in the Hamilton Road area where there are severe parking problems.
• It has taken approximately 3 years of working with residents and lobbying the Council to get to the point of consultation. If roads vote no it is unfortunately likely that they will not be consulted by the council again on this issue for some time – even if there are knock-on parking problems.
• Some extraordinarily high permit parking charges have been mentioned to us by residents. These are not for areas comparable to the east of Reading but for the very centre of places like London and Manchester.
• Unfortunately the council did not include an option of “I only support permit parking if nearby roads decide to have it”. If this is your position then please put this as a comment in the section at the end of the consultation.

You can respond to the Wokingham Road area permit parking consultation by following the link below. You can also submit additional comments by following the link: http://www.reading.gov.uk/eastreadingstudy

Wokingham Road area permit parking consultation meeting

The Wokingham Road area permit parking consultation is now available online – link at the bottom of this post. If you live in the proposed permit parking area you will get a paper version of the consultation through your letterbox. We are holding a public meeting for people to come along, find out more and ask questions.

Public meeting details below:

When: Thursday, January 25 starting at 8 PM

Where: Alfred Sutton primary school, 148 Wokingham Rd, Reading RG6 1JR. In the community room.

Everyone who lives in the area is welcome. The deadline for the consultation is February 2 2018.

We believe though that the best way to start to tackle road safety and parking problems in the area is to introduce permit parking. If you want to get street emails on issues like this then email me: rob@readinggreenparty.org.uk

Thanks to Google for the map.

The red lines on the map above show roads which have permit parking in east Reading. You can see that the Wokingham Road area is surrounded. The overspill from these permit parking zones, especially the newly introduced Hospital and University zone is what has caused a worsening of parking problems. These issues start at Hamilton Road, which has recently done a survey showing 85% of people are in favour of permit parking, and head east.

Your Green Party councillors (Josh Williams, Brenda McGonigle and myself) have long been working on this issue. When we surveyed residents about permit parking across the area recently, over 60% said they were in favour of permit parking. This support was either outright or if nearby roads decided to have it.

We believe urgent action is needed on the roads most acutely impacted such as Hamilton Road. There have already been a number of consultations in this area and we believe we could go straight to the design phase. We believe an areawide solution – most likely a combination of permit parking and double yellow lines – is best so as not to simply knock at the problem on to the next road. But if an areawide solution can’t be achieved then we must help those roads most in need with smaller schemes.

We have already held a number of meetings in roads and we have a few more in the pipeline. If you have been to one of the smaller road meetings then you don’t need to come to this meeting.

We have produced a frequently asked questions on how permit parking works.

A link to the consultation and supporting documentation can be found below. Please either respond online or by post to the one which will come through the letterbox: https://consult.reading.gov.uk/dens/3bb628e4/

We care about the local area keep working with you to improve it.

A new café in Palmer Park…

Following the sad demise of the Chalkboard Café in Palmer Park we have been continuing to lobby the council to get a café reopened as soon as possible – Green councillor Josh Williams is taking the lead on this.

The council says that they will be starting the letting process this financial year (and inviting people to apply). They hope to have a new operator back up and running for spring 2018.

Luke Lloyd at the council is overseeing this process. He says that the letting opportunity will be advertised via the Council and Reading Voluntary Action channels. But if anyone wants to register interest in advance they can do by emailing him: luke.lloyd@reading.gov.uk

We care about the local area and will keep working hard to get the café back open.

Why not join the Green Party and help us make a difference? http://greenparty.org.uk/join

Greens working hard on South Park Ward road safety and parking

We had a good street meeting on Green Road last night to talk about parking problems and to develop a scheme for the road.

A scheme in Green Road would be part of a larger South Park Ward permit parking area.

In preparation for the meeting I thought about what has happened in the run-up to the road safety and parking problems which I have copied and pasted below.

Let us know if you would like a street meeting for your road to work on tackling road safety and parking problems in the South of Park Ward. We will keep working with residents to improve the area: rob@readinggreenparty.org.uk

Timeline

3 years ago – Council starts actively working on a parking scheme for the Hospital and University area.

3 years ago – we suggest to Labour councillors that we work together on a bigger areawide scheme to prevent the parking knock-on which we have now. Labour said no.

2 years ago – we work with residents across a number of roads (Hamilton, Bulmershe, Crescent and more) collecting signatures on petitions asking for permit parking to prevent the parking knock-on problems from occurring. We also organised and attended public meetings on this issue. Following this the council transport planners support the idea of investigating an areawide scheme for the South of Park Ward.

This year – Redlands parking scheme goes live and as we predicted this causes problems at the edge of the scheme in roads such as Hamilton Road and Crescent Road.

This year – we have worked with residents, organising and attending meetings, to produce designs for how residents’ parking could work in some of the roads in the South of Park Ward.

This year – we have campaigned with the police, fire brigade, schools and residents for the South Park Ward scheme to be prioritised and for designs to be developed and consulted on.

This year – Labour double yellow line debacle on Hamilton Road has wasted a lot of councillor and officer time.

Recently – the council has agreed to consult on the idea of permit parking for the South Park ward area but not on a detailed design – slowing things down still further.

Unfortunately things are moving very slowly. Pavements continue to be blocked, parking is chaotic and road safety is bad. This is not good enough. We have already consulted residents and are ready to move to the design phase now.

We will continue to work with residents to get the Labour council to prioritise a road safety and permit parking scheme for the South of Park Ward, and get it in as soon as possible.