Amid the understandable focus on Hochtief’s glacial progress on completing the Shinfield Relief Road, another matter relating to it has been overlooked: the design of the roundabout near to the Magpie & Parrot pub which accesses it.
If one is driving towards Shinfield from Arborfield it becomes apparent very quickly when approaching it that, although two lanes are marked on the carriageway (ahead to Shinfield and turn right for the new road), there is nowhere nearly enough room for two vehicles to negotiate the roundabout simultaneously, side-by-side.
Speculation? No, I actually tried doing so with a friend who drove behind me and, bingo, nowhere to go. This was in two average-width vehicles; imagine the scenario with commercial vehicles and buses.
Why does this matter?
Because it is going to cause delays to traffic travelling to Shinfield/Reading when the new (flood-proof?) road is finally declared open by WBC: drivers wishing to go onward will have to wait behind those turning right because they cannot manoeuvre alongside them and the latter may have to wait, in turn, for vehicles using the new road who emerge at the roundabout wishing to turn right themselves.
This is all so unnecessary, given the generous amount of land WBC had available to build this junction. Actually, it is more than that; it is incompetence and scandalous, considering the loading on this busy route into Reading and the extra that will be caused by nearby major housing development on completion.
WBC Highways Department seems to have a penchant for off-setting and narrowing approach lanes to roundabouts and junctions on already-busy roads.
Witness the roundabout on the Eversley Road leading to Arborfield Garrison New Town (not its real name but that is what it is), where one has to negotiate a very pronounced and unnecessary curve when travelling towards Eversley.
They also did similar at the junction of Bearwood and New roads in Sindlesham, where traffic is thrown together with only millimetres to spare when negotiating it. So a simple question for WBC: why are you intent on engineering delays into an already creaking network?
David Williamson, via email
Editor’s note – the road was delivered by Hochtief, working for the University of Reading
I love Wokingham
I love Wokingham. Ever since I first visited for work 20-years ago I’ve loved it. I loved it so much I moved here, met my husband here and now we’re raising our children here.
When I walk into town I’m bombarded by all the good memories of my growing years as a resident.
The Raglan, the location for my first date with my now husband.
Stitchery-Do, the shop that never humours me when I go in and ask, “what do I need to darn something?”.
Waving through the window to Mark Rath who remembered me from selling my first house nearly a decade ago.
Kaanaanmaa, the shop who helped me to rebel in style when, approaching 30, I finally went against my father’s wishes and had my ears pierced; my sparkly studs came from them.
The seemingly endless and entertaining conversations had with John Bell over sample books.
The quick Peroni enjoyed outside the Courtyard on a summer’s day after work.
Ordering our wedding invites at Jays Printers and oh, the so many off-the-wall conversations had with that guy in Country Drycleaners, you know the one!
This trip down memory lane continues past Café Rouge, a place of much morning coffee and cake while on maternity leave and a place which in turn ‘trained’ my children in how to sit nicely in a restaurant.
M&Co reminds me of an emergency purchase made when as a toddler my eldest imagined she was Peppa Pig and jumped in a massive muddy puddle outside of the Courtyard.
A hop and a skip down to the lovely TG Art Gallery (have you seen their dcuks?) and last but not least, the treasure trove that’s Wokingham Décor.
There are many more businesses that make up Wokingham and play a massive part in my love for the town.
They are all still here and they are still making memories.
So, it bemuses me when I hear “I don’t go into Wokingham anymore”, that” it offers nothing for me”, that “it’s full of charity shops and nail bars”.
As my ramblings above will testify, it really is so much more. It’s true, it’s not Henley, Guildford or now Bracknell but that’s fine, if it were I wouldn’t appreciate making the occasional visits to them as much as I do.
I’m disheartened that there are people in this town who are not resilient to recent changes at its heart and not more forgiving of the Market Place works, who don’t see that this is a moment in time and won’t give it the benefit of doubt.
Remember back to the redesign of Station Road and how much loathing that created? Well in my opinion it’s pretty good now, so just maybe….
I can appreciate that there are some groups in the community who really do struggle with the ever-changing layout, and, I’m not going to kid myself, the already delicate road network around the town has been crippled at periods in recent weeks.
What I have noticed of late however is an increase in the number of push bikes chained to the town’s street furniture, residents choosing to continue coming to town and avoiding them being the traffic jam, hooray.
Wokingham is a wonderful place with a big heart; so, come on people, lets show a little more positivity and support towards our town, appreciate your old memories and continue making new ones.
‘I Love Wokingham’, via email
Don’t be down on the town
Cllr Ian Pittock, who was elected to Wokingham Borough Council as a Conservative but now sits as a Liberal Democrat, describes Wokingham not once, but twice, as ‘chaos’.
I’m perfectly happy for Ian to criticise the Council and me over the regeneration.
We have not made all the right decisions along the way although on the big issues I believe we have been proved right.
Making Langborough Road a one-way street, for example, has had the desired effect of helping the Denmark Street traffic flow more freely out of the town and I notice calls to reverse that decision have now gone away.
But what disturbs me about Ian’s letter is the effect on potential visitors considering going to Wokingham. I know the town isn’t in chaos and Ian knows that too if he’s visited recently.
There are difficulties, of course there are, but all the shops are open and accessible. All the car parks are available and the traffic flow, though not at its best, is reasonable.
But there’s one way to makes things worse and that’s to knock people’s confidence and persuade them the town isn’t worth visiting.
In the run-up to Christmas, while the Council is doing its best to help the traders by making a reasonable period of free parking available for example, Ian is rowing in the opposite direction.
Could I please ask Ian and some of your other regular letter writers and cartoonists to consider the effect of their contributions?
Especially at this time of the year, we need to be positive about the town.
Cllr Chris Bowring, Executive Member for Highways and Transport, Member for Evendons Ward
Parking not enough
Reading in The Wokingham Paper the council now saying free parking between 3pm and 8am until January, I am asking myself what intelligent person or persons decided that timing?
Do they not know at 3pm the market people are then starting to pack up?
These people who are such nice people are suffering financially. The shops are suffering too and they have their head office waning more profit.
Jobs will go and we shall lose more shops as they’ll close, as some have already.
How short-sighted these councillors are.
We do know a lot of them do not live here and do not care, but the public do care – our market traders and shops are a friendly group and they are important to us.
The council makes enough money and can afford to be more considerate to our shops and market.
Shame on you.
H Boyed, Wokingham
Thank you to the Grays
Thank you very much to Elizabeth, Peter and Paul Gray for all their hard work at Grays Farm during 2017.
Although this excellent community resource of a pick-your-own fruit and veg farm is now closed until May 2018 (and is scheduled to continue until at least 2019), none-the-less there is a very large amount of work that goes in behind the scenes throughout the year and the closed season in getting the soil ready and crops planted for next year.
Thank you to Peter Gray for providing once again his excellent tours around the farm for schoolchildren, in showing them where vegetables and fruit is grown and how.
Many people living in Wokingham and area who have now grown up will have remembered Peter’s talks and the late Donald Gray’s talks before then.
Thank you to Elizabeth Gray [and the other staff there] for all their work in the farm shop and to Paul out in the fields with his young helpers and again to Peter in doing all the hard work and looking after all the bountiful crop we’ve had this year of produce.
Although most people will have driven (if they can get there) to the farm, there is one of my favourite walks where you see a lot of nature and escape the chaos, noise and pollution of the market place redevelopment and the roadworks.
The walk escapes the town and goes via Langborough recreation ground and over Gypsy Lane railway bridge on via the fields past Ludgrove School and up to the farm.
It is wonderful just how much nature there is to see and hear.
So to the Gray family, see you again May 2018 when you reopen for a new season.
Thank you.
Ian Hydon, Wokingham
Building on green belt
As one of the Councillors who was involved over many years to safeguard the green belt by constraining the activities of the then owners of Sheeplands I can categorically confirm that I do not and have never supported building on the Green Belt and never will.
This is a position that I have made public many times, the most recent being in front of hundreds of residents from the Northern Parishes (Wargrave, Ruscombe, Twyford et al) at the recent public meetings.
There is a reason why we have green belt designated land and I fully support these reasons.
I would like to add that there are many councillors of all political persuasion who feel exactly the same.
Cllr Keith Baker
Coronation Ward, Woodley
Care rooms initiative
I don’t agree with the concerns raised about the Care Rooms initiative – pioneered by Dr Harry Thirkettle, and which was due to be implemented in Essex.
Berkshire would benefit from such a scheme – and it could be extended to mental health patients – as well as to those recovering from surgery.
Prospect Park, now our only Berkshire Mental Hospital, is always short of beds, and is always reported to be understaffed. Yet there must be patients who no longer need 24-hour medical attention, but are not sufficiently recovered to cope, alone, in the community.
Care Room – with a bit of support, and meals provided – would meet their needs admirably – until they achieve full recovery – and would free up acute mental health beds for those who need this. I frequently advocate long-term Adult Fostering. This would be the, equally valuable, short-term Adult Fostering. Furthermore, patients frequently complain that Prospect Park’s staff don’t speak English.
Most ordinary Berkshire residents who could provide Care Rooms, would be able to speak intelligible English!
The idea is not so different from that adopted by the crisis house – except that our beds were in a building owned by the local community – La Maison Pour Tous – as the French would have it – rather than in private dwellings.
Quite often, Consultants would refer patients to us – and they would stay for a few weeks – while they got used to normal life again, and sorted out permanent future living arrangements.
Such schemes work very well, but only if the power remains firmly in the hands of the providers of the service, and not in those of the referrers.
We only ever accepted patients for whom we could provide the appropriate level of support, and firmly resisted ever becoming a dumping ground.
As a result, we had a very good success rate – as the Care Rooms scheme would – if thus run with proper safeguards. I think that it should be tried.
Pam Jenkinson, The Wokingham Crisis House, Station Road
Heathrow expansion
The revised proposals for Heathrow expansion reveal just how much damage this reckless project will do.
Heathrow is already having a more detrimental impact on the air we breathe than we realised, with an estimated 86% of the toxic air in the region linked to the airport (up from the Government’s previous estimate of 70%).
And the new consultation makes clear the impact of a third runway will also be more toxic than first thought.
On the basis of its own analysis, the Government must rule out Heathrow expansion. But before the Gatwick’s PR machine leaps into action, it’s worth pointing out that we simply can’t expand any airports.
Aviation is a top ten global polluter and emissions are set to balloon by 300% if action isn’t taken sooner rather than later. In the UK, aviation carbon dioxide emissions are expected to use up more than two-thirds of the UK’s carbon budget by 2050.
At the same time, the Tories’ so-called ‘Clean’ Growth Strategy has admitted we are already on course to bust these legally-binding targets by 2028 – and that’s without any expansion.
By pursuing airport expansion, Ministers are displaying a shocking disregard for the UK’s legal and moral obligation to tackle a genuine air quality crisis and making a mockery of their stated commitment to being ‘world-leaders’ in the fight against climate change.
No new runways is the only answer.
Keith Taylor, Green MEP for the South East and a member of the European Parliament’s Transport Committee, European Parliament
Concerns over Universal Credit
The national press continues to raise concerns about the roll out of Universal Credit which combines six benefits into one and in some cases will result in claimants having to wait up to six weeks before receiving their first payment of Universal Credit.
We at the RAF Benevolent Fund are passionate about helping all members of the RAF Family who are in need.
We launched our Advice and Advocacy Service two years ago following research which indicated that many of our beneficiaries were not receiving the state benefits they were entitled to, such as Housing Benefit, Council Tax Reduction or Universal Credit.
We are keen to hear from anyone who has served in the RAF, including their partners and dependants who find themselves affected by the recent changes to the benefit system.
We may be able to provide advice, advocacy or financial support to help alleviate your financial distress. We can also help in relation to other forms of financial distress.
If you feel we can help you or someone you know, call 0800 169 2942 today or visit www.rafbf.org/help.
Air Commodore Paul Hughesdon
Director of Welfare and Policy
RAF Benevolent Fund
Celebrate our fabulous volunteers
This month we’re celebrating Make a Difference Day – a chance for volunteers from around the nation to come together for a common cause: to improve the lives of others.
We are incredibly lucky to welcome thousands of vibrant volunteers to our charity every year, and I’d like to take a moment to tell your readers why we couldn’t do without them.
I work for Revitalise – an amazing charity that provides respite holidays for disabled people and carers at our Jubilee Lodge respite holiday centre in Chigwell, Essex.
Our guests have always – and will always – be right at the heart of what we do and in many ways our volunteers are our magic ingredient.
In the last year alone, our wonderful volunteers donated 3,467 weeks of their time to live in and support our guests at Jubilee Lodge and two other accessible UK holiday centres.
Whether our guests would like to get out and about to do some exploring on one of our excursions, to make the most of our party nights or if they’d simply prefer to spend time relaxing at our centres – there’s one thing we can always count on to make each moment memorable – our volunteers.
And, for everything our volunteers give, we aim to ensure they gain just as much in return.
From improving attitudes to inspiring our volunteers to play a more active role in their communities, many agreed they had changed for the better, both personally and professionally.
So why not pledge to make a difference this month and join the thousands of other vibrant volunteers making a difference in their communities?
To find out more about Revitalise or the volunteering opportunities we have waiting for you, please visit: www.revitalise.org.uk or call: 0303 303 0145.
Thank you.
Stephanie Stone, Revitalise
www.revitalise.org.uk
Congratulations on making it free to P
Congratulations to The Wokingham Paper and all those others whose campaigning persuaded Wokingham Borough Council to complete a U-turn and introduce (albeit only partial and rather late in the day) a reduction in car parking restrictions and charges, although the time period chosen does appear rather bewildering.
With evenings drawing in, parents collecting their children from school and others busy preparing evening meals, it does rather display a certain lack of thought or imagination on the part of our decision makers.
While not wishing to sound ungrateful, after all, something is better than nothing, surely a more appropriate and beneficial arrangement for shopkeepers and shoppers alike would have been to declare a daytime parking truce, allowing for a free P between 10am and 3pm, thus maximising the ‘convenience’ and ‘relief’ afforded all those wishing to take advantage of this act of festive municipal generosity.
JW Blaney, Wokingham
Santa Claus is hoping to come to town (well, Sheeplands)
I have just been shown a letter that was published in The Wokingham Paper saying that I would not be visiting Hare Hatch Sheeplands this Christmas.
So I want to tell all the children that look forward to seeing me, and the charities that raise money from my visit, that I would love to be there. I really enjoy my annual get together with you all.
I know those nice people at Sheeplands have asked Wokingham Borough Council to give me permission to visit again this year.
So keep looking out for an update each time you shop at Sheeplands farm shop or visit the coffee shop.
I really hope the council will not be Scrooges and deny so many people the chance to meet me again.
Father Christmas, North Pole
