A NEW footpath has been opened in Spencers Wood, helping pedestrians cope with a traffic bottleneck.
Back in August 2017, The Wokingham Paper reported on residents fears that a section of Hyde End Road close to Dobbies Garden Centre was ‘a fatality waiting to happen’ after a traffic accident. We also featured buses having to ride on the affected pavement as the road wasn’t wide enough.
And we reported that landowner the University of Reading was happy to “relinquish some of the land to allow amendments to Hyde End Road to take place”.
As a result, last week Wokingham Borough Council announced that the new footpath was ready for us. It runs from Hyde End Road to Applteon Way, which is currently being widened.
In a statement, the council said that work started at the beginning of the year and took two months to complete allowing the path to open ahead of schedule.
“The safety of our residents is our number one priority,” said Cllr Pauline Jorgensen, executive member for highways and transport. “We’ve listened to them and are pleased to offer them this alternative route where they can feel safe and secure.”
And the news was welcomed by local transport campaigner Ian Young.
He said: “This path is a very welcome addition to the local infrastructure, particularly for those residents keen to walk to and from our local schools.
“It is the culmination of a lot of effort from a whole team of people from the community and elsewhere.
“Particular thanks go to the University of Reading for making the land available, to Shinfield ward members Cllr Anthony Pollock and Cllr Charlotte Haitham Taylor for providing very solid support for the project, and the budget necessary to pay for it, and to Wokingham Borough Council’s highways
team for delivering a professional project.”
In a post on social media, Tess Mayne, whose accident we featured two years ago, said: “We have made Hyde End Road a little safer.”
