Following a residents meeting to discuss the North Wokingham Distribution Road, organised by the Emmbrook Residents Association and Joel Park Residents Association, Wokingham Borough Council Executive Member for Planning and Highway Cllr John Kaiser issued a statement to The Wokingham Paper.
In the meeting, many residents accused the Council of ignoring their views regarding the route of the road: a 2013 consultation revealed that 78% of those voting approved route B, but the plan is to produce a route that uses the proposed routes A and C.
In our report on the meeting, we were only able to use a fraction of what Cllr Kaiser told us.
Here is his statement in full:
“The suggestion that Wokingham Borough Council has ignored residents’ views over the major roads it will be delivering is, frankly, nonsense.
“The Council has carried out major consultation to identify local people’s preferences for the three roads: the North Wokingham Distributor Road, the South Wokingham Distributor Road and the Arborfield Cross Relief Road. It was always made clear that the final road route would be subject to detailed technical study, however, in two of the cases we will be delivering pretty much exactly what people have called for and in the third (North Wokingham) we will be delivering a very large proportion of the most supported route.
“In the case of the Arborfield Cross Relief Road, the route we are now delivering is the one that received the most local support – despite this being a complete change from the Council’s original preference. This is a clear example of how we listen to local people and act on their comments when possible.
“The South Wokingham Distributor Road is in an earlier stage of development; however WBC is working to deliver the road in-line with the clear preference shown in its public consultation.
“In North Wokingham we have been able to accommodate much of what local people wanted – the road will avoid most of Old Forest Road, which was a key concern for residents, it will avoid Warren House Lane completely. Both of these are changes brought about by the public consultations.
“Sadly, the Council’s detailed investigations have shown that it is not possible to meet the local aspiration of avoiding Toutley Road completely due to the unaffordable engineering work that would be required to deal with the large scale environmental impact of the route. It is also worth pointing out that the proposed alternative route (avoiding Toutley Road to the north) would actually increase traffic using other local roads in Emmbrook because it would be unattractive to many drivers heading to or from the Reading Road.
“We were delighted to see so many residents at the forum on Wednesday and we will now work directly with residents in Toutley Road on changes needed to the road and will also be talking to people in Old Forest Road to get their views on whether it should become a cul-de-sac once the new road is built.
“In general, we have always used, and will continue to use, all efforts to mitigate the effects of development in and around the borough. Delivering infrastructure as quickly as possible and where we can in advance of development.”
