Please sort out Barkham Ride

When will Wokingham Council do something about the surface of Barkham Ride?

 For many years it has been deteriorating until it is now in such a highly dangerous state for any vehicle and absolutely lethal to cyclists. 

Many years ago it was a quiet country lane and barely used but with recent developments in the area it is now a very busy commuter thoroughfare and a bus route. With successive surfaces being added the road widened and some five-six years ago the Council had to realign the drainage channels from the centre of the highway outwards into the grass verges.

 Either they didn’t connect the drains or there is a blockage of some significance near Commonfield Lane which they didn’t fix because since then the road has been liable to flooding every time we have a downpour between the lane and Woodside Close.

On occasion it has even been impassable.

Absolutely nothing has been done about it

The road also has a width restriction on it but this is not being enforced. Since Nine Mile Ride has been closed the volume of traffic has risen significantly. 

As a result, the grass verges have been worn away by large vehicles trying to pass and large potholes have appeared and eaten into the tarmac. 

This morning I had to drive through a large puddle on the road because of on-coming traffic and found myself in an eight-iinch pothole. Two other drivers had done the same and had had to abandon their vehicles.  I suppose I was lucky. A cyclist would not have had a chance.

This road is in a deplorable state.

A ploughed field doesn’t describe it adequately. After heavy rain it is barely one-way traffic. It needs to be re-surfaced urgently before someone is killed.

Our Council has notices around the town boasting about the new roads they are building. 

What about us in Finchampstead? We pay our Council Tax too and we deserve better.

Christine Godin, Finchampstead

Grazeley  concerns

I am appalled that Wokingham is again proposing development at Grazeley after so many of us worked so hard to ‘keep it green’ in the 1990s.

The Council should reject the government’s short-term approach to housing numbers and the government should use the proposed infrastructure funding to install much lower carbon heating in existing homes.

Dormitory towns – ‘eco’ or not – are the antithesis of ‘sustainability’. At a distance from major employment hubs and shopping centres they increase demand for transportation. Employment should be within cycling range for most people.

 This would be a terrible loss of open country and it would be many years before the new ‘garden village’ was large enough to develop community identity and facilities.

We are in a crowded corner of a small island on a finite planet. Central and local government must use effective measures to manage population growth and distribution if future generations are to be both prosperous and sustainable.

John Booth, Earley

Against Grazeley

We oppose  Wokingham Borough Council building homes at Grazeley and destroying the environment and wildlife in that area also for people to enjoy the out look and get away from the bad pollution of Wokingham.

Victor Rones.

J & R Associates.

Social Justice. Berks

Denmark Street car park update

What news I ask of Wokingham Council about the purchase of Denmark St Car Park that nearly five months ago the Council were going to consider buying.

The Revenue lost is quite considerable, along with the good will of Wokingham Residents.

I live near there and over these months I have lost count of the motorists who could not find anywhere to park
and who said they would not be coming back to Wokingham as they had been going around to find a space to park, could not do so and who said they would be shopping elsewhere in future.

The news that we hear of High Street shops dying a death only makes me fear for Wokingham and the Traders trying to make a living here.

Comments made by the Public in other towns was the lack of local easy Parking. Come on Wokingham, address this issue before it is too late.

 Jean Olney, Wokingham.

Forget new towns

Here we are with a new Prime Minister who wants to shift much more of the nation’s activities/wealth to the old ‘red north’ of England, only to find ‘local planners’ talking about a new town in Grazeley!

Why is a new town now being considered?

We have too many problems in Wokingham, such as a deadly health hazard in the town centre from vehicle emissions. If the summer is like last year’s, we should ban all traffic from the centre, except bus and emergency vehicles.

So the council needs to advise how traffic will be able to by-pass the town – rather more important than new housing schemes. That’s what real Planning should be about.

As for other Wokingham considerations: 

We need a new hospital with A&E capability, and easy access from all quarters of the compass.

We need several new Surgeries.

Last Friday, I took a bus to Reading in the morning. In 20 minutes four or five ambulances were seen and heard en route to Wokingham.

With the rapid increase in population and congestion, the need for ever-faster diagnostic capabilities to save lives, and to reduce NHS costs, transit times are mostly unacceptable today.

When planning anything to do with ‘people’ nowadays, consider: ‘health and treatment’; rapid access to their homes, i.e a proper road network capable of taking bus services; parking restricted on all roads with less than four lanes; buses to have priority over private vehicles; no parking anywhere near railway stations – requiring special consideration of regular travellers, viz a special parking rate. To curtail the list; get cars off the road by ensuring people want to use buses on roads that are kept in good repair, et al.

In other words, apart from making roads safer, think a long way ahead – locally at least 30 years. That takes us to the key year 2050.

Reg Clifton, Wokingham

Will they ever learn?

“CCTV cameras stolen from town hall” (The Wokingham Paper, January 9).

Quite honestly, the least said about this latest, you couldn’t make it up, more council tax payers’ money down the drain municipal farce the better.

As usual, everyone who should accept responsibility for their failings are finger pointing at others.

Another report in this newspaper providing cause for concern was that of the many, we’ve heard it all before, promises relating to the proposed development of Grazeley as a ‘Garden town’.

Healthcare facilities were described as ‘hoped for’.

Sorry, but bearing in mind the borough’s current, barely sufficient primary healthcare provision, hoped for is just not good enough.

Will those responsible never learn this lesson?

Apparently not.

J W Blaney, Wokingham

Set a target

Did you know that by setting a target, such as a marathon or bike ride, has helped a quarter (25%) of people get fitter in the past?

Other successful ways proven to keep your fitness goals on track are; exercising with family and friends, which worked for just over a fifth (21%), followed by joining a gym (20%). 

While it is no surprise that a British Heart Foundation (BHF) survey found that getting fitter is their top priority for 2020.

Results showed that over a quarter (26%) of people intending to use pedal power to propel themselves to better fitness. 

The BHF is now encouraging people from Berkshire to call on their friends and families to help them fulfil their fitness ambitions by taking on its iconic London to Brighton bike ride on 21st June 2020. 

Training for this 54-mile ride is a great opportunity for people to improve their fitness and heart health while raising money for the BHF’s groundbreaking research into preventing, diagnosing and treating heart and circulatory diseases.  

Each year, heart and circulatory diseases, including heart attack, stroke and vascular dementia, kill around 1,500 people in Berkshire. Today, 78,000 people across Berkshire are living with these conditions.

Now in its 45th year the BHF’s London to Brighton Bike Ride is Europe’s oldest charity bike ride and all money raised goes towards the BHF’s life saving research into heart and circulatory diseases which still kill more than 1 in 4 people in the UK.

So, gather your friends, family or colleagues and get in the saddle to help fund research into life saving cures to beat heart and circulatory diseases by signing up to the BHF’s London to Brighton Bike Ride 2020.

To sign up for the BHF’s London to Brighton Bike Ride 2020 visit: bhf.org.uk/l2b2020

Emma Day, 

Cycling Manager at the British Heart Foundation

British Heart Foundation 

Greater London House 

180 Hampstead Road 

London 

NW1 7AW

Dogs in rented accommodation

As the UK’s largest dog welfare charity, Dogs Trust believes that the benefits of pet ownership shouldn’t be exclusive to homeowners, but open to private and social renters as well.

With the number of people privately renting increasing year on year, the news that the Government is looking to make it easier for private tenants to have pets in their homes, has never been more important.

Sadly, the single biggest reason we see dogs handed in to our rehoming centres is due to a change in the owner’s circumstances, such as being unable to live in a rented property with a pet. This can also stop people coming forward to adopt rescue animals.

This needs to change and we sincerely hope the proposed updates to model tenancy contracts will help ensure that fewer owners are forced to give up their beloved pets and that more people are able to consider adoption.

For over a decade, Dogs Trust has been working with landlords, letting agencies and the property industry on this issue.

It’s important that any updates to the model tenancy contract are backed up with appropriate guidance for landlords on how to put the changes into practice to make it fully effective and mutually beneficial for all parties involved.

We welcome the opportunity to work alongside other animal welfare organisations and the Government to ensure this forthcoming change positively impacts the property sector, and that more pet friendly rental homes become available.

Clare Kivlehan, Head of Outreach Projects at Dogs Trust, www.dogstrust.org.uk

Send us your views

You can email the editor at letters@wokinghampaper.co.uk or write to The Wokingham Paper, Crown House, 231 Kings Road, Reading RG1 4LS