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.

Greens will keep up the pressure for the university to be a better neighbour

The University and students are an important part of the town. Below are Reading University's engagement plans for the coming year. We will keep up the pressure for the University to be a better neighbour and bring down the number of community complaints – which have risen sharply recently.

University of Reading Autumn Term: community engagement plans

Dates for Autumn Term

· First year students are arriving into hall accommodation this weekend (21-23 September).

· Freshers’ Fortnight is held on 24 September – 5 October

· Autumn Term starts on 1 October and ends on 14 December

Partnership working

The University is working with several partners over the year ahead, including local police and council teams. The Students’ Union (RUSU) has also put plans in place to ensure students are safe when socialising, and to minimise impact on local neighbours.

Freshers’ Activity (24/9 – 5/10)

· Local police teams will be putting on additional vehicle patrols throughout the Freshers’ fortnight, both in residential areas and in the town centre. Their aims are to support students who may be vulnerable and to manage any community issues.

· The Street Support Team (street wardens) will be working every night for the first week of Freshers’ when the majority of students will be out socialising. The wardens will be managing noise issues in residential streets and at bus stops.

· RUSU and Reading Buses will transport students from the centre of campus into town. Each hall social committee will escort their students to the centre of campus to go into town. These buses will only run throughout Freshers’ Fortnight, but may encourage students to use the 21/21a bus from campus into town.

· RUSU’s Safety Bus will be based on Friar Street, for students to get back to campus for free, after their night out.

· Training for social committees has been provided by RUSU and the University to ensure the hall-based committees keep students safe and minimise impact to neighbours when organising social events. The committees also received guidance from the police, street pastors and street wardens.

· Guidance provided to first year students. Throughout next week new students in halls will receive talks from the University and RUSU to welcome them to halls. These talks include advice on being a considerate neighbour when living and socialising in Reading.

Street Support Team during Autumn Term

· After the first week of Freshers’, the Street Support Team (street wardens) will revert to working Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, the key student nights.

· The street wardens will work in pairs between 2200 and 0400 hours a night.

· They will focus on residential streets in the Whiteknights Road, Erleigh Road and Christchurch Road areas. This will include bus stops on Wokingham Road and Christchurch Road.

· Feedback can be sent to community@reading.ac.uk or you can talk to the wardens when they are on duty (they wear hi-vis and University branded jackets).

Hello Neighbour campaign

· The University and RUSU will be delivering packs of information to all student households in local neighbourhoods throughout October.

· This will include advice on waste and recycling, parking, and will encourage students to get to know their neighbours.

· The information will also be communicated to RUSU’s sports societies and clubs, as many committee members are second year students living in local neighbourhoods.

· We will hold a welcome event for students and local residents to give them an opportunity to meet (location and date to be confirmed).

Recycling campaign

· The University is working with Reading Council to improve recycling by students living in local neighbourhoods. One of the frequent complaints received by the University is students not recycling their empty glass bottles. Reading Council are also keen to reduce the amount of contaminated recycling across the borough.

· The University will pilot new schemes to encourage students to recycle their glass bottles, including a reward scheme and some information delivered directly to the student households where issues occur.

Additional resource to manage complaints

· This year the Community Relations Team will be made up of one manager (Sarah Gardner) and four student community assistants. The assistants will each focus on residential streets where there are high concentrations of student households.

· The assistants will start in mid-October and begin to meet students and local residents in these defined areas. They will also help to resolve any issues between neighbours.

· If you have a complaint about a student household please email community@reading.ac.uk or call 0118 378 6764 and one of the team will help.

Other new activity

· RUSU has created a Safe Taxi Scheme, which means that students who haven’t got any money to get home after a night out, can use the RUSU safe taxi scheme. Yell Cars (based on campus) are providing the taxis and all drivers are DPS checked.

· The bars on campus are trialling a new live bus tracker. Park Bar will display live bus times, which will hopefully encourage students to stay in the bar until their bus is due. This might alleviate some of the noise issues at bus stops, as it may mean groups of students are spending less time waiting for a bus.

Community Forum in January
The University ran a Community Forum in May, which was well-attended by local residents. We had hoped to hold the next event in November, but given the departure of Sir David Bell as the Vice-Chancellor, we will hold the next event in January when the Acting Vice-Chancellor, Professor Robert Van de Noort will be settled in post. Date and time will be circulated in due course.

Stopping HMOs from taking over

Green Councillors have been concerned for some time about the rise in the number of ‘HMOs’ across Reading, especially in densely populated areas like Redlands. (An HMO is a house or flat occupied by three or more tenants, who form two or more households and share space like bathrooms and kitchens.) It’s not that a single HMO can affect an area – it’s the build-up of a number of these that changes the balance of a street causing problems with waste and bins for example.

On Planning Committee, we’ve argued against more HMOs in streets like Hamilton Road and Upper Redlands Road because it’s the mix that’s important, but sadly Labour councillors give these permission every time.

However, there is a change in licensing laws coming - currently, houses with three or more storeys and five or more occupants need to have an HMO licence.  However, from 1st October all HMOs with five or more occupants will need to have an HMO licence. Hopefully this will mean proper regulation of poor landlords and deter anyone just wanting to make a quick financial return at the neighbourhood’s expense.

We care about the area and we want a mix of different types of accommodation in a road to create strong, balanced communities. We will continue to work hard, with residents, all year round on issues like these.

For more details, go to the Council website www.reading.gov.uk/hmo

Has Reading Council missed your bin collection?

A number of people have contacted us recently with the council missing their bin collection. This is what we would advise you to do if it happens to you.

1. Contact the council as soon as possible. The council say to do it either on the day the collection is missed (after 4 PM) or by 5 PM the next day. If you miss 5 PM the next day then still contact them and say that your bin collection has been missed. This page has details on how to contact the council: http://cllrrobwhite.blogspot.com/p/q_13.html

2. The council should give you a reason why the bin wasn't collected – recycling bin not put out in the right place for collection for example.

UPDATE: following our campaigning if the council says your bin wasn't put in the right place you should get a letter from them telling you where to put your bin – on the pavement or if the pavement is narrow at/near the boundary of your property. They should still take your bin but will tell you that it won't be taken in future.

3. If you aren't satisfied with the response – the council says the bin wasn't put in the right place (presented properly). Then say that you would like to complain. The collection vehicle has a camera on it so you could ask for the footage showing that the bin isn't presented properly. You could also ask for the footage 2 weeks before which might show them collecting the bin from the same place – which in my opinion is good grounds for them coming out and collecting your bin.

4. If at the end of this process still feel that the council has unfairly not let your bin then let me know: rob@readinggreenparty.org.uk

We are lobbying the Council to improve its bin collection service and to do a better job of keeping people informed. We care about the area and will keep working 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,".

University launches street support team and forum

Students are a welcome and important part of the community. However, complaints about student behaviour have been on the rise this year in Reading. We have been lobbying the University to spend more on community relations. It's great to see new initiatives (Street Support Team and forum) from the University to address people's concerns. Details below.

Also, right at the bottom of the Street Support Team section is the email address for Sarah Gardner, the University's Community Relations Manager. I know she has helped a number of people and I would encourage anyone with concerns to contact her.

Street Support Team

A pilot community support scheme

We’re pleased to announce the launch of the University’s new Street Support Team, from Monday 16 April. The trial scheme is part of the University’s plans to promote positive community relationships between students and non-student neighbours.

The Street Support Team will provide advice to students socialising late at night, encouraging them to be responsible, respectful and safe when travelling through residential areas. The team will also help students feel safe and supported late at night and clean up any bottles/glass left on the streets, as they go.

The highly trained and highly visible team will be working in residential streets around the campus between 10pm and 4am several nights a week. They’ll primarily be based between:

· Redlands Road and London Road, including St George’s Hall.

· Whiteknights Road and Wokingham Road, including Bridges/Wessex Halls and the number 17 bus stop.

· Northcourt Avenue and Christchurch Green, including St Patrick’s/Sherfield Halls and the number 21/21a bus stop.

The University has created this trial based on views from local residents, neighbourhood police teams, Reading Borough Council and other community partners in the town. We are grateful for all the input and support.

The scheme will run as a trial over the summer and autumn terms. We’ll be reviewing the scheme regularly and we’d be very grateful for feedback so we can make sure the team are working in the best way possible. We will also use the feedback to consider long-term delivery.

Please send any questions or feedback to Sarah Gardner, Community Relations Manager at community@reading.ac.uk

University Community Forum – 9 May

I would like to invite you to a Community Forum being held at the University on Wednesday 9 May at 6.30pm.

The forum will provide an opportunity for residents living alongside the University to meet with the Vice-Chancellor, Sir David Bell, and ask questions about the University’s local engagement and impact. We hope that this will be an opportunity for local neighbours to shape and influence our community strategy. A short panel discussion, chaired by the Vice-Chancellor, with updates about the Street Support Team (see below) will be followed by a Q&A session. In addition to University colleagues, the panel will include representatives from local police teams.

The event will be taking place at the London Road campus, building 22, room G01. Refreshments will be provided.

As we have limited room space, it would be helpful if you could RSVP if you wish to attend. community@reading.ac.uk

More action needed on recycling in Reading

The Green party wants to see a better recycling scheme locally which allows you to put more things in your red recycling bin.

Following lobbying from us and others the council has recently increased the range of plastics which you can recycle. More information here: http://www.reading.gov.uk/rubbish

However, the recycling rate in Reading is a very low at 31% – compared to the national rate of 45%. Reading has a recycling target of 50% of household waste by 2020. However recent changes to the scheme are only expected to increase our recycling rate by 1 or 2%. More action is needed and we will keep up the pressure to: eliminate waste at source, get more reuse happening and increase the recycling rate through things like a food waste collection.

The Council needs to be bolder if it is to hit its recycling target.

Thames Road Plans–Frequently Asked Questions

‘MRT’?

Yes, it stands for ‘Mass Rapid Transit’ which in most countries means an overhead or underground railway, but in Reading the plan is for a large road that will start at a new carpark beside the Waterside Centre, then bypass East Reading and run along the Thames riverside, over the Kennetmouth, and end up at Tesco on Napier Road. It will be for buses only, but with space for bikes and walking.

Why are the Council trying to do that?

The Council claims that without it, Reading can’t ‘grow’. They mean that the road will increase the capacity of people to get into Reading town centre from areas outside Reading, like Wokingham.

Aren’t people already coming in from Wokingham?

Yes, there’s the current level of traffic, through Cemetery Junction and other routes into Reading, which will be unaffected by the scheme, and there’s the existing public transport of trains and buses.

What can you do about the scheme?

Whatever your views on the scheme are, you can let the Planning Officer know here: www.bit.ly/eastrdgmrt

If you want more information you can follow the campaign group S.O.A.R. on facebook www.facebook.com/SaveOurAncientRiverside and on twitter @SOARReading

If you are opposed to the scheme going ahead you can sign the petition here: www.bit.ly/soarpetition

And if you live in Reading, you can let your local Councillor know personally – email them!

So, will this scheme help people in East Reading at all?

No. The traffic modelling from the Council shows that the new road will have no effect on congestion, or improve air quality. It will remove the unspoilt riverside from the Thames, and Kennetmouth, that so many people use as green space to walk, run, cycle, picnic and just relax in.

So why is the Council pressing ahead?

The Council says that there will be significant housing developments built in the coming years around Reading and Wokingham, and those thousands of new people will want to get into Reading.

Are they right?

Evidence suggests not. More and more people are working from home, significantly reducing the traffic on the roads. (The greatest recent increase in traffic is from home delivery vans! These won’t be affected by a bus-only bypass. Nor will the ever present and increasing traffic from school-runs.) Traffic on the London Road has been gradually reducing over the years, rather than increasing, so its likely that more buses could plan to use that route, rather than a new road. And there is no saying that people in new housing developments near Wokingham wont just work in Wokingham, or Bracknell, or any other near-by area with high employment in industries like TelComs and IT. The planned advancement of automated, driverless cars in the next few years makes old-fashioned ideas like building more roads to new carparks seem horribly out-dated.

What will it cost?

The current estimate (likely to increase with inflation and the complexity of a road-building scheme in a flood area beside a major waterway) is £24 million. With the associated Park & Ride at Broken Brow (beside the Wokingham Waterside Centre) planned by Wokingham, the cost is £31.5 million.

What’s the cost to the environment?

Just as enormous. Habitat will be lost, green open space will be lost, protected woodland will be destroyed, along with over 100 trees. The Thames riverside, and Kennetmouth, will be devastated.

What does the Environment Agency think about the scheme?

The EA doesn’t comment on the scheme as such, but does comment on the Planning Application. Their first response contained a large list of objections. Some of these may have been mitigated by changes to the Council plans, but the second EA response, containing a full list of updated objections, hasn’t been published by the Council. Other agencies opposing the Planning Application are the Wildlife Trust, the Napier Road flats, Newtown GLOBE, and many others, even including the Council’s own ecologist and Leisure Department.

What do local residents think about the scheme?

Hundreds of local residents have objected to the Planning Application. Thousands have signed petitions against the scheme because of the huge cost to the environment, to the tax-payer, and all for just a few extra buses an hour in the week. The new P&R won’t even be open on the weekends.

Why aren’t the Council doing something else instead?

Who knows! There are plenty of other options, but some have been ruled out and some don’t seem to have been properly considered. Local residents want to know why the Winnersh P&R isn’t being expanded, or a congestion charge brought in, or a proper bus lane considered on the London Road. The lack of any real comparison of alternatives is one objection that has been raised to the scheme.

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.

School cooks in Reading to get a real Living Wage

I followed up on on school cooks getting a real Living Wage at a recent council meeting. In summary they will do shortly! Question and answer below.

If you want to help us campaign on this and other issues then please get involved: https://reading.greenparty.org.uk/get-involved/

Real Living Wage for School Cooks
The Green Party has long been campaigning for everyone in Reading to receive the Living Wage Foundation Living Wage. This will make a big difference to tackling poverty. The Council recently produced a report on phasing in the Living Wage Foundation Living Wage for people working on the school meals contract. The recommendations were not voted on though as the report was pulled from the ACE Committee.
I would like to see school cooks getting the Real Living Wage as soon as possible. Please can I get an update on progress to make sure people working on the school meals contract get a Living Wage?

REPLY by Councillor Jones (Lead Councillor for Education):

As councillors know, this Council is a publically recognised supporter of the Living Wage Foundation Living Wage, as the plaque in the council offices foyer proudly declares.

The report, to which Councillor White refers, was wrongly included on the agenda of the last ACE Committee meeting and was a first draft prepared by council officers. As it did not have my support nor that of the Labour Group, it was withdrawn from the agenda.

I am pleased to advise that the contract extension has now been negotiated with the current provider of school meals and this includes the payment of the real living wage in full to all staff from the beginning of that extension later this summer - we made it clear to Council officers and the contractor that we would accept nothing less.

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.

Last year homelessness in Reading was up 1033%...

Since 2010 homelessness has increased massively in Reading peaking at a shocking 1033% increase in 2016/2017. Fortunately this has levelled off but the increase from 2010 is still modelled to be nearly 700% this year – see the bottom of this email for homelessness and rough sleeping statistics.

That’s a forecast 285 families and individuals without a roof over their head, in the fear of ending up out in the freezing cold on the street, who have been offered help by the council.

Rough sleeping has also continued to grow in Reading. And it is deeply concerning that the rate of increase is speeding up! Of further concern is the fact that local homelessness charities say that this figure is an underestimate.

That is at least 22 people out on the street in the freezing cold.

If you have walked through Reading town centre at any time recently will have seen people in doorways. Cardboard and blankets laid out. This is desperate and sad.

Unfortunately at a council meeting last year Labour councillors voted to cut the budget for tackling homelessness by £245,000. This is a budget reduction of 17%!

As the Equality Impact Assessment noted when this cut was nodded through by the Labour group, it will impact on the physical health and mental health of people who are homeless and increase substance misuse.

The life expectancy of someone living on the streets is 47 years old. Approximately 30 years lower than average.

Green councillors support more funding for public services such as housing and homelessness. We agree with others who think there are some areas of the council – such as the amount of money spent on agency staff at all levels – where savings could be made by recruiting more permanent staff. http://cllrrobwhite.blogspot.co.uk/2018/02/is-reading-council-wasting-money-on.html

We care about Reading and will keep working with you to improve it. Why not join the Green Party and help us make a difference: http://greenparty.org.uk/join

Number of individuals and families classed as homeless by the council by year

Year	Number of individuals and families classed as homeless by the council	Percentage increase since 2010
2010/11	36	0%
2011/12	80	122%
2012/13	148	311%
2013/14	230	538%
2014/15	339	841%
2015/16	309	758%
2017/18 (so far)	408	1033%
2017/18 (forecast end of year)	285	691%

Number of people sleeping rough in Reading by year

Year	Number of people sleeping rough in Reading
2010/11	6
2011/12	5
2012/13	4
2013/14	8
2014/15	12
2015/16	16
2016/17 2017/18	22 31

Is Reading Council wasting money on agency staff?

Green councillors have been concerned, at a time when children’s centres and swimming pools are being closed and homelessness support services are being cut, about the amount of money being spent by Reading Council on agency staff.

I asked about this at a council meeting last year and the response I got seemed to show that the spend on agency staff was coming down – as permanent staff were being recruited. Question and answer towards the bottom of this PDF: http://www.reading.gov.uk/media/8045/Item-7/pdf/171127questions.pdf

However, the council didn’t provide me with an end of year forecast and when I asked for an update recently I was shocked to see the agency spend go up massively – see the bottom of this post for the figures which includes all staff covering permanent roles including senior managers.

The Green Party thinks the council needs to have a greater focus on recruiting permanent staff. As well as saving the council money, increasing the amount of permanent staff will stabilise the council which is teetering on a financial cliff edge, help the council retain important skills and boost morale.

We care about Reading and will keep working to improve it. Why not join and help us make a difference on issues like these? http://greenparty.org.uk/join

Year	Reading Council agency spend
2015-16	£9.7 million
2016-17	£12.9 million
2017-18 (to date)	£12 million
2017-18 (forecast to end of year)	£14.4 million

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.

Busted – Will East Reading MRT reduce congestion?

The Labour-run Council, and the Tony Page-run Labour Councillors, have made lots of claims for the huge, new road planned along our riverside in East Reading, but one of the most insulting is that it will be good for the people of East Reading. A road (that people in East Reading wont be able to access!!) will be good for us - because it will bust congestion coming into town, and - let's be honest - we all want that.

Will it?

'Congestion' is not the amount of traffic on a road, it's the point at which traffic becomes so saturated it leads to slower speeds, longer trip times, and more and more queuing - what the Council's documents term 'driver delay.' None of us want to be delayed, and none of us want queuing traffic outside our homes. What will be the effect then? The Council's planning application for the 'MRT' states an overall assessment of the effect on driver delay as negligible to, at best, not significant. (Environmental Statement Vol. 1 if you want to look it up.)

Wow!

- £35 million pounds.

- An unspoiled riverside we can never get back.

- And a 'negligible to insignificant' affect on congestion in East Reading.

You can view the plans and submit comments to the Council here: MRT Planning Application

or contact the Green Party and get involved, make a difference today

Will Reading and Wokingham Thamesside road reduce congestion?

A number of people, including me, have wondered how robust the traffic modelling for the East Reading 'MRT' (Mass Rapid Transit / bus lane by the Thames) can be, as it fails to include 'induced demand'. That is, if the MRT is built, and the London Road really was a bit freer in the peak times - wouldn't it just fill up again as people who previously weren't driving think they might now, as it's easier with less congestion?

This is what the Council's own business case says on 'Car Reduction Implications':

5.3.1 ...the reduction in car trips on the network would not be so large as to release substantial road capacity in the corridor.
5.3.3 ...the scale of car trip reductions on the network are quite small.
and
5.3.4 ...the scale of car trip reduction is unlikely to result in trip inducement in the corridor.

In plain English - any shift in usage from car to bus will be so small as to not be a factor in inducing increased demand. The shift, according to the Council, is so small, that the effect on 'driver delay' is classed as negligible - and 'negligible' is helpfully defined as 'average vehicle delay changes are less than 20 seconds as a result of the proposed development during the peak hour periods.'

Your Council will be millions of pounds poorer, your riverside will have been ruined, but the journey into Reading will be (less than) 20 seconds faster in the mornings…

PS: The 'business case' is here: http://www.reading.gov.uk/media/7933/East-Reading-MRT---Demand-Modelling-Report/pdf/East_Reading_MRT_-_Demand_Modelling_Report.pdf

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

The dice was loaded from the start (East Reading Mass Rapid Transit

Lots of residents have contacted me recently voicing their outrage at the devastating new road being proposed along the Thames riverside by the Labour-run Council. A lot of people are asking – why aren’t they doing something else?

There was an ‘options appraisal’ done by the firm of consultants hired by the Council. However, they were assessing options against a set of criteria that is already loading the dice. Will the option:

1. Increase capacity and connectivity for movement of people within east Reading and the town centre.

2. Reduce the journey times and congestion along the corridor.

3. Facilitate economic development in the Thames Valley.

4. Allow access for mobility impaired and pushchairs.

5. Develop a system which visibly has priority over the private car.

6. Facilitate a future MRT network for the Thames Valley.

So whilst residents want to know the cost to the taxpayer (massive) and the cost to the environment (enormous), and weigh this against the benefits to congestion (minimal at best) and air pollution (negligible), the Council wants to know if it will 'facilitate economic development' and 'facilitate a future MRT network'.

Other options need to be properly considered. A congestion charge might well be cheap in comparison (say, £5 million to get started,) would return money in the form of those paying the charge, and remove cars from the network, resulting in a reduction in congestion and air pollution. (Would it facilitate economic development? Yes, if the charge was re-invested properly.)

You can view the plans and submit comments to the Council here: East Reading Mass Rapid Transit planning application must click

Or contact us and get involved: https://reading.greenparty.org.uk/get-involved/.

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.