Another Vodafone Mast !

Well I guess it had to come sooner or later. Those nice people at Vodafone are planning another attempt at installing a mast in Tilehurst. I have been alerted to this latest attempt by a local resident who has received a letter from Vodafone. They are planning an 11 metre high (that is 36 foot in imperial measurements) mast at the bottom of Dark Lane, opposite number 8 and are inviting residents to comment before they finalise their planning application. The proposed site is actually over the border in Birch Copse Ward in West Berkshire but very close to my ward of Tilehurst.

They do not seem to realise that local residents do not appreciate telephone masts close up to their houses.

I think I may be about to make myself popular again with Vodafone.

Update on Tilehurst Car Park Charges

Well, a delegation of traders from Tilehurst along with myself and other local councillors presented their petition this evening to the Council’s Cabinet. When you realise that there were 2,200 signatures on the petition which were collected in just two weeks, you will understand the depth of feeling over the proposed new car park charges in Tilehurst. Roger Kent, who owns a shop in Norcot Road, presented the petition and explained the depth of feeling amongst local traders against the withdrawal of the first hour free car parking, and the likely effect on their trade.

Leader of the Council, Cllr Jo Lovelock, responded and offered to retain 30 minutes free parking and to look at ways of refunding shoppers car park charges if they bought a certain amount of goods.

None of us were at all happy with the Council’s new proposal and will be taking up the Council’s offer to discuss the car park charges with Cllr Page, the Lead Councillor for Transport (when he returns from holiday).

In the meantime, the council has agreed to hold back on the new charges until this discussion has taken place.

My advice to the shopkeepers is to hold firm and explain to Cllr Page that doing away with one hour’s free parking is no way to support local shopping centres. We are very proud of our local shops in Tilehurst, and especially of the fact that almost all of them are real independent local traders, not branches of big chains. I will certainly do my best to support them and with 2,200 Tilehurst residents also supporting them I think we have a very good case to put forward.

Well done to the Tilehurst traders for organising the petition.

Today was a victory for local shops in Tilehurst but the campaign is far from over yet.

Tilehurst Roads – Time to Spend Some Money

Over the last couple of months I have reported the poor state of some of our roads in Tilehurst, highlighting Park Lane, Armour Road and Tilehurst Road opposite Prospect Park. All have been badly affected by the severe weather of the last two winters. I did notice some patching along Tilehurst Road and Park Lane but nothing like enough to return those road surfaces to anything like normal.

Reading has very recently been given another £400,000 to spend on road repairs by the government in recognition of the problems caused by severe weather. I will be pushing to see some of this spent in Tilehurst.

Incidentally, the road surface on Mayfair is aslo broken up but only the shallow top asphalt layer, and not enough so council officers tell me, to warrent a major re-surfacing.

Lights Going Out in The Meadway

Following a decision taken before Xmas, the traffic lights in The Meadway at the junction with Combe Road will be taken down next week (week beginning 7 March). They will not be missed and have been the cause of much havoc and confusion since they were installed. Following the Coalition Administration’s review of traffic lights these ones were found to serve no useful purpose and they will be removed, although a pedestrian crossing will remain.

Labour has no shame

There is apparently no sense of shame or hypocrisy in Reading’s Labour Party. Today I read that Labour’s Transport Supremo Tony (IDR) Page said “It’s a matter of great concern to me and my colleagues that the administration is downgrading a long-established commitment to public transport and the importance of a third Thames bridge.” This is from the man who put the Third Thames Bridge at number 30 of a list of 30 projects in the TIF bid 18 months ago, meaning that it was kicked into the long grass depsite questions from myself about its priority. This man has no shame and a very select memory. His support for public transport does not apparently extend to providing a bus station at the heart of Reading’s bus network for the good folk of Reading which we will now do without for the foreseeable future.

Then we had a Council meeting last night where Labour proposed an amendment to  a report on Budget savings, asking the Administration to look at alternative ways of providing public services other than directly through the council. This, you will not be surprised to hear is exactly what the Administration has been doing since it was elected in May, looking for the most efficient ways to deliver services, minimising any potential cuts and ensuring continuity of service. It is of course difficult when faced with having to make savings of £19m in a total budget of £160m as a result of Labout mismanaging an economy, but the Administration decided to accept and support the amendment anyway. Then the Labour councillors, with a breathtaking show of hypocrisy voted against the amended report recommendations. The truth is they were trying to trap the Administration into voting against what, on the face of it, was  a sane amendment. We did not fall for that particular trick and Labour ended up with egg on their faces by voting against something they had just proposed. But the farce was there for all to see, no principles, no shame, just pure farce from Labour.

Update on Pincents Hill Development

I have now been notified by West Berks Council that a Public Enquiry is being held to look at this proposed development and to determine the appeal by Blue Living, the developers against a decision by West Berks to refuse planning permission.

This is another golden opportunity to tell Blue Living were to take their development and to restate the case for refusing permission.

The enquiry is being held over 6 days on 22-25 February and 1-2 March at Pincents Manor Hotel, Pincents Lane from 10:00 each morning. All sessions are open to the public.

Don’t Speed in Tilehurst !

Speedwatch in TilehurstWell it has been a while since I last posted but I think I need to get back into the groove.18 months ago I managed to get the council to purchase a number of mobile speed guns for use by the local neighbourhood police teams. They have been used with some success by local police in Tilehurst but over the last few months the delightfully named NAG (Neighbourhood Action Group  – a forum which brings together the local police team and local residents) has tken the initiative further. Under a dynamic new NAG Chairman, David Webber, local residents have been trained to use the guns and have been out on patrol, accompanied by PCSOs, on roads in Tilehurst. These ‘Speedwatch’ actions have been very popular with residents and many of them have come out to congratulate those volunteers who instead of suitting and moaning, have been enabled to take action against speeding motorists who are the bain of many people’s lives in Tilehurst.

The NAG is now offering to help any group of local residents who want to carry out a ’speedwatch’ action in their street  and similar speedwatch actions are slowly being taken up in other parts of Reading.

Before we bought the speed guns  there was no attempt to enforce speed limits in residential roads apart from occasional actions by traffic police a few times a year. Now residents feel empowered to act for themselves and I am happy to have been the one that provided the tools to let them do so.

Don’t speed in Tilehurst  –  you have been warned.

Car Park Charges Frozen

 Good news for Tilehurst residents !  Recreation Road and Dunstall Close car parks are having their charges frozen for another year following negotiations between the Council and NCP who run the car parks on their behalf. It means that Tilehurst shoppers can still park for free for one hour and do their shopping, it is only the second and subsequent hours that are charged.

Actually the car park charges are only enforced between 10:00 and 15:00 so outside these times you can park for free for as long as you want !

Tilehurst 2 Vodafone 0

Fantastic news yesterday. The council has rejected Vodafone’s planning application for a new 15 metre high mast in Lower Elmstone Drive. Local opposition to this eysore has been huge and once again Vodafone have been sent packing.

Well done to everyone who helped us campaign for this rejection. Thank you to the many residents who wrote in with comments, to the 272 signatories on our petition, to the volunteers who helped organis the petition and who went round knocking on doors, to those who delivered leaflets letting people know of Vodafone’s plan. It has all been a splendid success.

Thank you and well done again.

Vodafone Mast Update 4

The petition was handed in to the Council’s Planning Dept on Tuesday 19 October.

We are still hopeful that this planning application will be rejected by the Council, mainly on the grounds that it will stick out like a sore thumb.

The council needs to inform Vodafone of any decision by 10 November otherwise the application will be deemed to be approved (this is how the ‘Prior Approval’ mechanism works for new infrastructure projects).

Fingers crossed.