Redlands Liberal Democrats

Minister backs empty homes campaign

Well, I've finally had a letter back from Ian Austin MP, Communities and Local Government Minister in response to my call for action on empty homes.

His reply came shortly after I blogged that the Labour government had gone quiet on empty homes since the May local elections.

Mr Austin says, in his letter which I received today:

"Thank you for your letter...I am pleased that you found the seminar hosted by my predecessor, Iain Wright MP, useful. The seminar was well received...I too am keen to tackle the problem of empty homes and to encourage local authorities and local communities to do more to reduce the number of empty homes across the country. In particular, I am keen for local authorities to make full use of this power if appropriate."

He goes on to say:

"I will be working closely with officials to consider what further action the Government can take to help encourage local authorities to tackle empty homes in their area and to address any barriers preventing them from taking action."

I'm delighted that Mr Austin has, belatedly, joined the campaign for action on empty homes.

I have been actively campaigning locally since 2006, prompted shortly after my election by a call from the Empty Homes Agency to draw my attention to the poor record of Labour-run Reading Borough Council on this issue.

A quick check on UK Parliament website TheyWorkForYou.com reveals that Mr Austin has only mentioned the issue of empty homes once since entering Parliament in 2005.

The first and only time he discussed the issue was one month ago - following his appointment to CLG.

Locally, Labour councillors backed measures to reduce the number of empty homes only after being embarassed into action by a highly successful, long-running local Lib Dem campaign.

Before this they were virtually silent on the issue despite apparently winning awards over a decade agofor their work in this area when Cllr Tony Jones (then a Labour councillor) was responsible for housing in Reading.

Only a few weeks ago he slammed the lack action from Labour on this issue which has led to an increase in the number of empty properties across the Borough.

It must be particularly galling for him after the success he enjoyed in this area a few years ago.

The main reason for the higher than average number of empty properties in Reading has been the fact that for years there was no strategy or resources to tackle the build-up of empty homes. 

I will be keeping a close eye on what the government does next on this issue to see if Mr Austin's words are backed by action.

I must admit I was disappointed that his officials only sent me a copy of minutes of the seminar I attended, rather than anything like a detailed action plan.

Locally, I will continue to lead the campaign for action to ensure that Reading Borough Council is doing everything it can to reduce the number of private properties currently lying empty in the town.

More empty promises?

 Me and my ward colleague Cllr Glenn Goodall with Katesgrove Lib Dem councillors Gareth Epps and Warren Swaine and a group of local residents campaigning to bring this private property on Christchurch Road (which has been empty for several years) back into use.

A few weeks ago I wrote to Ian Austin MP, new Minister responsible for empty homes to find out what progress had been made on this issue nationally since the seminar I attended in April along with other empty homes campaigners.

After I sent the letter I received a message from my friend and campaigner David Ireland, Chief Executive of the Empty Homes Agency:

"Thank you for copying me in to your excellent letter to Ian Austin, coincidently I had just written a similar letter to John Healey [housing minister]. One of my board members collared him last night too, but he (Healy) was dragged off for a briefing from Richard McCarthy on empty homes before he said anything.

Lets see if either of them respond. The government have hung their whole response to empty homes on that seminar and the foreword Margaret Becket did for our guidance, so I'm not letting them just drop it as a one-off."   

Needless to say I haven't heard anything back from the Minister yet: I'll be on his case soon if I don't hear anything. It took CLG three months to send me the minutes of the meeting held in April so I won't be holding my breath.

I sincerely hope that the government has not lost interest in doing something about empty homes, so soon after then Housing Minister, Margaret Beckett backed calls for action earlier this year.

I was very sad to read earlier this week in Inside Housing that financial support for the excellent Empty Homes Agency, a charity, has also been cut.

This the worst possible time for the Labour government to be neglecting to do everything it can to help actively encourage local authorities to reduce the number of empty private rented homes in their area.

Particularly when we know that demand for low-cost, affordable housing has never been higher in our area.

We heard last week at the HHCC Scrutiny Panel meeting the number of empty homes in Reading has risen almost 10% since February while at the same time the number of people contacting the council to apply for a council housing has more than doubled.

The facts as they stand are stark:

• As of May 1 2009 there were 489 private sector homes in Reading that had been empty longer than 6 months

• There are currently around 4,000 people registered on the council's housing waiting list

My Lib Dem colleagues and I will continue to campaign for action to reduce the number of empty homes in Reading and to improve access to affordable housing.

It's good to know also, that although nationally Labour may be letting us down on this issue, Lib Dem housing spokesperson, Sarah Teather MP, has said publicly that getting action on empty homes is one of her top three priorities.

Road to ruin

Back in March I highlighted the fact that not for the first time roads in our ward - many of whom are full of pot holes - continue to be neglected by the Labour-run Council.

We have been asking local Labour councillors when particular roads in Redlands would be resurfaced every year and not getting proper answers. Your guess is as good as ours in fact.

Well, the Council has today issued a press release which says:

"A road resurfacing programme aimed at improving a number of routes across Reading for drivers, cyclists and pedestrians is due to begin on Monday, July 20"

You can see details of which roads are going to be resurfaced here.

Don't be surprised if most of the roads in South and East Reading that blatantly need urgent attention are not included on the list.

I wouldn't blame the officers in the transport department for this though.

Thanks to the way local government finance has been messed up by successive Conservative and Labour governments there simply isn't enough money available to councils to keep roads in a good order.

As I said in March, RBC will receive £1.3 million for highway maintenance works for the next financial year which covers £625k for carriageway resurfacing, £100k for 'micro asphalt' surfacing (patching up potholes etc) and £300k for footway resurfacing.

The rest goes on bridge maintenance (£300k), road assessment surveys (£25,220) and streetlighting (£200k).

This cash will only pay for 5 minor roads and 7 major roads across the Borough to be completely resurfaced - thanks to lack of proper funding from the Labour government.

Road safety, an area highlighted by my colleague and Lib Dem transport spokesperson, Cllr Ricky Duveen, earlier this week is also chronically underfunded leaving many roads in Reading highly dangerous.

In the press noticed issued by RBC today, Lead Member for Transport Cllr Tony Page notes:

"The Council carries out this essential improvement work every summer to coincide with the school holidays. Of course, road-works will inevitably cause some delays and inconvenience but I hope people will recognise that maintaining our road surfaces is vital.

"We would ask people affected to bear with us while the work is carried out as we would rightly be criticised if we failed to repair road surfaces."

It sounds as though our criticism of his management of our local road network is fully justified then.

Erleigh Road recycling win

We work hard to fix problems large and small in the ward and this week was no exception.

Last year we successfully campaigned for the first ever glass recycling facilities to be installed in the ward. Labour-run Reading Borough Council had failed for many years to deliver even these basic glass recycling facilities.

The bottle bank on Erleigh Road has proved very popular with students and local residents and last July we reported that they were regularly overflowing.

During the past 12 months residents from the local area have been contacting us regularly asking for the banks to be emptied by the Council more regularly.

Messages like this one last month were typical:

"Just to say the Erleigh rd Green, and clear bottle banks are full and the brown is nearly full, there are also bottles left on the pavement, best to empty them, as now is the time students are leaving and getting rid of there accumulated bottles and rubbish, before they move out before July."

Each time I had an email from a resident on this subject I wrote to the Council and asked them to change the frequency of collections , but, still things stayed the same.

Then, earlier this week, I received an email from an officer in Streetcare:

"I have asked the contactor to change the emptying schedule from every 2 weeks to weekly starting from next week. "

I was perhaps, disproportionately happy about this, but, judging from the feedback I've had so far people living in the area are very pleased too.

I had this sweet message from one regular correspondent of the roads of Erleigh Road:

"Just to say thanks – a few little things that make living in Redlands better"

I wish it hadn't taken the Council a year to listen to residents and sort this problem out but I'm glad to have played a small part in making life a little more pleasant for people who live in this area.

There's nothing wrong with a bit of nagging to get things done. In fact it's something which Lib Dem MP for Hornsey and Woodgreen, Lynne Featherstone (a bit of a mentor of mine), has turned into a bit of an artform!

Another fine mess

On Tuesday at the First Great Western public meeting I raised concerns about the sustainability of future improvements to our rail services in Reading.

I was concerned that most of the PowerPoint slides on some of the dramatic improvements to train services in Reading we are told we can expect over the the next few years in the presentation by the FGW boss contained a number of very big price tags.

In my mind was the current dire state of the public finances, escalating national debt etc thanks to ongoing failure to manage the economy by Brown and Darling.

I was also thinking in particular about the news I reported earlier this week that the Labour government is planning on raiding Whitehall budgets to pay for new affordable housing and other goodies ahead of the next election - at the expense of departments which include the Department for Transport.

But then all we are getting at the moment is more election bribes from Labour, in the absence of a vision for public services.

Anyway, inevitably perhaps,the day after the meeting, The Guardian splashed a story on it's front page about threats looming for transport budgets which could threaten the delivery of a number of major transport infrastructure projects, including a number of rail projects.

Clearly this could have a impact on the much-vaunted plans to redevelop Reading Station which is set to cost £884 million pounds.

The Labour Lead Member for Transport, Cllr Tony Page, did not attend the public meeting so I was unable to find out his views on how Reading might be affected.

One of the Conservative councillors, the Party's transport spokesman, who attended the meeting highlighted the above article on his Blog.

I was faintly surprised as I never had him down as a Guardian reader, but there you go.

I don't recall him or any of his colleagues raising any particular concerns about future transport funding during the FGW meeting.

My Lib Dem colleague Cllr RIcky Duveen in the meeting complained about inflation-busting fares increases which are continuing to be be foisted on Reading's travelling public by FGW.

It's doubly unfortunate that this has been occurring at the same time - as one of the members of the public noted at the meeting -  as Network Rail bosses are enjoying bonuses.

And the news about transport funding continues to get worse.

According to an article that appeared in yesterday's Guardian it is likely that once again passengers will be forced to foot the bill for rail service improvements. And worse still, all taxpayers will be forced to stump up to meet the massive funding shortfall:

"Under the terms of so-called "cap and collar" arrangements that kick in about four years into major rail contracts, the Department for Transport (DfT) is obliged to cover the majority of any serious shortfall in revenues. Britain's third most costly rail contract, the £1.1bn First Great Western (FGW) franchise, received £50m last year from those provisions. The franchise, which runs trains to the south-west, is now receiving maximum revenue support, alongside its sister franchise First Capital Connect (FCC), which is also owned by FirstGroup.

However, the payment of the highest possible subsidies under cap and collar arrangements indicates a serious shortfall in revenue targets as the recession bites. In the most pessimistic scenario, the government covers 80% of any shortfall that is greater than 6% – the situation that FGW and FCC now find themselves in."

I met a number of regular commuters,friends, for a drink yesterday. Talking to them about their experiences they are worn down by commuting on services that don't offer good value for money and deeply sceptical about promises of better services.

We all want to believe that services will get better and that what we are promised will be delivered.

However, the platitudes we hear from officers of the rail companies and others that 'it will be so much better travelling by train in ten years time' don't wash with the people I was talking to or indeed many of the people who use the services every day.

I hope that the government and First Great Western can get themselves out of this mess they have got themselves into financially, and that Reading's travelling public and taxpayers are not called on to bail them out yet again.

The recession, housing, and health in Reading today

Well, despite Network Rail's best efforts I managed to make it to HHCC Scrutiny Panel (which I was chairing) not quite on time but near enough last night. How typical that train problems occur the day after the public meeting on the subject!

The meeting lasted several hours but I think most people who attended would agree our scrutiny of these important issues is becoming increasingly effective as we focus on the important issues of the day and receive less information reports.

If you would like to read any of the reports we discussed last night please visit the Council's website where most of them are online.

As predicted we had a very interesting discussion on all things housing-related, spending a fair amount of time discussing how Reading is coping in the recession.

I was very impressed by the way officers in Reading Borough Council are coming up with policies and approaches that are really helping to support people in Reading. As one officer remarked 'we've never been here before' - is an element of trial and error involved but the fact that the Council is willing to be flexible to ensure people don't slip through the net was encouraging.

UPDATE:

getreading has published the latest health profile for Reading and it is a very mixed picture. You can read the detailed profile online here.

This pragmatic approach is quite different from some much-hyped government initiatives like the ill-fated Mortgage Rescue Scheme which it was revealed recently has only helped 6 families in the UK so far!

The big increase in number of people joining the housing waiting list is a concern, although I was pleased to hear how the Council's expanding Deposit Guarantee Scheme is making it possible for more families and individuals to get access to affordable housing. As far as I'm aware Reading is operating one of the biggest schemes partly a reflection of the size of the private rented housing sector we have.

I asked who was being affected most in the recession in Reading and the message was 'communities in South Reading'.

This makes it even more important now than ever that the Council's long-awaited 'Thriving Neighbourhoods' programme gets underway helping improve access to jobs and good school places.

The need to help and support young people facing housing problems also came over strongly in the meeting, something I am actively campaigning on locally.

Despite talking about standing up for people, the Labour government and Labour locally have neglected many parts of Reading, notably South Reading.

With this in mind, I attended a meeting this morning with Cllr Mark Ralph, fellow Scrutiny Chair, to plan the next meeting of our scrutiny review on children's health.

This is a follow up to our Febuary session and we are are focussing on the link between poverty and poor health. It's a subject I feel passionately about: pockets of serious deprivation exist in Reading which means that many children do not reach their full potential.

It's another local example of Labour failing to deliver on promises to eradicate child poverty.

As I've said here before, health inequality is a massive issue in Reading. We will lead a public meeting in September which will analyse the effectiveness of Council and PCT policies to see what's working, what's not working and what can be done to make things better for local children.

Housing and the credit crunch

After a boiling hot week spent rushing to and from work/Council Chamber via buses, tubes and trains this evening I will be chairing what should be a very interesting meeting of the Housing, Health and Community Care Panel.

Tonight the Panel's discussion will be focussing mainly on housing issues in Reading. Regular readers of this blog will know that as Lib Dem housing spokesperson this is a subject I spend a lot of time on.

Top of the agenda is an update report on how housing in Reading is being affected by the credit crunch. I first asked the question about a year ago.

Some key headline findings we''ll be discussing ahead of tonight's meeting:

Officers are seeing a sharp rise in numbers applying to the housing register

There has been a sharp increase in the numbers of people accessing debt advice through RBC's rents service.

We are seeing a sharp increase in the number of people claiming housing benefit - something the Lib Dems identified as an issue back in April.

The number of empty homes in the Borough has risen by nearly 10% to nearly 500 across the Borough - notably in Abbey, Battle and Southcote wards. Proof that it were needed that is worth having a strategy, dedicated officer resource and regular monitoring reports to keep the issue high on the Council agenda.

This is an approach that Cllr Tony Jones endorsed earlier this week.

The picture in Reading, as always, is mixed however, with some positives to focus on too:

• the number of people in arrears in Reading has fallen
• there has been no significant increase in homelessness
• and no increase in the use of temporary accomodation

As more than one Council officer has said to me the recession has also led to improved partnership working with new partners such as Job Centre Plus and helped bring a more flexible approach to problem-solving.

As discussed yesterday I think it's vitally important that as councillors we investigate issues which resonate beyond the Council offices and housing is surely one. No sooner had the press release gone out about this meeting and Radio Berkshire were on the phone requesting an interview.

Nationally, Labour politicians have sought to grab the initiative on housing issues by announcing plans for extra council houses.

Great - well, until you read the detail which stacks up to about 20,000 additional houses (to be built across the UK!) and the money to pay for them will be coming... out of existing budgets (so this means cutting something else).

It's not the first time Labour has announced 'new 'cash which in reality is 'recycled' from other front-line services.

It's been all go on the housing front this week. I'm pleased to say that after months of delay Labour's housing minister John Healey announced earlier this week the reform of council housing finance to allow councils to keep their own rents.

Like my colleague Cllr Prue Bray, Leader of the Lib Dems in Wokingham we have been actively campaigning for an end to the 'tenant tax' in Reading for ages, with Labour and the Tories following some way behind.

Before anyone gets too excited however, it's worth remembering that in true New Labour fashion rather than producing a Bill ahead of the next election we are offered...another consultation.

I have written to the Lead Member and the Head of Housing urging them to respond positively to the consultation and to tell the Labour government to stop stealing Reading tenants' money sharpish!

Ok, so I made that last bit up, but let's face it, it's what we're all thinking!

Loads more to blog about as lots going on this week including an update meeting I had yesterday to look out how we can engage local universities to improve student housing following our successful PRS scrutiny review.

There's also lots of other interesting stuff on our agenda tonight which I'll get round to at some point.

Now to get across London in the heat...

Jury still out on Kings Tavern "makeover"

I read with interest today an article on the GetReading website about a planned re-vamp of the Kings Tavern on Kings Road. This follows the temporary closure of the pub following a license review in May.

The article says:

 "The Kings Tavern in Kings Road, which closed on Monday last week after its licence was suspended, will get a new look with plush seating, a revamped bar and pool tables...

During this time the pub will undergo a six-week makeover and will re-open its doors with a launch night on Friday, July 31.There will be live music from local bands and a raffle to raise money for Twyford-based charity Feed the Children.Homemade dishes from new breakfast and lunch menus will also be introduced."

I am concerned that there is no mention anywhere in the article about the steps the pub's management are taking to address the serious weaknesses at this venue identified by residents, councillors, council officers and Police officers and which resulted in months of disturbance to the local community.

As well as ordering the temporary closure of this venue, a number of conditions were also attached to the license to try to reduce noise disturbance and to ensure more effective management of the venue.

While it is positive to hear that the pub's management are keen to welcome local people back in to the pub they need to understand that in order to rebuild good relations with neighbours they will need to keep a much closer eye on activites at the venue to stop trouble before it starts.

We will be keeping in touch with residents who live nearby to ensure that any problems should they occur are resolved quickly.

You can help us by reporting any future problems to the authorities should they occur in the future to:

• Reading Borough Council Licensing section 0118 939 0678

  Reading Borough Council Environmental Health (Noise) team: 0118 939 0937 (daytimes) 0118 939 0900 out of hours.

• Police: 0845 8 505 505 (24hr asb hotline) or 999.

 

 

Follow me

My Lib Dem colleagues in Redlands and I work hard to communicate with those we are elected to serve (the people of Redlands - all 6,000+ of them!) and we do this in a variety of traditional and non-traditional ways including using blogs, press articles, street-letters, telephone, email, Facebook and more recently Twitter.

We also do plenty of what you might call 'traditional campaigning' in an effort to find out local views towards different issues notably holding ward surgeries, conducting residents' surveys, putting out regular 'Focus' leaflets, collecting petition signatures and knocking on doors.

We are always exploring ways we can get our message across more effectively and also, ways to get direct feedback from residents both in the ward and in the wider Reading area, on a wide range of local issues.

This helps us to keep in touch all year round with the issues that matter to local people and it helps us to prioritise our campaigning locally.

I hope what we do is effective: we certainly get a lot of feedback, and as I've said before I am certain that we have one of the most engaged electorates in Reading judging by the amount of emails, calls and casework we receive. 

Whatever method we use to get feedback we work hard to keep on top of this communication - making us one of the busiest councillor teams in Reading.

I used Facebook recently in our highly-successful campaign to get the Labour-run Council to tackle issues in the private rented sector. This was a great way to get students involved and to get their views.

We also used Facebook and Flickr to build support for our local campaign for action on graffiti taggers, and to voice local anger at the University's closure of the School of Health and Social Care.

I'm hopeful that having seen how successful social networking sites can be we can encourage the Council to use them more widely when seeking to consult local people on issues that affect them.

As far as I'm aware I was the first councillor in Reading to seek views in this way in relation to a scrutiny review. I was contacted by a journalist from The Times on the back of my initative and the result was this article which appeared today.

I hope that Council officers and councillors in Reading and other areas will be encouraged to try this approach out for themselves.

As I said in the article, online campaigns are a cheap and a effective way of reaching people, particularly young people (but not exclusively) who may not attend council meetings etc.

The recently-launched campaign to Reopen the Jolly Anglers pub is another good example of local activism on the web - allowing local people to have their say on issues of concern and campaign for action.

Obviously setting up Facebook groups etc is not in itself enough for a campaign to be successful, but used appropriately it can be a great way to get people involved who may not have campaigned on issues before or to get feedback.

Keep in touch: follow me on Twitter for more updates!

Holding FGW to account: one year on

Just a quick reminder that this evening Cllr Kirsten Bayes, myself and other Members of the CCEA Scrutiny Panel will be quizzing representatives from First Great Western Trains and others about service performance over the past 12 months.

The meeting is being held in the Council Chamber at 6.30pm and is open to members of the public and press.

This follows a public meeting which was held last year following a successful Lib Dem motion to Council which called on First Great Western Trains to do more to improve the poor levels of service it was providing commuters and rail users in Reading.

At a meeting to plan the event a few weeks ago a couple of Conservative Members queried the usefulness/relevance of tonight's meeting. As far as I can recall their comments were along the lines of 'what can the Council actually do about the performance of a rail operating company, anyway?'

The clue is in the title of this scrutiny panel: CCEA - Corporate, Community and External Affairs Scrutiny Panel.

While it may be true to say that the Council does not directly manage the local train network and it cannot force FGW to deliver better services, in my view councillors and councils do have a role in terms of bridging the accountability gap that exists in relation to local train services i.e. allowing local people a chance to have their say over local service.

Secondly, there is a clear community leadership role the Council should perform in relation to key local services as the only directly accountable representative body in the local area.

By this I mean the Council needs to be seen to be taking a clear lead in scrutinising and holding to account those bodies and service providers that impact on the quality of life of local residents in Reading.

The local train service definitely falls into this category: it's used by thousands of Reading residents every day to get to and from work, as well as for leisure purposes.

Another example of effective scrutiny of external bodies by the Council in Reading was of Thames Water following the floods last year.

One of the Tories also complained about the tone of some of the comments made by members of the public.

Apart from saying it goes with the territory when you are dealing with customer service what I would say is this:OK, so some of the people who asked questions at the public meeting last year did get a little angry, but understandably so in my view,

Reading's commuters have put up with a lot over the years and fares are not cheap by any means.

Can we really be sure FGW fares constitute value for money when compared to services offered by other train operators and in other EU countries?

As a commuter myself I've experienced delayed and overcrowded trains operated by FGW into London many times over the past few years and you are left wondering as a passenger: what chance of redress is there? who can I complain to?

Tonight's meeting is being held because over a period of time significant concerns were raised both inside the Council by Lib Dem councillors and outside by commuters, about the quality of services provided by FGW.

If service has improved since last year's meeting that is to be welcomed.

This does not mean, however, the need to scrutinise and monitor performance simply goes away. We do need to look as a Council at the best mechanisms for doing this, however, going forward, and doubtless this is something we will discuss following tonight's meeting.

I think if a meeting about this vital local service  were not held every now and again to check Reading residents are getting the services they rightly demand then questions might quite rightly be directed at councillors along the lines of well, what's the point of councillors and indeed of scrutiny?

UPDATE

I've just received this email which kind of says it all:

"For me, the bottom line is value for money. The cost of rail travel continues to increase, and I earnestly question what the return is. I would like to know whether any further fare increases are planned. To do so in the midst of a recession would not go down well with commuters.

The following are issues that affect me as a commuter, and I'm very keen to know what measures are in place or planned to address these:

1. Overcrowding (at times severe). It's stressful having to compete for a vacant seat with a host of other commuters, and simply not fair given the cost of the journey (why should I pay to stand?). For me, this is the dominant issue. Yes, journey times are longer, but Network Rail are also at fault for this. To see First Class half-occupied with Standard Class passengers forced to stand in the aisle or pressed against the toilet door is quite frankly disgusting.

2. Talking to customers. FGW must do better to keep passengers informed (they can seem aloof). If the train has stopped, why has it stopped? I accept that infrastructural issues are beyond their control, but FGW drivers should at least keep us posted. The best train staff are those who sympathise and connect with their customers. FGW must also ensure that their public addresses over the tannoy are audible.

3. Mechanical failure. This has impacted my journey more than once (a train in front breaking down, for example). Will FGW be repairing or upgrading rolling stock?

4. Air conditioning. At times like this, their air con is insufficient. Not a major issue, however.

Many thanks, Daisy. This means a lot to me as a disgruntled commuter. It's good to know that you care."

UPDATE 2:

The meeting this evening went very well and was felt to be worthwhile by those councillors, members of the public, and representatives of First Great Western I spoke to afterwards.

My Lib Dem colleagues and I posed a number of questions to the representatives from FGW and Network focussing on a range of issues around current performance and value for money.

There was a smattering of members of the public at the meeting who asked several questions.

I explained the reason why we had tabled the motion to Council in the first place - poor performance- and raised the need to improve dialogue between Reading passengers and FGW in the future. 

The Managing Director of FGW outlined what they did currently to get feedback but acknowledged the lack of a rail user group for Reading. This is clearly an issue.

I reflected the criticisms outlined by my email correspondent above where were echoed in conversations I've had recently with fellow commuters.

I also managed to sneak in a question to FGW about what they are doing to promote recycling on their trains and at stations (including the scourge of discarded free papers, cans and bottles).

I am pleased to report FGW's MD told the meeting that FGW are belatedly introducing more recycling facilities at the Reading and Old Oak Common depots (and ideally stations) following a successful pilot project in Plymouth.

Future improvements to Reading Station and Reading train services like all major transport projects are heavily dependent on money being invested in future years at a national level...and the question of who will pay and how rail services will be funded remains uncertain.

I put this point to FGW and as FGW representatives themselves aknowledged, as we head into the pre-election period FGW and other rail operating companies are in the hands of DfT and national politicians when it comes to future funding of rail services and this is an issue in relation to future sustainability of rail travel around Reading.

In terms of the tone of the meeting, the representatives from FGW and Network Rail listened sympathetically to the issues raised and to be fair to them seemed very ready to engage and admit shortcomings of the service.

On a less positive note, the plight of Reading's commuters is clearly not a top priority to Labour politicians: only two of their councillors attended the meeting and between them they managed to think of only one question to ask on Reading-Slough services.