Redlands Liberal Democrats

Urgent need for more safe cycle routes in Redlands and beyond

Residents from the Redlands Road area have been in touch with us about an accident that took place last week on New Road where a cyclist cycling on the pavement injured a pedestrian.The injury was so serious the pedestrian ended up in hospital.

This is a worry and sadly not an isolated incident in Reading.

Pavements in this part of town are very narrow and unlike other areas it is not always safe for pedestrians and cyclists to share the pavement.

However, we understand why many cyclists prefer to do this rather than risk cycling on busy roads where there is often a lot of traffic and little space for cyclists.

With so much competition for parking spaces in the ward it is essential we do more as a Council to encourage people out of their cars and on to bikes.

Cyclists riding on pavements without due care and attention falls into the responsiblity of the Police not the Council to take enforcement action.

However, It is the Council's responsiblity to improve pavements and cycle routes for all road users.

Locally we have campaigned for the extension of safe cyle routes to aid not only cyclists but pedestrians too.

We have also led the campaign for lower speed limits in residential areas and successfully won funding from Government to reduce the number of potholes - a real problem for cyclists.

Last year the Lib Dem - Conservative Coalition administration of Reading Borough Council committed to:

"promote greener and more sustainable transport across the Council and in the Borough."

Earlier this year we set in train plans to develop the biggest cycle-hire scheme outside London subject to funding. I really hope this will get off the ground.

We know there is much more to do to improve and extend cycle routes, and we agreed the following motion at the March Council meeting:

“This Council notes that:

Cycling is increasing in popularity in this town and has acknowledged benefits for the health of people who take up this mode of transport.

Improving cycling facilities, cycle lanes and cycle safety are key objectives of the current administration which acknowledges that greater efforts are needed to ensure that cyclists have proper routes to follow and adequate protection from other traffic.

Current cycle routes throughout Reading Borough and surrounding areas are inconsistent, ranging from no cycle lane whatsoever, through to cycle lanes which are completely separate from the traffic, but that box cyclists in.

Some cycle lanes are too short, and so realistically offer no benefit whatsoever, and can in some cases make cycling appear more dangerous or inconvenient, dissuading potential new cyclists from using them.

With the objective of systematically ensuring all new junctions/road layouts are consistent, simple, useable and safe for cyclists:

This Council resolves to:

1. Work with local cycling groups to create a consistent cycling design best practice when completing any new road developments and significant road layout changes.

This will be a low cost exercise incorporating all key areas that affect cycling; from drainage (sunken drains cause cyclists to pull out unexpectedly), provision of new cycle lanes and cycle parking, effective lighting and better cleaning of cycle routes.

2. Work with all surrounding authorities, with a view to widening the benefits of this exercise.”

I have read the Reading Green Party's wish lish and it seems that campaigning for better cycle routes beyond Park ward is not a priority which is a pity as after 23 years of Labour-control Reading is anything but cycle-friendly.

A cursory read of Reading Labour Party's recent local election manifesto reveals not a single mention of cycling or cyclists so the immediate future looks gloomy for local cyclists and indeed pedestrians.

I have tabled a question to the next Council meeting to find out what is planned so we shall see.

Meanwhile, the Lib Dems will continue to campaign for more cycle routes to be developed.

New Road - Traffic restriction order - finally in consultation!

Back in November 2009, the council finally agreed to consult and then implement an access only restriction on New Road. Following this meeting, on the 28 November 2009, I was told by officers that:

"We have been looking out for section 106’s to carry out this work and I would like to put the following proposition to you and your fellow ward councillors. If you and your fellow ward councillors are happy with that approach we will start the TRO process in anticipation of the funding being available within the next two months."

They went on to say:

"[the TRO request] can go to TMAP in November and be advertised in December. If no objections signs could go up at the end of January (subject to SEB providing the power supply) if we receive objections they will need to go back to March TMAP so the signs would not be up till April."

Since then the parking conditions haven't got any better and I have had little to report back. After a lengthy time with the legal department at the Council I can now report that the Traffic Restriction Order(TRO) " prohibition of motor vehicles except for access in New Road" is now being advertised and is open to consultation.

This is part of the statutory advertisement  process and the 21 day objection period which will close on Wednesday 2nd June.

Should anyone wish to formally show support or object any of the proposals they must do so in writing to CJ Brookes, Head of Legal Services, Reading Borough Council, Civic Centre, RG1 7AE.  You can also email Mr Brooks: chris.brooks@reading.gov.uk

It would be helpful if residents could copy me into any comments they send into the Council: glenn_goodall@hotmail.com

Proposals will only be taken forward if they are supported by the majority of local residents.

Formal objections will be reported to the Council’s Traffic Management Panel on (possibly) 10 June for consideration by councillors before the programme progresses.

Bus meeting in Redlands

James Freeman, Chief Executive of Reading bus company, will available to answer all your buses schedule questions on Thursday 28th January 2010.

We have booked the conference room in Reading Boys School on Erleigh Road from 9am to 11am, there will be tea, coffee and biscuits.

I'll be by reception at 9 am, so I can meet you all there.

Room is limited so please e-mail me if you plan to attend: glenn_goodall@hotmail.com

Have your say on changes to local bus services

I bumped into a resident from Woodley on the 64 bus on my way to the station today and he reminded me Reading Buses are currently consulting on changes to bus routes and timetables which they plan to introduce in January 2010.

It made me wonder how many Reading residents were aware of these changes as they do not appear to have been well advertised.

Sometimes 'small' service changes can have a big impact on residents so it's important that concerns are raised with the bus company. Please contact Glenn, Kirsten or I if there are any changes that you would like to discuss with you.

The public consultation is running from 22 October to 4 November so there isn't much time if you want to have your say on changes.

The latest plans follow the 'postponement' of previous proposals. Details on the background below taken from the Reading Buses website:

"The original proposals, which were due to be implemented last month as a result of the economic downturn, were postponed as a result of Reading Borough Council’s short term financial support.

The package of service changes were part of making a significant reduction in Reading Transport’s operational costs and implementation of an action plan designed to bring service levels in line with revenue.

The first phase of the action plan was the introduction of the EasySaver 10 and other fares changes on June 1.  This was followed by bus timetable changes in Reading on July 13.

On September 7 changes were made to Newbury operations and on September 28 Reading Transport altered the Vitality routes.  Further changes were planned for the Reading urban area also from last month.

Reading Borough Council, acting as transport authority, took steps to buy back most of the changes planned for 28th September for three months.  This has allowed further consideration of the measures suggested to respond to initial representations from the local authorities and local people about a number of issues."

Main charges are as follows (from the Reading Buses website):

• Woodley services – A revised pattern of services to replace Premier Routes 63/64 and service 62
• New University service – via University of Reading, Whiteknights campus, to Bulmershe campus through to Woodley Centre
• West Reading services - Changes in the Tilehurst area to Premier Routes 15 and 33
• Caversham services – Slight change to route of Premier Route 23
• 27 – Frequency increased to every 30 minutes, change to route
• Premier Route 22 – Change to timetable with frequency between RBH and ASDA, Lower Earley, reduced to hourly
• Other changes to timetables are planned on Premier Routes 4/5/6, 9, 33, 17, 20/21, 23/24 and 26.

Changes to services which may be of particular interest to Redlands include:

• The introduction of a new '19' service: This new service will operate on Mondays to Fridays (all
  day) and Saturday (evenings) between Central Readingand Woodley via RBH (Craven Road), Addington Road and Redlands Road
• 63 and 64: these services will be withdrawn and replaced by new Premier Routes 65, 65a, 66 and 67
• 22:one journey per hour will terminate in Central Reading, one will continue to Foxhill
  Road and one will continue via the present route to Lower Earley (Asda)

Given how unreliable postal services are at the moment I would recommend people use the email facility to submit comment

Comments can be emailed to: consultation@reading-buses.co.uk

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.

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.

Missed bin collections in the Erleigh Road area

Last week, my red wheelie bin was not collected by the Council, this was annoying, but thankfully it was collected today. I could cope with this missed collection as it was only one week, but how would I feel if this happened most weeks?

This is what residents of Foxhill Road have had to put up with recently - and it is sadly not the first time. One of my constituents wrote to me today to say that her red bin was not collected today (Wednesday) - this was the third time it had not been collected in 6 weeks.

Last year parking restrictions were introduced on the corners of Foxhill Road and Cardigan Road to try and ease the problems faced by bin lorries and caused in part by the introduction of a one-way system.

Similar problems have been reported recently on Donnington Road. It appears that parked cars are continuing to cause problems for the Streetcare team, making it harder for them to access a number of narrow streets in the ward.

I have brought this matter to the attention of the Council's Streetcare and Highways teams to see if a solution can be found.

On the wider issue of parking, it is clear that the number of parked cars in the Erleigh Road area increase during University term time and problems with bin collections also go up during this time.

The Lib Dems would like to see the introduction by Reading Buses of a student bus fare, as the current ticket price is prohibitive and is acting as a disincentive to students using the bus rather than driving. This is a campaign,  currently being led by Reading University Lib Dems: find out more information here.

In addition, as I mentioned recently we would like to see the University do much more to support green travel initiatves including car clubs and car-sharing to get students out of their cars.

It's great to see another car club has been set up by Commonwheels , with a car for hire in various locations in Reading, including Kings Road. We would like to see more schemes like this developed in Reading, and are pressing the Council to change its policies so that car club cars can be parked in residents' parking zones.

RISC - Tesco Express Meeting Update

Last night I attended the meeting set up by our Liberal Democrat colleagues in Katesgrove (Cllr Gareth Epps and Cllr Warren Swaine) designed to discuss the proposed Tesco store to be openned on Crown St (the site of Fun and Frolics). The meeting was very successful, with an attendence of 40+, the views of residents and local shop keepers were aired in a very civil fashion. This is a becoming a borough wide issue, as Tesco's is very preditory in its hunt for more stores.

The key problems raised:
- This will be the 9th Tesco store - they're getting into monoply territory
- Tesco's track record of selling alcohol to under-age children
- Alcohol offers and 99+ students living above
- Delivery noise
- Lack of proximal parking could lead to dangerous parking as people 'nip in for some milk', and delivery vans
- Light polution - signs aimed at a large residentual flat
- Effect on local businesses

Please see our Katesgrove review of this meeting here.

First Great Western Public Meeting

As luck would have it I was struck down with laryngitis yesterday, just in time for the public meeting I helped organise on FGW, so, as it was I wasn't able to give voice to my ongoing frustration with FGW's substandard London-Reading train service quite as much as I would have liked. Luckily there was a microphone at the meeting!

The presentation given by Andrew Haines, Chief Operating Officer, was pretty much as expected, with lots about 'jam tomorrow' i.e. things are improving and in ten years things will be much better. Like many people who spoke at the meeting, I spend my life hoping I won't have to use these trains every day for the next decade at the current level of service.

Needless to say there was some very good questions put to Mr Haines by regular commuters about stuff all of us are very familiar with: overcrowding, over-priced tickets and lack of reliability. The general message Mr Haines was getting was:

"The current service you are providing is not value for money compared to other train services into London"

I made the point that at present FGW is more accountable to its shareholders than the 6,000+ people who travel from Reading to London daily on its trains and that this was the reason the Lib Dems in Reading tabled a motion to Council in the first place: as an attempt to bridge the accountability gap.

I also said that, as a season ticket holder, I did not find being offered off peak perks made up for the constant delays etc we have to put up with. I may be in a minority on this one but how often am I likely to want to go to Cornwall for a day trip (for £10)? Give me a guaranteed 25 minute journey into London every day and you can keep your cream teas!

Myself and a number of others present pressed Mr Haines to return to Reading in the near future to update us about service improvements, and to listen once again to people who use his trains.

It is likely another meeting will be held in a year (I would have preferred 6 months, but anyway).

Afterwards I met the local blogger behind Reading Roars who has written up a good account of the meeting here.

Overall, the turnout at the meeting was slightly disappointing: something we can learn from if we hold future meetings.

I was also surprised and disappointed that none of the Labour Councillors present (including the Lead Member for Transport), bothered to put a single question to Mr Haines on any issues relating to the quality of his train service.

It was also notable that our local MP and Labour's prospective parliamentary candidate for Reading East failed even to turn up to the meeting to listen to commuters' concerns.

This is sad when you think of what a massive issue the current poor train service is to people you talk to who live in Reading and says a lot of local 'representative' democracy in the town. As a councillor I think it is vitally important that the borough Council debates issues that are relevent to local people.

Rest assured that the Lib Dems will continue to keep the pressure on FGW to improve it's Reading services, as well as doing all we can to ensure that the views of Reading's travelling public continue to be heard.

First Great Western: Have your say!

You may remember the Lib Dem campaign earlier in the year calling for First Great Western (FGW) to be held to account for it's poor performance. The Council backed our call unanimously and we are pleased to invite you this Thursday to a public meeting to discuss this issue.

This is a very important event and I believe the first of it's kind to be held in Reading.

First Great Western is officially the UK's worst-performing rail company, and thousands of people travelling from Reading to London every day (and I should know as I am one of them!) have had to put up with increasing fairs and declining standards.

Plenty has been written in the press etc about this issue but the Lib Dems in Reading felt that it was high time that Reading commuters were given a chance to quiz FGW bosses and for FGW to explain to us what they planned to do to improve the experience of travelling on their trains.

This one-off Special Scrutiny Meeting will be held this Thursday at 7pm in the Victoria Hall, at the Town Hall in Reading. Cllr Ricky Duveen and I, both commuters, campaigned for this meeting to be held at a sensible time and at a convenient venue so that people commuting to and from Reading station could attend.

If you cannot attend the meeting but would like to submit a question please use the Council's online form which is available here.