Bumper to Bumper

It is quite rare to be on hand to witness the aftermath of a vehicle accident these days.  The emergency services and contractors are so efficient at taking details and cleaning up, you may not have known the crash had taken place at all.  In recent months a car demolished a lamp post on Tull Way; a car overturned outside the Regency Park Hotel and later, a three car pile-up took place in the same spot.  Two separate crashes have taken place on Tull Way and Turnpike Road just off the Garden Centre Roundabout.  When you talk to local residents you hear about even more crashes in the area.

I am asking West Berkshire Council to look into the issue, to see what can be done to slow cars down in the area.

Motorists fume - waiting at level crossing!

There appears to be no immediate plan to construct a replacement bridge at the Thatcham Station level crossing.  

In May, with a heat wave rising to 27c, the conditions for motorists waiting in long queues for the level crossing barriers to open must be intolerable. If you don't have the luxury of air conditioning in the car, your windows will be open and exhaust fumes will be drawn in.

I have asked West Berkshire Council to erect posters at either side of the level crossing, asking motorists to switch off their engines whilst stopped to reduce pollution in the area.

You've made my Maltese Cross!

Since the family has taken ownership of a Maltese puppy, I have joined the friendly circuit of neighbours walking their dogs along Bowling Green Road. I should say, braving their walk along Bowling Green Road!

Most motorists are oblivious to the 30 mph speed limit.I have taken photographs of 4 separate car crashes from Tull Way to Bowling Green Road, with my mobile phone. Residents have made me aware of many more crashes in the area. 

After a long campaign I got the grasscrete laid just west of the turning to Ashmore Green Road,
to park the police camera van. Amazing how the traffic calms down when the van is there once or twice a month.  Bowling Green Road has now become the most attractive route for all traffic wishing to dodge all the speed cameras and traffic lights spread across the rest of Thatcham.

It is now time to demand 24 hour speed cameras for Bowling Green Road.
I have submitted a question on this very matter to the next Executive meeting of West Berkshire Council.  

     

Twenty Is Plenty!

I got up a petition for a 20 mph speed limit in Derwent Road Thatcham.

The new speed limit was introduced recently, with repeater signs and a large ‘20’ roundel painted in the road surface at the entrance to the housing estate.

The 20 mph speed limit is clearly signed for motorists to see. Parents and children will now be able to cross the road more safely to local play areas.

LAST DITCH ATTEMPT

I often walk around the north of Thatcham inspecting the open ditches that take water from the surrounding hills. In Florence Gardens there are a series of ditches and drains that link to the pipe network.The ditches were full of tall weeds and litter, including cans, crisp packets and other items.

During the recent heavy rains, the weeds and litter in the ditches reduced the flow of water into the pipe network and I was concerned that this could  have resulted in local roads and properties being flooded. I met a member of staff checking the area for flooding and I suggested to her that the ditches should have been cleared when it was dry. Perhaps we could see a Community Payback scheme being used in this area?

Muddy Car Park - Fit for Porpoise?

Last week I stood in the rain outside Parsons Down Junior School in Derwent Road, Thatcham handing out leaflets to parents encouraging them to use the recently opened Park and Stride facility at the Thatcham Nature Discovery Centre.  Not surprisingly a number of parents emailed me later to say that the surface of the car park had turned into a series of muddy puddles and they refused to park there.  Several mothers told me that if it rains their children's clothes get covered in a wet, sandy mud.  Also many mums go straight to work after the school run and dont want to turn up at work in 'clothes that look like they have been on a ten mile ramble through the countryside'.

The response from the West Berkshire Council's Conservative member for the Environment reiterated her view that the surface was 'fit for purpose'

See the lovely photo of the Park and Stride car park under water in the NWN of 26.4.2012

Thinking outside the Pot Hole!

I was very pleased to see my comments in the Newbury Weekly News (May 3rd)  'Potholes: the fix first time solution'. The council pothole inspectors and contractors could carry a bucket of quality filler on board and repair potholes as they see them. This would reduce the costly damage to vehicles and cut claims against the council.