I have not noticed any improvements for cyclists in Reading over the last few months, although the Council has completed some re-surfacing and white-line renewal.
CAST (Cleaner Air and Safer Transport)
A CAST meeting on 19 August had Jon Burke as guest speaker; he was the former Lead Councillor for Environment and Transport at the London Borough of Hackney.
The actions and schemes implemented in Hackney would put most places to shame, and certainly showed up Reading as being light-years behind. Maybe it is not too late to set up a proper Emergency Transport Plan?!
Active Travel Pop-up Cycle Schemes Tranche 1
By the time of printing RCC should have been sent a list of changes needed to the Tranche 1 schemes. Most of the schemes seem to have settled down and (with the exception of the removed unpopular Gosbrook Road one-way system) there are no campaigns to remove or curtail the remaining schemes. If you have comments on any scheme they would be appreciated. Feedback to RCC is useful as well as to the Council.
Tranche 2 Schemes
The Council has announced that the chosen Tranche 2 scheme is the Shinfield Road. A CAST (Cleaner Air and Safer Transport) meeting on 19 August gave RCC and others some information and reasoning on the chosen scheme.
The choice appears to be based purely on the survey responses regarding which scheme was most popular. Apparently, no cycle flow counts had yet been taken, which could have been useful supporting information regarding scheme choice.
See the separate article for further information on the consultation survey.
John Lee
RBC Coordinator for RCC
