Bath Road and Castle Hill – Active Travel Tranche 3
We first reported on the Bath Road and Castle Hill scheme back in Summer 2022. It’s fair to say that it’s had a long and complex planning and development process, with design changes, cost reviews, preliminary consultations, oversight by Councillors, as well as design reviews by Active Travel England, who have been managing the allocation of funding for the scheme.
But we are very glad to say that detailed scheme plans have now been agreed and have been released for public consultation.
The Council is to be applauded for developing a scheme which addresses concerns we have raised about previous cycle schemes: it doesn’t just provide disconnected cycle facilities where it is relatively easy to do so, but also a continuous cycle route from the town centre through to the Bath Road junction with Southcote Lane.
Whilst the Bath Road and Castle Hill corridor is a major route to and from Reading town centre, it is a heavily trafficked route with major junctions which is presently an unattractive route for most cyclists. By providing a continuous route for cyclists, this scheme opens up this corridor for increased numbers of cycle journeys to and from the town centre.
We acknowledge the scheme has some compromises, as it has to fit within existing highway infrastructure whilst continuing to provide for all other road users. We have made a number of comments on the scheme, but these are essentially matters of detail.
We therefore strongly support the scheme as it is a considerable improvement to conditions for cyclists along this corridor. Also, we welcome the amount of time and effort RBC has put into this scheme’s development.
Future Cycle Scheme Funding
In the last newsletter we highlighted the good news about RBC receiving Government grants through Active Travel England for walking, cycling and wheeling improvements. These grants include capital funding to construct new schemes as well as revenue funding for network planning, scheme development, community engagement, etc.
Encouragingly, this is continuous multi-year funding which is not directed at specific schemes, as previous funding has been.
We appreciate that many schemes take time to plan and develop or require Traffic Regulation Orders (parking restrictions, speed limits etc) which are often time-consuming, so we have submitted a list of smaller quick-win schemes for RBC to consider, based on suggestions for improvements from RCC members.
Ideas include removal of barriers and pinch-points on routes, reduced wait times and improved detection for cycles at traffic signals, improved crossings where shared-use paths cross sideroads, better lighting on routes away from roads in order to improve personal security, flush kerbs at crossing points, widened paths through parks, better markings on routes, and filling missing links on routes.
RBC has asked us for more details of many of these schemes, so it is good to see these suggestions are actively being considered. In the meantime, please forward any further suggestions for improvements to us so we can discuss them with RBC.
Cycle Hangars
RBC has confirmed funding for between four and six cycle hangars has been secured. The Council has asked residents to identify possible locations for sites as part of a public consultation, with responses required by 31 August. We will report back when we hear the outcome of this.
Bus Lane and Sidmouth Street Cycle Schemes
We have provided initial comments to RBC on the proposed partial removal of the Sidmouth Street cycle lane, which is proposed as part of plans to introduce a bus lane on London Road.
We have suggested the proposed changes to this cycle route would be more acceptable if improvements were included to make alternative local cycle facilities safer, more connected, more convenient and easier to use, in order to develop the overall network of routes in this part of the town.
The bus lane scheme and changes to Sidmouth Street will be subject to public consultation later in the year and we will be watching to see if our suggested measures are included as part of the proposed changes.
Cycle and Pedestrian Safety
Local media has recently highlighted a worrying number of injury crashes involving cyclists and pedestrians, which results in the impression cycling and walking are inherently dangerous.
We will raise this concern at the next Cycle Forum meeting in September, where we will request RBC to develop a more coherent approach to reviewing road safety for vulnerable road users, especially for those sites with a high number of reported injury crashes involving cyclists and pedestrians.
Future Meetings
We have regular informal meetings with RBC officers to discuss progress on the various schemes and initiatives which are on-going. If there are any suggestions or issues from members, we would be happy to raise them at these meetings.
Also, there are regular formal meetings with the Council: the next Cycle Forum will be on 3 September, and the next Clean Air and Sustainable Transport forum (CAST) takes place on 1 December.
Tony Carr
RBC Campaigner for RCC
