If you haven’t seen this, it available here: http://www.wokingham.gov.uk/transport/roads/northwokinghamdistributorroad/ – you have until Friday 8th November to comment on the consultation.
Exhibition board 4 has a nice diagram of the eastern section of the Distribution road, which I am going to write about here, but there is more than enough information on the Wokingham site for those who like lots and lots of details.
Loosely, this development involves the building of over 1500 new homes between the current residential area of Wokingham and the M4. Some of these homes will be ‘affordable’ and there will be a new school. Great! I welcome sensible development and some of these things we do need. But, the subject today is the road.
So, here goes:
Alternative A- is the cheapest and the quickest to implement. It involves forcing traffic down the existing Old Forest road, which is a residential street, over an existing narrow bridge with traffic lights onto a new junction with lights on the A329. Although there is a promise of some improvements to the bridge etc, it doesn’t appear to be adequate for the amount of traffic we are likely to get and the residents around the road clearly do not want this alternative.
Alternative B – involves building a new road at high cost to the council, through a number of businesses at the Toutley Industrial Estate, across a flood plain and through the Millennium Arboretum which is a wildlife habitat. It also requires building a new bridge over the railway and heads straight through the current Winnersh Allotments. The traffic doesn’t go down the Forest Road, which is good, but all it does is dump the traffic onto the A329(Reading Road) just a few yards further up.
Alternative C – avoids building on the flood plain and costs a bit less money. it is just a slightly cheaper alternative idea to B and it does not replace the Toutley road junction.
I think with a few adjustments, we could make B or C work – i.e pushing it as close to the M4 as possible, so it does the least harm. All three of these seem like poor choices to me, as they just put the traffic onto the A329 and none of them really address the traffic problems in the area.
At the now many exhibitions I have been to, there have been some pictures of posted up of the proposed Winnersh bypass, which is expected to be a road that follows the M4 onto Lower Earley Way. There has been no planning application submitted for much of this work yet and no land has been purchased. Granted, when it eventually does get built it will take some of the traffic directly into Earley. But, it is very likely most of the traffic will still be heading to the A329M/M4 though the notorious bottleneck of Winnersh Cross Roads.
I also don’t see anyone linking up the facts about the developments at Emmbrook, Arborfield, Sandford Farm and Hatch Farm Dairies, all of which are like to converge traffic onto the Winnersh/Showcase junction when everyone heads to work in the morning.
I think if the council is going to spend a lots of taxpayer money building roads, it should be on the ‘right’ solution, not just sticking plaster that will dump the problem elsewhere. We are currently looking at some alternatives. But, whatever happens, it is looking like the houses will get built before any of the new roads, forcing the new traffic into the already overcrowded streets.
Welcome to the town of gridlock and tailbacks….
