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News Archive - Week Beginning 22nd Mar 2009
King's Meadow Baths
The RBC sports and leisure scrutiny panel voted at its meeting on the evening of Wednesday, 25th March by a majority decision to recommend to the RBC Cabinet (which meets on Tuesday, April 14th) that the developer Askett Hawk should be allowed to completely redevelop King's Meadow and Caversham Lock Island, building a 50-bed hotel, bars, restaurants and multi-storey car park on the site. The decision of the Council panel, which was taken for financia reasons, came with a caveat that they did not entirely accept the scale for the buildings and for the car park.
The recommendation to build a hotel came as a huge blow to the scheme's opponents - the community group the King's Meadow Campaign (KMC), which has detailed plans for the redevelopment and maintenance of the King's Meadow open-air swimming baths at the site for public use. Amid strong allegations that the Council had favoured the Askett Hawk scheme from the outset, the panel's chair, Conservative Cllr Tom Stanway (said to be a member of environmental group Caversham Globe) cast the vote that swung the decision for Askett Hawk, saying that "we have to make a decision that is economically viable". Labour Cllr Richard Stainthorp also voted for Askett Hawk, saying "I am not convinced the KMC's figures stack up. I have a lot more confidence in Askett Hawk".
The decision led to concern from CADRA, and Bob O'Neill of the KMC (which we supported) said: "the KMC never had a fair crack of at the whip... ...the Council report now levels the community scheme to a mere commercial entity, measured against a financial yardstick". One councillor asked at the meeting what the public actually wanted to see on this site - whether they would actually want (or be happy to see) such a bulky development on a prime piece of Reading river frontage that is currently parkland. As mentioned above, the RBC cabinet now meets on April 14th to discuss the recommended proposal to build a hotel at the site. (Reading Evening Post 27/03/09 pp1,4 and additional sources)
Caversham Court Gardens
There is (yet) another upbeat story on Caversham Court Gardens and the redevelopment work there. RBC Culture and Sport lead councillor Graeme Hoskin is quoted: "it's great to see this wonderful project progressing so well and I can barely wait for the opening in time for the summer" - but there is no mention of an actual target date for when the Gardens are due to reopen. (Reading Chronicle 26/03/09 p40)
Caversham People
Caversham's BBC TV 'Apprentice' candidate Yasmina Siadatan survived the first week of the show (filmed ages ago, although the BBC annoyingly pretends it's current). Yasmina (who prefers 'Mina') is co-manager of the Mya Lacarte restaurant in Prospect Street. She kept sensibly quiet on air - unlike the majority of her fellow contestants. (Reading Evening Post 27/03/09 p14, Henley Standard 27/03/09 p3)
Roads
Caversham suffered severe traffic congestion on the afternoon of Sunday, March 22nd as a result of road resurfacing works on part of Church Street, reducing it from three lanes to two. Congestion at the junction with Bridge Street caused long tailbacks on surrounding roads including Richfield Avenue, Caversham Road and Prospect Street. (Reading Evening Post 24/03/09 p10)
Schools
There is further comment on the recent OFSTED report on Caversham Primary School, which gave it an "outstanding" rating in each of 33 categories. According to OFSTED, to receive a clean sweep in the ratings "is quite unusual. It would be one of an elite number of schools to have achieved that". (Reading Chronicle 26/03/09 p9, Henley Standard 27/03/09 p18)
Travellers
Residents living around the end of Caversham's Wolsey Road are said to be having ro put up with noisy generators through the night, the generators belonging to river travellers moored near their homes. Up to four boats moor at once and have been stopping in the area on and off for nearly two years - residents are said to have received "a volley of abuse" from the travellers. The Environment Agency said it was working with the RBC, the travellers and local residents "to resolve the issue and come up with a long term solution". (Reading Chronicle 26/03/09 p26)
Travellers who occupied two different spots in St Martin's Precinct car park moved subsequently to Westfield Road Recreation Ground. A neighbour is quoted: "there's no running water or sewerage for them, so what do you think they do? My neighbour walks her dogs around there and she says it's getting very messy in one particular corner. And they're right next to the nursery". (Reading Chronicle 26/03/09 p26)
Waste Recycling
A letter from Ros Furley of the Reading Cycle Campaign criticises the RBC for placing new glass recycling bins right in front of cycle racks in the car park behind St. Martin's Precinct. The Campaign was instrumental in getting the owners of the Precinct to place the cycle racks there in the 1990s, "and now they are useless, as who wants to risk unnecessary punctures?" (Reading Chronicle 26/03/09 p18)
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