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News Archive - Week Beginning 19th July 2009
The editors say: You'd think it would be obvious that scheduling roadworks on both east-west routes in Caversham (Peppard and Henley Roads) simultaneously isn't sensible. It turns out that even this simple reasoning is beyond Reading Council's planners. And our taxes pay for them ...
Caversham People
John Buckley, a retired dentist from Pangbourne, has taken over from dentist Jitesh Patel as president of Caversham and District Rotary Club for the coming year. (Reading Chronicle 23/07/09 p24)
Crime
The Lower Caversham neighbourhood police team has reported an increase in local crime levels. According to PCSO Rob Dunford “a common theme is that offenders do not have to force entry because they were able to gain access through windows and doors left open or unlocked”. (Reading Chronicle 23/07/09 p26)
Police are asking for witnesses to an incident in Playhatch where a collision between two stationary cars and a moving car at about 9.20pm on Saturday, 18th July resulted in a ‘huge fire’ taking hold of a thatched cottage’s outbuilding, close to the Flowing Spring pub. (Reading Post 22/07/09 p11)
Environment
Caversham Court Gardens are due to finally reopen on Friday, August 7th at 3pm after building work on its facelift took longer than expected. According to ‘Caversham Bridge’, the key items delaying the reopening were the redesign of the main entrance gate and the carriage circle just inside the gates, and the laying of new grass within the site. The Royal Horticultural Society was given to a preview of the restoration work on Friday, 17th July, the visit being made as part of Reading’s efforts for the ‘Britain in Bloom’ competition in August. (Reading Chronicle 23/07/09 p24, Get Reading 24/07/09 p19, Caversham Bridge, August 2009 p1)
Planning
The RBC Planning Committee at its meeting on Wednesday, 15th July refused to act on the concerns of residents of Ridge Hall Close in Caversham, who had been lobbying for nine pine and lime trees to be felled there, for fear that they might fall and crush their houses. A similar tree fell on a house there in January 2008 – however, the Committee was told that the trees were safe, and RBC Labour Councillor Tony Page said that if they were to be felled as a precaution, it would set “a highly dangerous precedent”. (Reading Chronicle 23/07/09 p12)
Pubs
The Gardeners Arms in Surley Row was due to have hosted a charity fun day on Sunday, 26th July. About 15 regulars had volunteered to do a bungee jump as part of the day’s activities. (Get Reading 24/07/09 p19)
River Thames
Caversham resident (and champion of local issues) Bob O’Neill, who is responsible for the Thames River Rescue boat service, is protesting to the RBC about their imposition of parking restrictions at the Thames Side Promenade (on the south bank of the river, close to the Crowne Plaza Hotel). Mr O’Neill is contesting his being given a parking ticket there, and says that the restrictions are hampering the River Rescue’s practice and training sessions. (Get Reading 24/07/09 p23)
The Queen’s Swan Marker and the Royal Swan Uppers were in Reading on Thursday, 23rd July for the annual Swan Upping ceremony – the census of swan numbers on the River Thames. Tim Deaton, owner of Thames Rivercruise, who joined the Swan Uppers in Caversham said “I think they were very pleased with what they found here… …there was a very good brood of five new swans just in Caversham, another brood of two up by Scours Lane and two near Mapledurham”. (Get Reading 24/07/09 p6)
Roads
A motion was taken on Wednesday, July 15th by Wokingham Borough Council to resist any congestion charge linked to the RBC’s bid for government funding from the Transport Innovation Fund (TIF) – which could include cash for a third Thames bridge in the Reading area. The action taken by Wokingham means that it joins West Berkshire Council in opposing the possible imposition of road pricing by Reading. RBC Labour lead councillor for transport Tony Page said: “Wokingham and West Berkshire are getting hung up on this issue. I welcome their decision to contribute, but they need to be more pragmatic…” (Reading Post 22/07/09 pp1, 5)
A petition organised by neighbours and parents of children of Caversham Primary School calling for a pedestrian crossing at the busy junction of Oakley Road and Kidmore Road has received more than 625 signatures in less than a fortnight. The petition has been presented to RBC Labour lead councillor for transport Tony Page (who has had a busy week, and who is pictured with Caversham school children holding the petition and looking very gloomy). The councillor said “it will be given very serious consideration by the council but obviously I can’t pre-judge the decision”. Sounds like a no. (Reading Chronicle 23/07/09 p3)
Senior Citizens
Peppard Ward RBC Conservative councillor Mark Ralph has established a pilot ‘buddy scheme’ in the ward with the aim of ensuring that old people in Reading ‘do not get forgotten’. The scheme allows older people living on their own to link up woth someone of the same gender and a similar age. Each then commits to call the other once a week, to check on their wellbeing. (Get Reading 24/07/09 p5)
Shops
‘Caversham Bridge’ publishes a (useful) list of shops and restaurants that have opened in central Caversham over the last few months. They include the Caversham Cobbler and Keysmith on Bridge Street, Gibbons bedroom and home studios manufacturer and installer on Church Street, the new Caversham Convenience Store on Prospect Street and VIZ of Caversham – offering specialist promotional design services, also based in Prospect Street. (Caversham Bridge, August 2009)
Traffic
A Caversham-based legal charity, You Value Justice (YVJ) International, has won an appeal against a firm of car clampers, Parking Control Management (PCM) for illegally charging a Caversham Park man in June 2008. The man had been presented with a £260 fine for leaving his car outside a closed shop in Reading’s Oxford Road for two days whilst visiting a friend – the overturn of the fine has meant PCM having to pay him costs and damages, and may have implications for other drivers. The YVJ charity was set up in November last year to assist people on legal aid in tribunals, small court claims and other disputes. (Reading Chronicle 23/07/09 p3)
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