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• Archive Index 2010

News Archive - Week Beginning 7th March2010

The editors say: We live in a very nice part of the world. It totally defeats us as to why people would want to drop litter and dump rubbish ... but they do. Doing 'your bit' to just pick up stuff near your own house helps a lot and is worth doing. For more major littering/tipping, the Fix My Street site can help and we recommend taking the trouble to report problems. It's an observable fact that the more litter there is left around, the more it attracts. So, nipping a problem in the bud is a smart move for everyone.

Children

Two 10-year old twins from Lowfield Close in Caversham Park Village, Sophie and Gareth Colwill, are running in the Green Park Challenge on Sunday, March 21st on behalf of the Help for Heroes charity. The pair chose the national charity on behalf of their cousin Captain James Atkinson of the Royal Engineers, who is currently serving with 22 Engineer Regiment in Afghanistan. Donations can be made via Just Giving. (Reading Post 10/03/10 p11)

Crime

A police car chase through Caversham on Friday, March 5th resulted in a stolen navy blue Ford Focus being abandoned by its driver at the Henley Road traffic lights leading into Caversham Park village and fleeing. The car had been stolen in a letterbox burglary and police believe it was used in a burglary at a petrol station in Hungerford earlier on Friday. Anyone with information should contact Detective Sgt Mark Heybourne via 01865 841148. (Reading Post 10/03/10 p8)

Police are renewing an appeal for information that leads to the conviction of two balaclava-clad white men who smashed through the back door of a Woods Road home at around 7.30pm on Saturday, January 30th. A reward of up to £1,000 is on offer for what is described by the police as “a distressing incident”. Anyone with information should call 01865 841148.

Environment

The RBC is to be rated in an environmental league table and compared to other councils from next month, under the terms of the emissions trading scheme the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC). The scheme aims to force organisations to identify and install energy efficient measures and to invest in cost-effective carbon reduction problems – all CRC organisations will have to predict the forthcoming year’s emission and buy an allowance on the basis of the prediction. . The Environment Agency (EA) will in due course publish a league table with rewards – or penalties – based on a council’s league table position; councils that perform better than predicted will be rewarded and those that go over its prediction will have to pay more. (Get Reading 12/03/10 p32)

The ‘Google’ facility Street View is reported to have gone live for Reading on Thursday, March 11th – allowing individuals to view detailed images of streets. ‘Google’ maintains it is not a useful tool for burglars. (Reading Chronicle 11/03/10 p5, Get Reading 12/03/10 p5)

The annual Reading RESCUE (Rivers and Environmental Spaces Clean Up Event) began on Thursday, March 11th and was due to end on Sunday, March 14th. The scheme depend on volunteers – described as doing “a fantastic job” by RBC lead councillor for environment and sustainability Paul Gittings. (Reading Post 10/03/10 p57, Get Reading 12/03/10 p4)

The RBC has launched a public consultation exercise with regards proposed changes to boat moorings. Amongst the measures, there are proposals to relocate the Christchurch Meadows mooring to the eastern part of the Meadows so boaters will be further away from residents’ homes. Moorings at the site will also be restricted at the end of Wolsey Road for drop-off and collections only. For a copy of the consultation, residents are asked to call the RBC parks team on 0118 939 9045. (Reading Post 10/03/10 p22)

Police

Thames Valley Police has received a "poor" rating for solving crimes in its annual assessment from inspectors. The Police Report Card by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary gave the force an overall rating of "fair". The force scored "excellent" in the area of reducing the number of people killed or seriously injured on roads. Chief Constable Sara Thornton said she was concerned about the grade for solving crime, and it would be a priority for next year. In the area of solving crime, the force had a weak detection rate for assaults with less serious injury, and in other areas of detection, it was graded as "fair". Further details can be found here. (BBC website 11/03/10)

Rubbish

A campaign group, ‘Big Brother Watch’, has drawn attention to the local authorities that have installed microchips in the refuse bins of their residents. One of the 68 authorities is South Oxfordshire District Council, which has had microchips in its recyclable waste bins since last summer. In the words of the campaign group, ‘councils are waiting until the public aren’t watching to begin surveillance on our waste habits, intruding into people’s private lives and introducing punitive taxes on what we throw away’. The RBC is not on the list. (Get Reading 12/03/10 p18)

Services

An online league table has been published providing information on how local GP surgeries have performed. The website features Caversham and Emmer Green surgery data – Peppard Road Surgery received top marks in all but extended opening hours. (Reading Post 10/03/10 p2)

Shops

The ‘Chronicle’ reports that after five-and-a-half years the owners of the WordPlay book and toy shop in Prospect Street, Chris and Julia King, are leaving, rather than commit themselves to a lengthy renewal of lease. A customer (and Picton Way resident), Deirdre Smith, has taken over the shop, and is quoted as saying: “I don’t have any plans to change anything, I think Chris and Julia have a winning combination”. (Reading Chronicle 11/03/10 p28)