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News Archive - Week Beginning 25th July 2010

The editors say: The news below includes Caversham described as a "lovely riverside village" and Caversham Court winning a 'Green Flag' award for being clean, well run and welcoming. We hope the future holds similar developments. Caversham has a lot of unrealised potential, particularly regarding the Thames.

Charities

The Reading-based charity Latitude Global Volunteering has cleared what is described as an 'overgrown patch' of Christchurch Meadows. Latitude organises overseas volunteering placements for 17 to 25-year olds: in the words of volunteer Linden Baxter "it's been hard work but it's great to see the difference that our efforts have made after just one day". (Reading Chronicle 29/07/10 p28)

Children

The Caversham Traders Association has organised a special 'Beachcomber' competition for local children during the summer holidays. To enter (you have to be aged under 11!), walk along Prospect Street, Church Road and to Caversham Court and search for the beach-themed items in participating stores. The competition takes place between July 27th and August 31st - entry forms are available in Caversham Library, and should be handed back to the library once completed. In the words of Caversham Waitrose manager Andrew McCaulay, 'Caversham is a lovely riverside village, with so much to offer in terms of shopping, leisure and eating out...' (Caversham Bridge, August 2010)

Environment

The building supplier Lafarge has announced plans to extract 150,000 tonnes of gravel and sand from a proposed new quarry on the edge of Caversham over the next 12 years. The quarry is based at a 50-hectare site to the east of Spring Lane off Henley Road, near its existing works in Playhatch Road. The firm has already been given permission to start digging on land known as the Playhatch Triangle - adjacent to its works in Playhatch Road which ran out of aggregate at the start of the year, and a full planning application for the new proposals is expected to be submitted in September. The feature quotes Oxfordshire county councillor Carol Viney, who mentions "bad feeling" over the proposed development. (Reading Post 28/07/10 p18)

A new flood forum residents' group is being set up in Caversham. It is looking for more members - if you are interested, please email Amersham@ntl-world.com for more details. (Caversham Bridge, August 2010 p4)

Parks

The RBC has conducted a £74,000 improvement programme to the playground in Christchurch Meadows to make it more accessible for disabled children. The work was carried out with funding from the Aiming High for Disabled Children: Better Support for Families initiative. (Reading Chronicle 29/07/10 p18)

Caversham Court has won a prestigious 'Green Flag' award - the benchmark national standard for parks and green spaces in England and Wales that singles out parks that are clean, well run and welcoming. In addition, the gardens at Caversham Court have won a Green Heritage Site award - in recognition of achieving the required standard in the management and interpretation of a site with local or national historic importance - showing that the site is valued, acknowledged and conserved and that people are helped to appreciate it. The Green Flag was to be officially handed over to the Friends of Caversham Court Gardens at a presentation on Friday, July 30th at 5.30pm. (Keep Britain Tidy)

Pubs

The Gardeners Arms in Surley Row, Emmer Green reopened on Thursday, July 29th under new management - the pub had closed earlier in 2010 when the previous owner resigned. The pub has been redecorated, and is now being run by three 'top chefs' with many years of experience. (Get Reading 30/07/10 p7)

Roads

The 'Car Friendly Towns' report, a study of 65 towns and cities in the UK produced by Virgin Money, has ranked Reading third from bottom behind London and Manchester in terms of its being one of the least car-friendly places in the country. The report is based on criteria including the cost and availability of parking, the number of speed cameras, petrol prices and vehicle crime. A separate report recently produced by the TaxPayers' Alliance showed that drivers in the Thames Valley were fined a total of £2,861,880 after being caught by speed cameras in 2008-09 - the fifth highest amount in the country. (Reading Post 28/07/10 pp1-3)

Oxfordshire County Council voted on Tuesday, July 27th to cut £600,000 from its grant to the Thames Valley Safer Roads Partnership, which operates speed cameras on the Council's behalf. The result will be that speed cameras in south Oxfordshire destinations north of Caversham (including on the A4155) will be immediately switched off - including in Sonning Common, Cane End, Woodcote and Shiplake. A similar abandonment of speed cameras in Swindon last year is reported to have had little effect on accident statistics as yet. (Reading Chronicle 29/07/10 p22)