Category: Wokingham and West Berkshire Issues

I have had a number of complaints about noise levels from aircraft this weekend. The noise levels have been high despite the early end of the Heathrow flight path trials which many complained about previously. The airport did respond to our lobbying and decided to curtail the experiments.

The airport was on easterly operations over the week-end which is always noisier for the Wokingham area. Wind direction has always affected how the airport works. I will make further representations, as part of the campaign to support the introduction of quieter aircraft and better flight paths to reduce overhead noise in residential areas like ours.

Individuals should also tell the airport when they think it is too noisy. The website to do so is www.heathrowairport.com/noise.

I reproduce below for constituents’ benefit the consultation letter I have received from the Post Office about the future Maiden Place Post Office. The Post Office letter below explains the proposal and how to send in your views on it through the Post Office website:

“Maiden Place Post Office®
Unit 11, Maiden Place, Lower Earley, Reading, RG6 3HA
Proposed move to new premises & branch modernisation
I’m writing to let you know that we are proposing to move the above Post Office branch to a new location – Petfayre, 1 Maiden Place, Lower Earley, Reading, RG6 3HD. I am also pleased to tell you that, if the move goes ahead, it will change to one of our new local style branches.
Maiden Place branch closed temporarily in April 2013. We are now able to restore the service and I am therefore, pleased to inform you that a new operator has been appointed, providing us with the opportunity to incorporate Post Office services into their existing Pet Accessories store, located approximately 60 metres from the previous branch. The establishment of a Post Office local service presents the best possible solution to allow us to restore Post Office services to our customers in the area.
This change is part of a major programme of modernisation and investment taking place across the Post Office network, the largest in the history of Post Office Ltd, which will see up to 8,000 branches modernised and additional investment in over 3,000 community and outreach branches. The programme is underpinned by Government investment, with the Government committing £1.34bn in 2010 to maintain and modernise the Post Office network and in November 2013 announcing a further £640m investment in the Post Office network until 2018.
What will this mean for customers?
 Post Office services will be offered from a till on the retail counter in a modern open plan branch
 Longer opening hours
 A wide range of Post Office products and services will still be available
Consulting on the proposed new location
We’re now starting a 6 week local public consultation and would like you to tell us what you think about the suitability of the proposed new location. Before we finalise our plans, we would really like to hear your views on the proposed location, particularly on the following areas:
 How suitable do you think the new location and premises are and how easy it is to get there?
 Are the new premises easy for you to get into and is the inside easily accessible?
 Do you have any concerns about the new location?
 If so, do you have any suggestions that could help us make it better for you?
 Are there any local community issues which you think could be affected by the proposed move?
 Is there anything you particularly like about the proposed change?
I’ve enclosed an information sheet that provides more details about the new location and the range of products that will be available. If you have any comments or questions, please email or write to me via our Communication and Consultation team, whose contact details are below. Please note that your comments will not be kept confidential unless you expressly ask us to do so by clearly marking them “In Confidence”. Any information we receive will be considered as we finalise our plans for the new branch. Other people in your organisation may be interested in this proposal, so please let them know about it.
You can share your views on the proposed move through our easy and convenient new online questionnaire via the link below. When entering the site you will be asked to enter the code for this branch: 23893999
postofficeviews.co.uk
Dates for local public consultation:
Local Public Consultation starts
11 November 2014
Local Public Consultation ends
23 December 2014
Proposed month of change
February 2015
I’ve included information about the Code of Practice over the page and copies of the Code will also be available in branch.
Thank you for considering our proposal. At the end of the consultation I’ll be in touch again to let you know our final plans.
Yours sincerely
Julia Marwood
Regional Network Manager
How to contact us:
Please note this is the full address to use and no further address details are required
Items sent by Freepost take 2 working days to arrive. Therefore, responses by Freepost should be sent in sufficient time to arrive before the end of the consultation period. Working days do not include Saturdays or Sundays. Responses received after the deadline will not be considered.
 postofficeviews.co.uk  comments@postoffice.co.uk  Customer Helpline: 08457 22 33 44 Textphone: 08457 22 33 55  FREEPOST Your CommentsWant to tell us what you think right here and now – scan here If you don’t have a QR code scanner on your phone, you can find one in your app store.
Post Office Ltd can provide information and receive comments (where appropriate) in alternative formats, for example, to assist the visually impaired. To obtain further specific information, please contact the Customer Helpline on 08457 22 33 44.
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Maiden Place Post Office information sheet
Address
Petfayre
1 Maiden Place
Lower Earley
Reading
RG6 3HD
Post Office opening hours
Mon
08:30 – 17:30
Tue
08:30 – 17:30
Wed
08:30 – 17:30
Thu
08:30 – 17:30
Fri
08:30 – 17:30
Sat
08:30 – 17:30
Sun
Closed
Distance
60 metres, away from the previous branch, along level terrain.
Accessibility &
accessibility works
Access and facilities
Access will be level with a wide door entrance. Internally, there would be a hearing loop and space for a wheelchair.
Parking
Large free car park within 90 metres from the branch, with four dedicated disabled spaces.
Retail
Pet Accessories store

October’s record breaking employment figures show 30.8 million people in work – the highest level on record. Wokingham’s unemployment remains at very low levels, which is welcome news.

This means an average of over 13,000 more people in jobs every single week over the last year.

As well as a record number of women in work and a continued fall in youth unemployment it is encouraging to see that pay cheques are beginning to rise faster than inflation.
Through our welfare reforms, we are helping people to move off benefits and into work – giving hard working people the peace of mind and security that comes with a steady income.

These remain difficult times for families and there is more to do, but the best way to help people break free of welfare dependency is to go on delivering a plan that rewards hard work and creates growth and jobs.

Key achievements of the last four years

• Employment rate at pre-recession level: 73%.
• Unemployment rate: 6%.
• Nearly 1.33 million more people working full time since the election.
• Over 2 million more people working in the private sector since 2010
• Female employment up 774,000 since 2010
• The largest annual fall in female unemployment on record, with the UK seeing the fastest growth in the number of women in work out of all G7 economies.
• JSA 18-24 claimant count down 210,000 since 2010 – below pre-recession level.
• Excluding full-time students, youth unemployment down 163,000 since 2010
• JSA claimant count down 563,000 since the 2010.
• Long-term unemployment down 99,000 since 2010.
• Number of people on the main out-of-work benefits down 855,000 since 2010 – the lowest since 1990.
• A lower proportion of workless households than at any time on record – down more than 400,000 since 2010.
• Two thirds of the rise in employment has been in higher skilled occupations since 2010 – commanding a higher wage.
• Job vacancies nearly at pre-recession levels – over 680,000 at any one time – an increase of 25% on the year.
• Wages are now beginning to increase in real terms – average regular pay (excluding bonuses, in the three months to September) rose 1.3% on the year, with private sector pay up 1.6%. This compares to an increase in the Consumer Prices Index of 1.2% in September.

The Highways Agency have told me that there will be further public exhibitions on the above scheme. Two will be held in my constituent, and they will be open to the public from 14.00 to 20.00 hours. The details are:

21 November at Theale Village Hall, Theale

28 November at Winnersh Community Centre, Winnersh

I am planning to go along to the Winnersh event.

A number of constituents have contacted me about the planning application at Beech Hill, which has now been referred to the Planning Inspectorate. I have conveyed the concerns expressed to the relevant case officer:

Ms Melanie Dunn
Case Officer
The Planning Inspectorate
Temple Quay House, 2 The Square
Temple Quay, Bristol BS1 6PN

11 November 2014

Appeal Reference No: 2209286

Dear Ms Dunn

I am writing in support of Wokingham Borough Council’s refusal of planning permission at Beech Hill.

The Council investigated this application to build 120 homes very extensively, and found it violated a number of important policies in the Core strategy and accompanying local plans, and South East Plan Policy NRM6 related to the Thames Basin Healthlands Special Protection Area.

The Council’s decision notice was comprehensive, well based and showed just how out of line with planning policy this proposal was.

The local community wishes to support the Council’s decision. The proposed development would cause road and transport problems. The development is not sustainable and would require supplementing public services outside the planned areas of growth in the Core Strategy without the money to do so.

It entails a loss of open countryside. It would damage the rural nature of Beech Hill Road, and adversely affect the environment and local amenity.

Wokingham Borough has drawn up a local plan which identifies and releases large areas for substantial development. It did so to concentrate that development and permit the proper provision of transport links, public services and other support to the new developments. I trust you will uphold their decision in this case.

Yours sincerely

John Redwood

Mr Cameron and Mr Hunt have been setting out their aims for the NHS over the rest of this decade.

They begin with the promise that the NHS budget will be protected and increased in the next Parliament if there is a Conservative government.

GP access will be improved, with 7 day appointments by 2020. Everyone will have a named NHS Dr.

This Parliament has seen a real rise in money available for the NHS, and local Drs have a bigger say in commissioning and running the local NHS.

Yesterday the Commons voted on 11 of the 35 measures where the Coalition government intends to opt back in to EU jurisdiction. We were told by the Home Secretary that a vote on the 11 would be taken by the government to be a vote on all 35. If the government had lost the vote they would have dropped all 35.

I wished the government to negotiate an extradition agreement and related agreements with the rest of the EU as it has done with other countries, rather than opt in to these measures. I spoke against the government surrendering UK Parliamentary control over these criminal justice matters. I voted against the proposal on the 11 measures. The government won by 464 to 38 votes, with almost 150 MPs abstaining or not present.

 

We  marched from the Town Hall to All Saints for a 3pm service, led by the Rev Canon David Hodgson. We returned to the Town Hall to lay our wreaths at the War Memorial inside the building.

Around 220 names of those who died in the 1914-18 War were read out. It brought home the scale and brutality of the conflict, for a town with around 6000 people at the time.

I would like to thank the clergy of All Saints, Wokingham Royal British Legion and the representatives of the uniformed  services who joined in.

 

We assembled at 10 am to march to St Mary’s Church.  We laid our wreaths on the War Memorial in the Churchyard. A Chinook flew past from the local RAF base.

We went into Church for the 11am silence and the service.

The most moving part of the service was when they read out the names of 37 men who died in the Great War from the parish, and extinguished candles in their memory.

I would like to thank the clergy of St Mary’s, Burghfield Royal British legion, and all the uniformed services represented at the memorial ceremony. I also pay tribute to Mark Shaw Brookman for commanding the parade, and to John Steeds for receiving the salute on the march past.  The community was well represented, and the occasion a memorable one for all involved.

 

Ten years have passed since the tragedy of the rail crash at Ufton Nervet. There have been further tragedies at the same location and so far  no change to the level crossing.

I have kept it alive in my thoughts and have regularly pressed for action to make the crossing safer. The railway has for a long time said they wish to solve it by building a bridge over the tracks. They have confirmed this again and are now pressing on with plans to acquire land and putting forward a proper project.

I will keep up the pressure for them to do as they promise. They do need to take  suitable action to improve the safety of this location. I regret that they have still not taken other actions to improve it pending their bridge.