Category: Wokingham and West Berkshire Issues

It was a pleasure to visit the Wokingham Job Support Centre today to celebrate its 20th birthday. I enjoyed meeting the volunteers and thanking them for all the work they and the Trustees do to ensure a good advisory service to unemployed people in Wokingham.

The rate of unemployment has stayed very low in Wokingham through the Credit Crunch and economic crisis. Wokingham Job Support Centre helps achieve this great result. They assist people with their CVs, interviews and self confidence. They help them define what they can do and what they want to do, and put them in touch with opportunities and training.

Now based in the Cornerstone Centre at All Saints Church, the organisation provides an excellent service to our community. Well done to all involved, and thanks to you all for helping local people get back to work when they have lost their job.

  I held a meeting with railway management from Great Western Trains to discuss improved services.

  I expalined that constituents would appreciate more capacity on the Reading to London line.Too many people have to stand at busy times of day. We reviewed ways in which line capacity could be expanded and more use made of existing track through lighter trains, better signals, better controls and sensors in trains, better timetabling and passing places for slower trains.

    I also asked for safer trains. Everyone travelling on a fast train should have a seat and a seat belt. Heavy luggage stowage should be secured by nets or doors, as on an aircraft, or stowed away from passengers as on a coach or in a car.

      I suggested that train operators also look at the information they provide, the services they offer onboard on longer distance trains. There is not usually any information provided for tourists about places passed and visited. There is no information supplied about route progress in the form of moving maps, unlike on aircraft or in many cars. No information is offered about major stations to prepare travellers for getting through such stations and finding other transport links at them. There are few services for business travellers to make their time onboard easier and more useful. Many trains still do not have facilities even to use the phone with a reliable link.

I attended a meeting with Michael Gove to ask him in general terms about finance for the new primary schools in Wokingham that the Council is proposing.

Mr Gove agreed that many locations in the UK do now need more money for additional primary provision as the population has risen. He said he expected money to be made available for such projects. There should be money available for suitable new free school primaries, and through the usual capital programmes.

The next task is to work up good projects.

Yesterday I spoke to the Environment Agency about flood levels in Wokingham. They said they thought last night should be the highest level the waters reach, and they should subside today. They expected the Wokingham constituency to get through

with no flooding of people’s homes. If anyone has suffered flood damage indoors, please let me know and I will take it up with the authorities.

          As some of you did not see or hear a lot of the PCC election, I thought it might be helpful to summarise here the aims of our new Commissioner. He has pledged to

“reduce crime and drive up detection rates

ensure the police budget is targeted effectively

to protect vulnerable people

to ensure the police act firmly and fairly, using good judgement to deal with the public politely

make sure communities are not blighted by anti-social behaviour

reduce the likelihood of gold theft from Asian families”

If you have issues about how to prevent crime, or are not happy with the way crime is targeted and pursued, then feel free to write to Anthony Stansfeld. He also has a website, www.anthonystansfeld.org.uk.

    I enjoyed this afternoon at the Winter Carnival in Wokingham. Well done to all those who got floats together and performed in them. A big thank you to all who came in vintage cars, or  Victorian costumes, or  brought their music and dance routines. It was a colourful procession, with plenty of fun and good spirit.

          The traditional carols near the Christmas tree, and the official lighting of the decorations went off well . An energetic snow machine gave a seasonal feel to the pictures. The Market place was crowded with many enjoying the opening of the Christmas season, the carnival and the fun fair.

             I have receievd a brief this afternoon from the Environment Agency saying there are no bad flood incidents in our area. I hiope they are right. Please let me know here if there are local problems. When I was out and about this afternoon I saw  no homes flooded on my travels.

              Thiose who write in to say we need better flood protection should know that I have been pressing for this for some time. Wokingham Borough now has the powers to draw up a local anti flood plan, and is in the process of doing so. I look forward to progress on that, so we can then do more  work to reduce the risk of flooding further. In the meantime I have pushed for maintenance and other works to cut the risks in places where we have had problem floods in recent years, and some of this work is now completed.

     Floods were on my mind this morning anyway, given the torrential rain recently. I attended the Wokingham flood Partnership meeting to see how they are getting on with plans to offer more anti flood protection.

        The Borough is working on a proper anti flood plan, now they have the legal responsibility for the function bestowed by Parliament. I said I would help where they needed a response from government or national bodies. I am taking up the issues at Luckley Wood with Network Rail again, including the impact their recent tree and shrub clearing has had on the local environment.

        I look forward tomore  progress to report to those who are worried about the flood risk to their homes. I am grateful to Phiala Mehring of the Loddon Valley Residents for her continued hard work and vigilance on these issues.

       I was pleased to see that the representations made by myself and others have had some effect. Wokingham Post Office has announced longer opening hours to pick up parcels again, after their brief experiment with just a late morning opening of the window.

       When I visited to check up this morning, there was a very long queue for the counters. I have been pressing for them to expand the number of counters to cope with extra demand, and will return to that issue when I next talk to management there.

          On Friday 16th November I opened the new offices for Ensilica in West Forest Gate, Wellington Road.

           They showed me their new computer design facilities for producing new IT chips, and introduced me to their team of computer engineers and other staff.

           The business has grown its turnover well over the last decade, and now has offices in Wokingham, Cambridge and Bangalore. They are also looking for an office in California.

             I wish them well as they seek to expand geographically and find new customers worldwide. I hope they remain happy in Wokingham, where they have now been for some time.