Category: Wokingham and West Berkshire Issues

I visited the Wokingham Delivery Office this morning to wish all the postal staff a happy Christmas and to thank them for all their extra efforts to get all the Christmas post out in good time this year.

The pattern of Christmas deliveries has altered with the coming of the internet, with many more parcels as people buy so much on line for home delivery by post.

Harry Crawford and his team were working hard to complete the seasonal rush. I talked to people about their rounds and their own Christmas plans. The best comment of the morning was from one who had been working nights to get the parcels out, whose wish is just to catch up on sleep over the festive break.

The office is getting congested by all the packages and by the addition of  new homes and rounds as Wokingham expands.

I attended the Statement on local authority finance today.

The government said that West Berkshire will have £113 m of core spending power next year, and Wokingham £110.7m. The Schools settlement is of course in addition to this.

Most Councils were awarded similar figures to 2016-17, which means the need for efficiency improvements next year to maintain services.

I raised the issue of provision for social care for the 2 Councils.

On Tuesday Parliament held an important urgent debate on the cruel end to the recapture of Aleppo by the Syrian government. All of us were horrified by the reports of shelling, barrel bombs and mass killings of the civilian population. We all wanted to see action taken to help the humanitarian workers, the doctors, nurses, and aid staff that are at risk. We all wished there was a way for the west to provide humanitarian aid and to organise a ceasefire. I listened intently to see if there was some way we could help.

We were told by the Foreign Secretary that Syria and her allies have complete control of the air, so it would not be safe to fly in supplies or try to airlift people out. The UK has repeatedly sought through the UN to help organise a ceasefire, but the Syrian regime assisted by Russia refuses. I understand the impatience of some constituents who have written to me about it, urging action. I am sure, however, we all agree there is no point in seeking to put humanitarian staff into this killing field without guarantees that they themselves will be safe. People who bomb hospitals and refuse medical staff safe passage are unlikely allow western relief workers safe passage either.

On Tuesday we had an important debate about housebuilding and local plans. Several of us made the point that local and neighbourhood plans can be outflanked by developers using the appeal system. Where a Council has concentrated development on a few sites to maximise the development gain payments and to ensure proper infrastructure provision, the developer can go slow on the build rate. This can lead an Inspector to grant permission for more homes in a place where the local community and Council did not want to build.

The truth is that having an up to date Local Plan and supporting Neighbourhood Plans does not fully protect areas where a community does not seek more building. The best defence a Council has comes through working closely with developers that do have planning permission to try to keep the build rate at the required level.

THe Minister promised to tackle this problem by relaxing the rule over the 5 year supply of land.

I have received this letter from the Managing Director of Great Western Railway about services over the Christmas period:

Dear John

I wrote to you a few weeks ago to alert you to the closure of Paddington station over Christmas this year to allow for electrification and Crossrail works.

This is just a quick follow up to remind you that the six-day closure starts on Christmas Eve, Saturday December 24th through to Thursday 29 December. This will mean trains are very busy on Friday 23 December, and we are recommending customers book ahead and travel early if they can.

Trains will not call at Burnham, Taplow, Hanwell, Acton Main Line, West Ealing, the Marlow Branch line and the Greenford branch line from Christmas Eve until 3 January. During this period customers will be able to use scheduled bus services, or buses provided by GWR on the Marlow Branch line and from Slough to Burnham or Taplow.

Full details are on our website on a dedicated page https://www.gwr.com/travel-updates/christmas-travel including details on travelling with bikes, our sleeper service and our Pullman dining service.

We are using every avenue we can to alert customers including posters, leaflets and announcements on trains and at stations, social and traditional media and Meet the Manager events at key stations, anything you can do to help us spread the message would be very helpful.

If you have any questions about the improvement work, or our plans during the closure, please contact me and we will do our best to help.

Best wishes

Mark Hopwood | Managing Director | Great Western Railway

Christmas begins for me with the Wokingham Borough Schools’ Carol Concert. From the moment I stepped into the Loddon Leisure Centre last night and saw the orchestra and the decorations I felt the pulse of Christmas. James Baker led the choir and the orchestra with his customary enthusiasm and understanding. The Berkshire Maestros lived up to their billing and their predecessors, with spirited and lively festive playing.

The massed choirs from our local primary schools were in great voice. They loved the beat of the Calypso carol, the Swinging Shepherd Blues and Santa Claus is coming to town, and gave them full voice. We all enjoyed Leroy’s magic sleigh ride, as we heard the thump of the hooves and the crack of the whip from a stylish percussion section. The audience kept in time with the Quodlibet, a posh word for singing different parts in split choirs, and all came together for the final Hark the Herald Angels Sing.

Congratulations to all! I enjoyed the evening and thank the organisers and the participants for achieving a high standard.

After discussions with the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the British Insurance Brokers’ Association has announced a flood cover scheme for commercial premises and let properties at risk of flooding. Many small and medium businesses in flood risk areas have had difficulty in obtaining cover and this scheme may help to provide a solution. You can read more about this on the link below:

https://www.biba.org.uk/press-releases/new-insurance-scheme-biba-businesses-risk-flood/?cid=0

For residents in flood risk areas who have difficulty in obtaining affordable cover. Flood Re may be helpful. Launched earlier this year, the Flood Re scheme is the result of the Government working closely with the insurance industry to make affordable flood insurance available to households across the UK. You can learn more about this on the link below:

http://www.floodre.co.uk/homeowner/

I have regular review meetings on our resilience against flood waters, as we live in a low lying area with plenty now built on flood plain. I meet the Environment Agency and keep i n touch with the two local Councils who have the lead responsibility.

Last week I attended a meeting with the Secretary of State for the Environment on this topic. I pressed for two improvements. The first is I would like the Agency to do more to improve the capacity of the Loddon and Emm to carry water away, and to undertake more regular maintenance of their water courses. The second is I want them to insist on better water handling when they are consulted on major new housing development schemes. We cannot keep adding concrete and tarmac to the area without putting in mechanisms to handle the faster run off of water this causes, and to replace the lost water meadows which used to handle the excess.

I wil follow up as the Minister promised to pursue it for me.

Yesterday I went to the Living Advent Calendar event at Martins. A good crowd turned out to hear the music and singing, with mulled wine and mince pies provided by the hosts. I would like to thank all involved in laying on this series of events in the run up to Christmas.

I have received this memo from Cllr Angus Ross about measures that are being taken to help prevent flooding:

Officers have reviewed the procedures and possible future action to minimise the chances of further road closures because of flooding.

I have been assured that the contractor OCS has manually swept the recessed gully.  Also that the recess will be swept as part of the 4 weekly schedule and it will have a couple of extra sweeps as part of the leaf fall programme. The contractor manager will drive by on a regular basis to keep a check on it.

If there is a threat of heavy rain and time allowing, Wokingham Borough Council will try and sweep beforehand, similarly local councillors or any residents can also report any issues if they can see the detritis is starting to build up.    The gullies will be them cleared again within the next few days.

We have also asked our grass cutting contractor to be aware of trying to avert cuttings being able to wash down to the gully.