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Traffic and Travel

Wokingham Borough Connect

New Rose Street traffic management moves to next stage

Following a consultation last Summer, we are pleased to say that the council's executive have now approved plans and work is due to start in the Spring.

The works will remove the existing traffic island and replace it with kerb extensions on both sides of the road to reduce the crossing distance and give crossing pedestrians priority over vehicles.

The vehicle width limit will be kept for safety reasons and the crossing point will be raised to footway level to slow vehicles and help pedestrians cross the road.

The consultation took place between July and September 2022, with 70 per cent of respondents in favour of the changes.

For more information, including a summary of responses, visit the page on our Engage Wokingham Borough website.

Working to keep the wheel's on the bus going round and round

Bus services in Wokingham Borough need continued Government support because they still face financial challenges after the coronavirus pandemic. That's our message to transport secretary Mark Harper MP, who we’ve urged to meet us to discuss extending central funding beyond 31 March.

The Department for Transport has extended various types of recovery funding until then, while introducing a subsidised £2 cap on certain fares, but no further help is confirmed from 1 April onwards.

If these aren’t renewed, we can’t afford the hugely increased cost of subsidising all our local routes and will have to make tough decisions, as we’re facing unprecedented financial pressure and must protect key services like social care.

We’re doing our bit by redrafting our Bus Service Improvement Plan, a “vision” document that could help bid for funding in partnership with bus companies. It calls for things like cleaner, greener, more reliable buses and further improvements to passenger satisfaction levels.

Please take the bus whenever you can – it’ll help keep services going, and it’s healthier and better for the environment too.

Recent parking consultations

We recently carried out two parking consultations, one for the Twyford area and one for Hilltop Road and the surrounding area.

Twyford

Over the past couple of years we have been looking to improve parking in Twyford. An initial survey was done with residents to find out which areas they felt needed considering for new parking measures, followed by on-site surveys.

We used the surveys to create proposed changes to on-street parking management, which we consulted on at the end of 2022.

412 people responded to the survey, of which 95% were residents of Twyford.

Overall, people were more in favour of the proposals than against, with 55 per cent supporting the proposals and 45 per cent not supporting them, however this number changed dependent on the proposed scheme for individual roads.

The team will now be reviewing responses to the proposals and will send an analysis to the executive member for active travel, transport and highways to review.

Hilltop Road and surrounding area

We have carried out an initial survey of residents, businesses and visitors on Hilltop Road and the surrounding areas.

Of the people who responded to the survey, 85 per cent of people that responded to the survey said they experienced problems with parking in their road, with 87 per cent supporting the introduction of parking measures to address some of the issues.

The team will now be reviewing responses to the survey, and will use these as a basis to carry out on site surveys.

Electric Cargo bike trials for local businesses

In a few weeks, our My Journey team will be taking delivery of two Urban Arrow electric cargo bikes. They will be available to loan businesses within the borough for them to see how an e-cargo bike could benefit their business.

The bikes come with different size boxes, available up to 620 litres and can replace cars or vans for most local journeys and are perfect for first and last mile deliveries.

If your business is making deliveries across the borough, could you play your part in reducing transport emissions and creating a greener place to live and work?

Benefits of E-cargo bikes:

• Save money on fuel and vehicle costs
• No more parking charge;
• Reduce transport emissions
• Less sitting in traffic jams

To discuss borrowing a cargo bike please contact myjourney@wokingham.gov.uk

Upcoming roadworks

Keeping up to date

• For planned and emergency roadworks, follow our Twitter and Facebook pages 
• To find out about roadworks near you, visit One.network
• For active and sustainable travel, including events, training and resources, visit MyJourney Wokingham 
• Visit our major new roads page for plans and updates
• For information on re-surfacing and reactive carriageway repairs visit our pothole and road repairs page 
• You can report any issues with roads and streets online, including street lights, problems with traffic lights, potholes, damaged street furniture, problems with road markings and removal of dead animals. 
• On our parking and permits page, you can find information including car parks and costs around the borough, resident parking permits, park and ride services and appealing a parking fine.
• Our transport and travel page includes information on applying for a senior citizen or disabled person's bus and train pass and local public transport information.
• The blue parking badges page has information on applying for, using, replacing and returning your blue badge.