Wokingham Borough Connect
 An example of surface dressing (see more below)
Making tough choices to keep everyone safe
Our annual road maintenance programme is going well and we thank you again for your patience as the team work their way around the borough.
Like all local authorities, we face huge financial challenges to protect vital services and keep all residents safe and well. We get less Government funding per resident than any other unitary authority, and about £30million per year below average.
To make best use of our limited resources, we've decided this year to fully resurface fewer roads so we can extend the life of more roads in other ways. We explain this in more detail in the next section.
Our top priority is keeping residents safe, so we continually inspect roads and footways - as part of our annual road maintenance programme, we resurface or treat the roads that need attention the most.
Our trained officers assess the risk of any defects against criteria set out in our highway maintenance management plan. Not all defects pose an immediate risk, and we'll carry out repairs as required to comply with our statutory duty.
 An example of asphalt preservation
Which types of treatment and resurfacing do we use?
Resurfacing is an expensive and extensive treatment where layers of a worn-out road surface are removed and replaced with completely new material.
Alternative, cost-effective and preventative treatments like surface dressing and asphalt preservation can protect the road surface and keep it safe for longer. They're also better for the environment as they use less carbon than resurfacing.
Surface dressing, which we've used on 82 roads this year, can extend the life of the road surface by up to 10 years. It adds protection to the carriageway, seals it from water and improves its skid resistance.
We know these treatments might not look as obvious as a full surfacing, but we assure you they're highly effective and, given our limited resources, a sensible way to keep every road and footway in our borough safe to drive or walk on.
We're inspecting all the sites we've treated to ensure they're fully protected, and we've got a one-year warranty with our contractors so any issues can be resolved.
How surface dressing can help
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Surface dressing can be used when the road surface layer fails to bond with the road layer beneath, known as delamination (pictured left). Delamination isn't a danger in itself, but surface dressing stops it from getting worse and eventually becoming unsafe. |
Don't forget: you can report potholes and any other issues with roads through the reporting system on our website.
 Our schools are STARS for greener travel
We're delighted to announce that we're one of the top councils in the UK for taking part in a healthy school travel scheme.
Wokingham Borough now ranks eighth among "small" local authorities (those with under 100 schools) for participation in Modeshift STARS.
The scheme, backed by the Department for Transport, encourages schools to write plans and come up with ideas to get pupils walking or cycling on the school run instead of being driven.
Thirteen of our schools are now accredited and we'd encourage any others who are interested to find out more. Our Modeshift STARS schools are:
- Aldryngton Primary School, Earley
- Crosfields School, Reading
- Westende Junior School, Wokingham
- Earley St Peter's Primary School
- Emmbrook Junior School, Wokingham
- Floreat Montague Park Primary School, Wokingham
- Gorse Ride Junior School, Finchampstead
- Nine Mile Ride Primary School, Finchampstead
- Shinfield St Mary's Junior School
- St Crispin's School, Wokingham
- Windmill Primary School, Wokingham
- Hawkedon Primary School, Earley
- Shinfield Infant School (new approval - not counted in league table)
We're also working with nine other schools to help them get accredited, so we're hoping for more good news in future!
Supporting the next generation's health
We support Modeshift STARS through our My Journey Wokingham team, because reducing unnecessary car journeys is key to improving air quality and tackling the climate emergency.
We want to do all we can to become a carbon neutral borough by the end of the decade, and schemes like this are key to achieving that.
We're also working with the Government to reduce air pollution around our borough's most affected schools, as exhaust fumes contain substances that are especially dangerous to growing children.
By reducing traffic on the roads, we can also alleviate congestion for those journeys where driving is more likely to be necessary.
 Upcoming roadworks
Hurst
Multi-way lights – A321 Ward’s Cross, Hurst
SSEN will be replacing a box at the junction with School Road, Hinton Road and A321 Wokingham Road from 8 to 19 July, 9.30am to 3.30pm.
https://one.network/?GB139349190
Woodley
2-way lights – Butts Hill Road, Woodley
Virgin Media will be carrying out cabinet and ducting installation works near to Maple Grove from 8 to 10 July, 9.30am to 4.00pm.
https://one.network/?GB139208157
2-way lights – Mohawk Way, Woodley
Virgin Media will be clearing a blockage near to Catalina Close from 10 to 12 July. https://one.network/?GB139187091
Multi-way lights – Vauxhall Drive, Woodley
SSEN will be carrying out new customer works at the junction with Austin Road from 12 to 18 July.
https://one.network/?GB139273913
Wokingham
Road Closure – Murdoch Road
Due to the high temperatures today (Thursday, 18 July), the road will be now remain closed between South Drive and Easthampstead Road until at least 6am tomorrow now maintenance works have been carried out.
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 projects page for plans and updates
- For information on re-surfacing and reactive carriageway repairs visit our pothole and road repairs page
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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
- You can track the progress of any issue you have reported with your reference number
- 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
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