Call for Bus Shelter Gains Council Attention

Reading Borough Council is weighing up a request for a bus shelter on the southbound stop on Chalgrove Way in Emmer Green. Right now it's a flag-and-pole stop where people have to stand; the northbound stop at Emmer Green Drive at least has a bench.

Local resident Alexandra Coles launched a petition for a shelter. It had 22 signatures and was discussed by the council's traffic management sub-committee; Coles was meant to join on Microsoft Teams but couldn't attend.

The council recently let a new contract for supplying and maintaining shelters, so the Chalgrove Way stop has been added to a list of requested measures. A shelter would cost £15,000.

John Ennis, lead councillor for transport, said: "There are technical issues about fitting it, but at the same time we’ve got to look at it to bring it forward, but there’s no timescale admittedly.

"We’re going to have some really good ones [bus stops], it’s something that we should not dismiss, that’s the point I’m making. "

Rob White, the Green leader of the opposition on the council, said: "Having a decent bus stop is really important to help people get the bus, having somewhere to sit down, somewhere to shelter when it’s raining, all of that sort of thing.

"I fully support this moving forward."

Cllr White later asked: "Could we get a bit more of a timescale, because some of these lists, stuff does stay on them for years and years. "Would it be this year? Could we narrow the timescale down a bit?"

Cllr Richard Davies (Labour, Thames) replied: "Clearly there is no budget because this has just come up this year, so it would be presumably next year at the very earliest."

Mr Ennis also warned of pavement issues that need checking: "Greens would be the first to complain that people with pushchairs and wheelchairs can’t get on a path because there is a bus stop. We need to investigate further. We’ve accepted it."

The petition was acknowledged at the June 10 meeting. The council says improvements have already been made at 101 stops with new real-time passenger info displays last December, and 15 shelters were fitted with green living roofs in November 2024.

James Aldridge, Local Democracy Reporter