A debate is due on parking at Twyford train station as nearly 2,000 people have signed a petition calling for the situation to be improved.
Nearly 2,000 people have signed a petition calling for better parking at Twyford train station, and councillors will debate the issue next month.
Twyford is served by Great Western Railway (GWR) trains to London Paddington, Reading and Henley, and by Elizabeth Line trains to Abbey Wood. Passenger numbers at the station have risen for four years running since the Elizabeth Line opened in 2022.
Campaigners say the station car park’s 400 spaces are usually full by 7.15am, forcing commuters to park around the village and disrupting residents.
The Change.org petition has 1,963 signatures and asks Wokingham Borough Council to work with GWR on a proper solution. It was set up last November by the Wokingham Conservatives — and specifically by David Sleight, the association deputy chairman of the Wokingham Conservatives.
Although 1,500 signatures are the threshold to trigger a council debate, the council rejected the petition because Change.org didn’t collect full postcodes.
Angus Ross, a former Conservative borough councillor, gave this update:
“The petition organisers thank everyone who signed the petition.
“1,500 signatures were needed to compel the council to hold a formal debate about this problem; and in the end, nearly 2,000 people signed it.
“But unfortunately, the council rejected the validity of the petition because they require signatories to supply their full postcodes, yet the petition platform hadn’t insisted on this.
“Since then, the Conservative Group has initiated a motion to be debated by councillors at a full council meeting.”
The full council will meet at 7pm on Thursday, January 22. The motion — submitted by cllr Sam Akhtar (Conservative, Thames) — says:
“This council believes that a coordinated approach involving the council, Great Western Railway and other relevant stakeholders is necessary to deliver a sustainable solution.
“This council therefore resolves to call on the executive to work with GWR to assess current and future parking demand at Twyford station, and explore all viable options to expand parking provision in the vicinity of the station, develop business cases for each option, and agree a preferred solution with GWR by the end of 2026; and work with GWR and other relevant stakeholders to deliver the preferred option at pace once agreed.”
The petition also asks the council to set up a cross-party working group to push a solution and to improve bus services and cycling infrastructure. Reading Buses’ Route 12 — running between central Reading, Shepherd’s Hill, Sonning, Charvil and Twyford — was introduced last November to help with access to the station.
James Aldridge, Local Democracy Reporter
