Plans Underway for Safer Wokingham Junction

Work to redesign a dangerous Wokingham junction with very poor visibility is underway after three Finchampstead councillors met borough highways on 9 July about the former war memorial site.

The parish council has offered to pay for the work - officers said that without that cash it could otherwise take 10 years, even 40-50 years. Wokingham won't accept the financial risk and the parish wants to limit its own.

They want visibility raised to at least 55 metres; currently visibility from Jubilee Road is almost zero. Two options were modelled: a mini roundabout (28m) or a T-junction (60m).

David Cornish said councillors were impressed with the officers' analysis and surprised by the volume of traffic coming from The Village towards The Ridges.

"It was a very good session – there were two officers who were very helpful."

Officers say a roundabout would be difficult and costly - street lighting alone would add a lot - so replacing the triangular island with a T-junction is seen as the safest option. That would mean removing the memorial island and could affect utilities and an underground electricity cable.

"We want to work in partnership with Wokingham Borough Council. The parish council could cover the obvious risk of a slight increase in price, but small parish councils can't sign a blank cheque."

Ted O'Neill, Local Democracy Reporter