Safety Changes Coming for Caversham Junction

Reading Borough Council has given top priority to The Last Crumb junction in Caversham - where Prospect Street, Peppard Road, Henley Road and Westfield Road meet. The junction has traffic lights but no pedestrian crossings.

The move appears after long-running calls for change, including three petitions since 2017; one on Change.org has 2,183 signatures.

The council's traffic management sub-committee discussed a prioritised list of safety and traffic schemes last month, approving it on September 10. Green Party councillors abstained.

Rob White (Green, Park) said: "It's good to see schemes going forward, I think there are schemes missing from the list."

He added: "We don't agree with the prioritisation, we will be abstaining, but we recognise there are some schemes that are moving forward."

John Ennis (Labour, Southcote), lead councillor for transport, backed the list. He said: "It is comprehensive across all wards, it's not just the Labour group picking theirs, and we're not picking the opposition."

He criticised the Greens for supporting road changes but then abstaining when decisions are made, pointing to the bus lane programme vote in January 2024.

On The Last Crumb, Cllr Ennis said: "I'm really pleased that the Last Crumb is being prioritised, because again, not being party political, not being my in ward, you go up to that junction, there are five or six entrances there, and there's no pedestrian crossing."

James Aldridge, Local Democracy Reporter