Great Western Coffee Shop

NATIONAL Rail has admitted serious failings in its communications with West Berkshire Council and local communities over planned bridge works taking place in the Padworth area.
 
At a meeting in Padworth on Monday, March 5, residents expressed their anger over not being informed of the work early enough and because other much needed work to the bridges would now not be carried out at the same time.
 
A number of bridges along the Great Western main line will need to be altered in preparation for electrification between London and Newbury. The work will provide the extra clearance needed for overhead wires to power trains.
 
Network Rail is carrying out the work in three locations during this phase: Sulhamstead Hill railway bridge (February 29 until July 11); Beenham Lockside Crescent and the A340 railway bridges (February 29 until July 5); and Frouds Lane (dates yet to be confirmed).
 
But some residents have claimed that this would also have been the perfect opportunity to widen the bridges for pedestrian access.
 
On Monday, March 5, however, Network Rail told more than 50 local residents at a meeting in Padworth Village Hall that not only was there no money available for the additional work, but that even if money was found from other sources, there was now no time to implement further changes.
 
Network Rail community relations adviser Richard Turner admitted that its communication strategy had failed: ^We are very much aware that this has not been a success story regarding communication, but we are striving to improve that. In an ideal world, this would not be happening and I cannot emphasise enough how sorry we are that this is happening.^
 
Many residents were unappeased. West Berkshire Council executive member for Aldermaston, Irene Neill (Con) said: ^I think this meeting is being held six months too late. If we held a meeting then, we could have informed Network Rail^s decisions and they might have been able to do some of the things that needed to be done.^
 
A member of Padworth Parish Council, Carla Kayser-Booth, said: ^To replace the bridge with something that is almost like for like, when the area has changed so much, is ludicrous. ^Further residential developments are taking place, and what is there at the moment is just not fit for purpose.^
 
It was also suggested that West Berkshire Council could pay for the widening work out of previous developer contributions (Section 106 money).
 
Speaking on behalf of West Berkshire Council, principal engineer Miles Roberts said: ^We have written to the Department for Transport to ask if the additional work [to widen the bridges] can be carried out at the same time, but it looks as if it is now too late in the programme to do anything about it.^
 
At the meeting, residents also expressed their concern over the length of time taken to complete the work, with some pointing out that work on a much larger scale in Reading was carried out in just eight days, while here it will take several months.
 
Others were concerned about the design of the bridges, which they claimed would stand out in a conservation area.
 

There's something very odd about this report, in so far as I'm aware of the processes involved in doing this type of work.  It seems to me that in the normal course of all the similar work on the bridges for gauge clearance that the local authority was invariably deeply involved in the planning stages.  Also, including the simultaneous Romsey -Andover - Basingstoke gauge clearance, the various local planning websites involved are practically awash with information about bridge replacements, and there is significant evidence of local authorities tacking work such as pavement widening onto NR's work.  The two bridges done in Winchester about two years ago both included pavement widing, so this is something NR are already familiar with.

I wonder if what we have here is an embarrassed local authority planning department that has just passed NR's plans with a cusory glance, thereby missing an opportunity?

Paul

Rail electrification delays hit local businesses

DELAYS plaguing the electrification of the Newbury to London railway line is causing havoc with businesses operating in the Aldermaston area.

Waste firm Grundon is the latest casualty of the closed A340 bridge near Aldermaston station, having almost run out of minerals at a site west of Brimpton Road.

The firm is in the middle of a 10-year plan to mine land at Kennetholme Quarry in Bath Road, Midgham, and was due to transfer mineral from the east side of the site to the west via an underground conveyor.

The construction of the conveyor under Brimpton Road has been delayed due to the extended closure, and the knock-on effect means the planned works for the Brimpton Road railway bridge have also been delayed by about six months to prevent multiple road closures.

Grundon has lodged plans with West Berkshire Council to alter its planning consent to enable it to mine 40,000 tonnes of sand and gravel over the next four to five months from alongside the access road until the under-road conveyor can be installed.

In March the waste management company John Stacey said its running costs were increasing in excess of ^40,000 a week as its lorries were having to be diverted lorries via the A4 to Reading and from there to Burghfield.

The commercial manager at Aldermaston-based Alder-maston Recycling Ltd, Colin Wilkie, said that the two companies would incur costs of ^1m in three months owing to the extra fuel being used on travelling greater distances.

A six-mile round trip would become a 50-mile trip due to the closures, he said.

Work on the Aldermaston level crossings is now scheduled to be complete on September 13, according to Network Rail, after structural problems were discovered.

The A340 bridge was due to open on May 12 and the Beenham Lockside Crescent bridge was due to open on July 5.

West Berkshire Council has said it has no alternative to the arrangements to ensure that the diversion route remained viable.

Two Berkshire railway bridges have reopened four months later than planned.

The A340 bridge and Beenham Lockside Crescent bridge in Aldermaston had to be closed to allow the railway line to be electrified.

But structural problems discovered at the same time meant Network Rail engineers had to replace bridge supports.

Local businesses say the delays have affected trade.

Crissy Clemson, who runs the nearby White Tower Nursery, admits the delays have made it a difficult summer.

She said: "The work was supposed to take six weeks, but in all it has lasted six months.

"We're optimistic life will return to normal now the diversions have been removed.

"Sadly, signs telling people we were still open for business didn't go up for several weeks after the delays.

"It's been a tough summer for us anyway with the hosepipe ban and the bad weather, but these road closures almost completely finished us off.

"We estimate we had to throw away between ^10,000 and ^15,000 worth of stock."

To limit the impact of the bridge closures, Network Rail offered to pay advertising costs to local businesses while extra signs were also installed.

A spokesman said: "We understand the work was disruptive to local businesses and apologise for the inconvenience caused.

"Over the last few weeks, we have been working with them to limit the impact of the bridge closures.

"Electrifying the Great Western railway is critical to improve services on this extremely busy line."