Road layout change at Thatcham level crossing will go ahead

Following years of debate, West Berkshire Council pushed ahead with the unpopular plan this week, rather than the much-mooted idea of a flyover, which was popular with drivers using the route daily, but not with people living in nearby houses.
The changes, which were revealed earlier in the year, include reducing the size of the layby in Station Road to provide extra carriageway space and creating a new right-hand turn lane into the Royal Mail sorting office.
Now, the councillor who has been fighting these plans, shadow member for highways Keith Woodhams (Thatcham West, Lib Dem), has said that he would not be asking for the decision to be looked at again, as he believed the Conservative administration would not change its mind.
A total of £13,000 has been spent on consultants and the works are estimated at £70,000, to be paid for from the district council’s developers’ contribution fund.
Of the 30 people who responded to the consultation, only two were in favour of the road layout changes.
However, the ward member, Dominic Boeck (Con, Thatcham South and Crookham), who commissioned a congestion study, said that they had to go with the findings of the consultants.
“We commissioned the survey and they proposed a number of changes that would contribute to easing the congestion. We are going to go ahead with this because we trust the survey.”
He said that all responses were given consideration but that a flyover was not viable owing to cost, adding that he did not believe people living around the station wanted to see a bridge built.
Mr Woodhams said that he believed the road changes would have little impact on congestion.
He said: “From the outset the Thatcham Conservative councillors have been wracking their brains to come up with a new idea to impress motorists and residents, to reduce queueing times at the Thatcham level crossing.
“They have wasted £83,000, and the provision for a right-hand turn lane into the Thatcham sorting office ... will have little to no effect on reducing these queues.
“I have already seen cars queue jumping, crossing the double white lines and turning right into the sorting office and the queue of traffic has hardly moved.
“[The money] could have been better spent on improving the local infrastructure for the benefit of the whole community.”
The main argument against the plan from drivers and residents who responded to the public consultation was that it would have little impact at peak-time because the right-hand turn lane could only accommodate three cars.
Others suggested that a sign to tell drivers on the A4 that the barriers were down would be useful, allowing drivers to use an alternative route.
Some people have taken to social networking sites to voice their dismay at the decision.
Thatcham resident Nick Young said that he could not see it making any difference and that it was the wrong solution to the issue.
Lyn Mistry, who runs Ruby’s Vintage and Retro Fair at New Greenham Park, said: “It's not going to make a blind bit of difference to the basic problem of traffic jams from the many long crossing closures.”
District councillor David Allen (Lib Dem, Victoria) questioned why the public consultation had been ignored. He said: “Once again, public opinion overruled. Seems a lot of money for little reward.”
While the road layout work is carried out, the pavement and carriageway from the level crossing to the Pipers Way roundabout will be resurfaced.
Mr Boeck said: “We are keeping the cost and disruption down by doing them together.”