Waste firms claim businesses suffering from road closures in Aldermaston

Frouds Lane Bridge has been bearing the brunt of extra traffic, including HGVs, since the A340 bridge (near Aldermaston station) was closed as part of the electrification of the rail network.
The closure of Alderm-aston Bridge has been extended until September and Frouds Lane is now breaking up under the weight and volume of traffic, and is in need of re-surfacing.
A 7.5-tonne weight limit on Frouds Lane has been introduced, except for buses.
This means that vehicles over this weight needing access to the Aldermaston area from the A4 will have to take the A4 to Reading and from there to Burghfield.
Similarly, vehicles from the Aldermaston area will have to use Reading Road to Burghfield and then rejoin the A4 at Calcot.
A director at Tadley-based John Stacey, Stephen Stacey, said: “Owing to no fault of our own, we believe our running costs will increase in excess of £40,000 a week. This is not sustainable and we may have to consider measures such as laying off, or reducing our staff to short time.
“The implications for the environment are also high, as our emissions and carbon footprint will obviously greatly increase.”
He added: “We are already experiencing great difficulty in our area, owing to the many 7.5-tonne weight limits, and the latest re-introduction of the weight limit at Frouds Lane now makes it impossible for us to carry out our business without serious disruption.
“How you can impose this limit without ensuring that at least one other route is available for heavy vehicles is unbelievable, particularly as you are anticipating the work to be extended to September, or even longer.”
The commercial manager at Aldermaston-based Alder-maston Recycling Ltd, Colin Wilkie, said that there were other routes they could take but these would have impacts on other villages such as Ashford Hill – a move they did not feel it was appropriate to take.
He estimated that together the companies would incur costs of £1m in three months, owing to the extra fuel being used on travelling greater distances – about 1,500 litres of diesel.
Rather than what is usually a six-mile round trip, he estimated that the road closures means that these are now journeys of 50 miles.
He said: “As waste management companies, we are focused on environmental issues. We take our carbon footprint seriously. It’s going to cost money and that will have an effect on the company. This should have been addressed before the main road was closed.”
A senior technician for traffic and road safety at West Berkshire Council, Bob Bosley, said that the council had no alternative to the arrangements to ensure that the diversion route remainedviable.
Network Rail scheme sponsor, Tony Walker, said: “We do apologise for any disruption this may cause but this work is absolutely necessary.”