Streatley residents rejoice as works to improve public safety and disabled access along main pedestrian bypass completed

Works to provide safer pedestrian access in a village have been completed after years of delay.

The Streatley Hill/Reading Road junction – located on the corner of the Grade II-listed Bull Inn at Streatley – is notorious for collisions.

But for years, this route was the only option for residents hoping to access the west side of the village, as the dilapidated footpath on the opposite side of the pub was not accessible for those with mobility issues – until now.

Work on redesigning a new footpath lasted 10 days and was completed about a month ago, costing £11,000.

Streatley resident Jane Crowther was diagnosed with an incurable form of blood cancer about six years ago which left her with mobility issues.

She described the daily struggle of crossing the junction before the new footpath as “terrifying”.

“I was given six months to live. I lost mobility and was bed bound,” Ms Crowther told newburytoday.

“But then I had a bit of a recovery and got into a mobility scooter.

“But trying to get round that corner there; if you’re walking, you can flatten yourself against the wall when a lorry comes round.

“But in a mobility scooter, you need quite a bit of room to turn to mount the cobblestones outside the pub.

“I had to get my husband to go ahead and stop the traffic and beckon me round.”

But the footpath between the pub and its accommodation building was no better, as Ms Crowther explains.

“I tried to come down the footpath, but it just didn’t work,” she said.

“It was terrifying really, but I couldn’t get out any other way. Otherwise, you just become isolated at home.”

Ms Crowther complained to a neighbour, who contacted the chairman of Mobility Issues Group for Goring and Streatley (MIGGS), John Boler.

Mr Boler, who has lived in Goring for 25 years, said: “I could see straight away what had to be done. But then the pandemic stopped everything.”

Securing planning permission and listed building consent only delayed the project further.

But once West Berkshire Council approved Mr Boler’s application in November, work on redesigning the footpath could finally begin.

The pub’s owners and management also recognised the need for the new footpath.

Landlord Ben Hardcastle said: “It took a while to get the ball rolling, but once it started, it was finished relatively quickly.

“If there’s anything we can do to make people’s lives easier, particularly disadvantaged people, it would be stupid not to let it happen.”

And it is not just those with mobility issues who have benefitted from the project.

Walking groups, senior residents and schoolchildren all regularly use the route.

The project was mainly funded with a grant from Mend the Gap, a programmed dedicated to enhancing areas of the Chilterns and North Wessex Downs National Landscapes impacted by the electrification of the Great Western Railway.

Mend the Gap programme manager Ruth Staples-Rolfe said: “My very first steering group was the application from John.

“We saw the photos of the horrendous corner and the need for it.

“At that point, so long as planning permission was granted, we said we’d be able to fund it.”

“I thought they [the builders] did a miraculous job in executing it,” added Mr Boler.