Question
The recent
Shinfield Residents’ petition
debated in Council shows the alarm Shinfield’s residents have. Shinfield has genuine issues around traffic
congestion/gridlock, pollution, delayed doctors surgery
appointments, hospital access, shortage of green open space and
school places in this already over populated area and not all of
the new development is completed yet.
What action if any is being taken to resolve these issues before any further development in Shinfield takes place before there is a disaster in the Shinfield area which I see would be the responsibility of Wokingham Borough Council.
Minutes:
Question
The recent
Shinfield Residents’ petition
debated in Council shows the alarm Shinfield’s residents have. Shinfield has genuine issues around traffic
congestion/gridlock, pollution, delayed doctors surgery
appointments, hospital access, shortage of green open space and
school places in this already over populated area and not all of
the new development is completed yet.
What action if any is being taken to resolve these issues before any further development in Shinfield takes place before there is a disaster in the Shinfield area which I see would be the responsibility of Wokingham Borough Council.
Answer
The Council has a carefully managed approach to enabling the delivery of sustainable, infrastructure rich communities which includes £400m investment in 7 new primary and 1 new secondary schools; 7 new strategic roads, 6 new neighbourhood centres and 1 new district centre, 3 new sports hubs and one enhanced sports hub, parkland and improvements to public transport, as well as over 30% affordable housing.
The Shinfield area has already seen the early delivery of the Eastern Relief Road along with some junction improvements, and new / enhanced bus services, which are due to increase in frequency as the development progresses. The A327 Arborfield Cross Relief Road located to the south east of Shinfield has also commenced enabling works, with full construction commencing shortly. Highways England have also in addition to the Council’s infrastructure delivery, commenced with smart motorways through our borough which is a positive approach as a number of congestion related issues within and around Shinfield are often related to issues / accidents that take place on the major road network and impact our local network. All of these features, along with education to new residents of sustainable travel through the Council’s My Journey programme all assist in improving and managing the network and potential congestion.
The Council have no powers in respect to the provision of GP’s and surgeries, health provision is the responsibility of the Clinical Commissioning Groups. The Council consult with the CCG when planning for new housing growth. Shinfield surgery was built with capacity within the building to accommodate further health facilities to accommodate the housing growth locally.
With regards to school provision, the Shinfield Meadows Primary School has been available for use for the last academic year however there is currently insufficient pupil demand to open this facility at this stage. The Council monitors school places and there is currently surplus capacity for secondary education within the catchment area.
In terms of open space, the Council has delivered improved sports facilities at Ryeish including astroturf. Further facilities have been secured with the new developments and will be delivered as part of these schemes at various stages of the developments. A significant amount of public open space has been delivered as part of the Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspace (SANG) at Langley Mead and Mays Farm SANG and further SANG will be provided at the Ridge together with the strategic greenspace. These provide significant levels of new amenity open space locally and access to the countryside than the footpath network has done in the past.
We have clear plans for delivery whilst capturing the necessary infrastructure investment. We are committed to taking this successful approach forward.