Question
As Members are aware in the past few years Shinfield has been subjected to significant development on what was a semi-rural community. Some of the key routes are still on semi-rural roads and others widely recognised as needing uplift due to significant safety concerns arising from the increased traffic levels.
As one example, in 2008 it was recognised that the junction between Church Lane and Basingstoke Road required ‘uplift’. This was approved some 6 years later in 2014, as part of various local area development conditions. We are still waiting, nearly 14 years. In my short time as a Councillor, residents, and Councillors have been promised at least four dates for work to commence, others tell me it is many more than this.
All have been missed, the latest being Summer 2021. We are now being led to believe early 2022 but understandably we have little trust in this. There are multiple other areas of highway safety concern, especially in the areas adjacent to our schools. Hyde End Lane being one prime example.
My question is when will this Council give priority to the safety of Shinfield school children and other Shinfield residents by actually delivering what they promise, when they promise?
Minutes:
Question:
As Members are aware in the past few years Shinfield has been subjected to significant development on what was a semi-rural community. Some of the key routes are still on semi-rural roads and others widely recognised as needing uplift due to significant safety concerns arising from the increased traffic levels.
As one example, in 2008 it was recognised that the junction between Church Lane and Basingstoke Road required ‘uplift’. This was approved some 6 years later in 2014, as part of various local area development conditions. We are still waiting, nearly 14 years. In my short time as a Councillor, residents, and Councillors have been promised at least four dates for work to commence, others tell me it is many more than this.
All have been missed, the latest being Summer 2021. We are now being led to believe early 2022 but understandably we have little trust in this. There are multiple other areas of highway safety concern, especially in the areas adjacent to our schools. Hyde End Lane being one prime example.
My question is when will this Council give priority to the safety of Shinfield school children and other Shinfield residents by actually delivering what they promise, when they promise?
Answer:
The Council takes the safety of all residents very seriously, particularly the vulnerable; however, there are no infrastructure improvements planned for Hyde End Lane. In the case of the Church Lane/Basingstoke Road junction improvement, the Council is not the deliverer as the work, as you know, it is for Taylor Wimpey and we have been pressing the developers to complete the works. We cannot complete them. They have to be done by the person who is responsible, and unfortunately you cannot force developers to finish work at a particular time. We are pressing them hard, understand the problem, but it is not something we can really do ourselves.
Whilst there have, as you say, been delays in progress, following the compliance initiatives the developer is due to award a contract for the work towards the end of this month for the scheme’s delivery. The Council is working with the developer to ensure planning obligations are completed and we are expecting commencement as soon as possible and we will be happy to apply pressure to secure compliance.
Supplementary Question:
Given the direction of the Local Plan update, trust in councils delivering what we promised is important to residents, especially Shinfield, where we are patiently waiting for developers to provide us with promised sports pitches and a supermarket, a supermarket that is so long overdue, it is now being rebranded and promised again under a different planning application. My supplementary question is, how will this Council reassure all residents, and especially Shinfield residents, that what we promise during planning will be delivered?
Supplementary Answer:
I cannot really answer a question on planning. It is obviously a question for someone else, but I can assure you that I am very happy, as you know, to come and talk to residents. I have been talking to quite a few residents over the last few months in Shinfield, and I believe that we have actually found some sensible solutions to some of the problems that they have outlined. So, I am very happy to again come with you and meet residents to talk about any highways problems that they have got and what we can do to fix them.