A New Transport Strategy for a Healthier Reading

A NEW Local Transport Strategy for Reading outlines plans to provide even more reliable and affordable alternatives to the private car through further investment in improved bus, rail, cycle and pedestrian travel, all of which will help cut congestion, tackle poor air quality and create a healthier and happier town for residents.

The draft Reading Transport Strategy 2040 sets out an ambitious vision to build on the significant progress made in recent years. As well as creating a healthier town by reducing poor air quality and driving Reading towards net-zero, a key focus is to use sustainable and affordable travel options to help tackle social inequalities and to enable every community to easily access education, training, employment and leisure opportunities.

While previous rounds of public consultation have already taken place, the strategy has now been updated to take into account changes in travel behaviours since the pandemic. A meeting of the Council’s Strategic Environment, Planning and Transport Committee (SEPT) will next week recommend the latest version for a final 12-week period of statutory consultation over the summer https://democracy.reading.gov.uk/documents/s27656/07%20Local%20Transport%20Plan%20Rpt%20-%20SEPT%20Committee%2029%20June%202023.pdf

Reading’s powerful local economy and excellent transport links make it a major centre for employment and a place where people want to live, work and visit. While welcoming this success, it brings with it added demands on limited road space in the town which is already at capacity. With many thousands of new homes planned both inside and just outside Reading in the coming years, the Council’s strategy addresses how it intends to negotiate the challenge.

As well as the provision of high-quality public transport, walking and cycling active travel schemes, and initiatives to better manage travel and embrace new technology, such as electric vehicles and charging infrastructure, the draft strategy includes major improvements to transport infrastructure. This includes the Third Thames Crossing which the Council has long campaigned for and which would help remove through traffic from the IDR, existing bridges and Caversham.

On that theme, there is an emphasis in the strategy on exploring options to tackle the many thousands of vehicle journeys which have no origin, no destination and no purpose in Reading, and continue to use the town’s roads and communities as a rat run, polluting Reading’s air and damaging the health and wellbeing of residents. While demand management schemes would be explored as part of the strategy, the Council is clear that any future scheme would not involve proposals to charge Reading residents or Reading businesses. Instead, options would focus on deterring through traffic which does not stop in Reading, and highly polluting vehicles.

The draft Reading Transport Strategy 2040 can be found at https://democracy.reading.gov.uk/documents/s27657/Appendix%20A%20-%20Reading%20Transport%20Strategy%202040%20-%20Draft%20for%20Consultation.pdf

John Ennis, Reading’s Lead Councillor for Climate Strategy and Transport, said:

“As someone who was born and grew up in Reading, I have seen it morph from a market town into a major economic player in the region.  Reading is a place where people want to live, work and visit, which we would never want to change, but we have a responsibility to residents to look at the thousands of new homes being built both inside Reading and just outside, knowing they will generate many more trips into town. They cannot all be car journeys and we are not prepared to stand by and do nothing while air pollution and congestion get worse.

“Reading’s challenge remains to successfully absorb the growth in housing, jobs and commuting in the future, whilst protecting the health of local residents. That is what this strategy looks to achieve through the continued delivery of easy, affordable alternatives to the private car. Better and cheaper public transport, new dedicated cycling and walking routes and new infrastructure form the basis of this updated transport strategy for Reading.

“There is also a clear correlation with Reading’s previous Transport Strategy, which counts among its many successes a fully refurbished Reading Station, Reading’s first new station in over a century at Green Park, Christchurch Bridge, investment in Council-owned Reading Buses, dedicated new bus routes, new fully segregated cycle lanes and other bike infrastructure, new pedestrian routes and the removal of Reading’s worst bottleneck at Cow Lane, to name only a few. This Council has a well-established track record of successfully bidding for external funding to deliver on its plans, and we intend to continue with that successful approach.”

Commenting on the possibility of a future road charging scheme in Reading, Cllr Ennis said:

“We are very clear that a congestion charge, like the one which operates in London and in other parts of the country, would not work in Reading. There are no proposals on the table to charge Reading residents, businesses and those who travel from outside the borough and stop in Reading. What we do want to explore are schemes which could deter vehicles which have no origin and no destination in Reading, who use our town as a rat run and give nothing back, other than contributing to poor air quality in parts of the town and poor health for residents.

“We are open minded in terms of what a scheme could look like, and I’d also reiterate that any future proposal would be subject to detailed layers of public consultation with local residents, businesses and other organisations, including neighbouring councils, at the appropriate time. In the meantime, the Reading Transport Strategy 2040 is an important strategic document for the future of our town, and I would encourage as many people as possible to take some time to look and comment when the public consultation begins later this summer.”   

On the same SEPT agenda on Thursday June 29 is a separate but closely linked report – the draft Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Strategy, the future delivery of which will play a big part in the success of the overarching Reading Transport Strategy. https://democracy.reading.gov.uk/documents/s27658/08%20EVCI%20Strategy%20-%20SEPT%20Committee%2029%20June%202023.pdf

The EV strategy sets out the context and Council’s ambitions to provide the infrastructure required to enable a rapid transition to electric vehicles in Reading, in line with its wider climate and transport ambitions,  including becoming a net zero carbon town by 2030.  The draft EV strategy sets out current usage in Reading and how improvements on charging infrastructure for all types of electric vehicles could improve take up.

The strategy explores the different options to increase charging infrastructure and a delivery plan for the short, medium and long term, including the role of the Council and public and private sector partners. This includes working with owners or operators of existing combustion engine infrastructure, like petrol stations and car parks, on the potential to convert existing usage into charging for electric vehicles.

The Council has previously secured external funding for a range of charge points across Reading, which include rapid charge points at P&R sites, fast charge points in some Council owned car parks and slow charge points in several residential streets. It considers the provision of charge points for residents living in streets without off-street parking as particularly important moving forward and that is a key action in the new strategy, alongside the delivery of a bigger Council electric fleet, which currently includes six electric refuse trucks and a number of other electric vehicles.

Council officers are also working with other Berkshire authorities to identify how the delivery of charge points can be better coordinated to benefit local residents. Options considered include the possibility of joint bidding opportunities, sharing resources and exploring the potential advantages of pursuing a pan-Berkshire supplier arrangement to procure an operator(s) to provide charging facilities.

Reading’s draft Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Strategy can be found at https://democracy.reading.gov.uk/documents/s27659/Appendix%20A%20-%20Reading%20EVCI%20Strategy%20-%20June%202023.pdf. If agreed by SEPT Committee on June 29, a public consultation will follow before it is brought back to a future committee for adoption.