City Fibre to Face Questions on Disruption

CITY Fibre Directors will appear before Councillors later this week to face questions about the significant disruption faced by residents as a result of its ongoing superfast broadband installation programme across Reading.

Reading has encountered significant traffic congestion and delays across various phases of City Fibre’s £58 million project, which began in January last year. This was particularly felt by local residents and road users last year during works along the Oxford Road, and again in March this year as a result of works in Caversham. More recently delays were faced by road users as a result of the partial closure of Reading Bridge for City Fibre to lay new cabling.

Tony Page, Reading’s Lead Councillor for Climate Strategy and Transport, wrote to City Fibre in April to register ‘continuing concerns’ about the performance of City Fibre and Instalcom, its Highway Contractor. As a result Roy Griffin, Regional Delivery Director for City Fibre with responsibility for the build and overall programme within Reading, and Stacey King, City Fibre’s Regional Partnership Director, will appear at a meeting of the Council’s Strategic Environment Planning and Transport Committee this Thursday.

In addition the Committee will also hear from Peter Murphy of GrainConnect, a new telecoms utility company which is planning similar activities in Reading.

The meeting begins at 6.30pm at the Civic Offices and can also be watched live on the Council’s website at https://democracy.reading.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=139&MId=4839

Councillor Page said:

“Residents in Reading will understand that this is a significant investment by City Fibre in superfast broadband in the town. Nevertheless, there have been phases of this project where roads have essentially been gridlocked, with an unacceptable knock-on effect on people’s lives and livelihoods.

 “That was particularly the case both along the Oxford Road last year and more recently in Caversham when City Fibre’s works along Church Street saw huge tailbacks build up over our two bridges and along St Peter’s Hill. This was in spite of assurances made to myself and Council officers by City Fibre and Instalcom ahead of this phase of work in Caversham.  

 “City Fibre’s roll-out will continue across Reading for some months yet before completion, including at other traffic sensitive locations. I am certain that, like me,  other councillors will want to seek assurances from the company and its contractor at Thursday’s Committee meeting that everything possible will be done to minimise disruption in the weeks and months ahead. We will also want to understand what improvements are being made to ensure this level of disruption is not repeated in Reading. ”

Under current Government legislation, statutory undertakers like City Fibre have a legislative powers to carry out work to maintain, or upgrade, their key infrastructure. No highway authority can prevent a statutory undertaker from carrying out its legal duty.

The role of a local authority is to try to ensure disruption is minimised by co-ordinating roadworks where that is possible, and ensuring proper practice is applied to maintain public safety.  On larger projects, highway authorities may be involved at the planning stage and will suggest ways to best accommodate the works. Some requests from statutory undertakers are easier to accommodate than others, depending on the nature of the work and its exact location.

Where positioned on a major strategic road junction, a level of disruption is inevitable. In these cases the Council will work with the statutory undertaker/contractor and suggest adjustments as work progresses. It remains the ultimate responsibility of the statutory undertaker however to present a robust traffic management plan which takes into account every aspect of its work.