AGM Minutes
Minutes of ACER Committee Meeting and Social
8pm Monday 7th October 2024, at Earley Home Guard Social Club
- Attendees:
Committee Attendees: Tim Marsh (chair), George Blackmore (Vice Chair), Graham May, Naomi Cambridge, Neville Sibley.
Councillor Attendees
Earley Town Councillors: (Whitegates Ward):
Sheila Jordan, Sheena Matthews, Hari Sarasan
Wokingham Borough Councillors :(Maiden Erlegh and Whitegates Ward)
Stephen Newton
Resident Attendees: 33 additional Residents signed in - Apologies for Absence:
Sion Williams (Treasurer), Norman Jorgensen (Borough Councillor)
8 A.O.B.
No other issues were raised at the meeting for discussion - Acceptance of Minutes: The minutes of the Committee meetings on 5th September February were unanimously accepted
- Treasurer’s Report
The treasurer had reported to the Chair that he was finally able to get a definitive statement of the ACER account status from Barclays. The bank had sent a form for our Treasurer and Vice Chair to complete as authorized signatories of the account. The process is supposed to finally remove our past Chair, Michelle, from the account and confirm Mary Bather as a previous signatory, as the bank claimed her signature had never been formally endorsed
. 5. MATTERS ARISING from previous Committee Meetings: –
a) Milton Road/ECG Trees:
Following Laura Buck from WBC visiting The Drive at the invitation of Cllr Sheena Matthews, we are awaiting confirmation of new tree planting in gaps along The Drive, following consultations with the nearby residents. In addition TM has forwarded the map of tree locations and location photos in Milton Road so that the three missing trees (from the original 10 planted) be considered for replacement in addition trees in The Drive
ACER suggestions for roads suitable for new trees on verges in our local roads have yet to be sent to Laura Buck at WBC with accompanying photos. Action outstanding : TM
b) Planning Applications:
Following intervention by WBC Enforcement, demolition of the recent concrete slab in front of 23 ECG and the new house next door have been completed and has been replaced with block paving and garden areas for soft landscaping as depicted in the approved drawings.
The complaint by a resident to WBC over the handling of his neighbour’s amended Application has been escalated to a Level 2 complaint following an unsatisfactory response to the initial Level 1 complaint. As our resident stated, the complaints process was carried out by the same department that had been the subject of the complaint, and not an external adjudicator, so the outcome was not unexpected.
Separately, a query by ACER over the failure by Planning to refer an Application to the WBC planning committee had also been categorized by Planning as a formal Complaint (Level 1, i.e. an in-house investigation by Planning concerning their own procedures). A similar unsatisfactory response has been received. ACER is considering escalating the complaint to Level 2.
c) 30mph Flashing Speed signs. Still no reply from WBC Highways as to whether these temporary speed displays have the capability to log actual speed and the time of the ‘offence’. TM still to chase
d) Colour Magazine
Copy deadline for the winter issue is 10th October. The next issue is due out in November
MERA have agreed to emphasize the prominence of ACER’s name on the front Cover for the next issue
An article written by the Ramblers has been submitted
Cllr Matthews has asked our new MP for an appropriate article for our Magazine
A report on the Social Evening will be submitted
e) Membership Donations
Some delayed 2024 subscriptions have started to trickle in as a result of polite reminders enclosed with magazines given to regular and recently lapsed members, and the latest Newsletter. REMINDER that the subscription year is now the same as our accounting year which is the end of January, shortly before our AGM
A draft of the revised membership spreadsheet to overcome some of the problems encountered keeping track of membership donations and magazine distribution is under review, pending implementation in time for next year’s donations commencing in January 2025
f) Mosque Traffic
i) London Road and The Drive are still at risk of Friday traffic jams and parking on double yellow lines and restricted locations. These have occurred less frequently recently, but when they do occur, the junction of London Road and The Drive completely jams up. There have been complaints from residents recently affected by displaced parking, including blocking driveways.
ii) The absence of Police presence, the only authority to clear traffic jams, was followed up again by ACER at the NAG meeting on 9th September. A formal response by the Police at the next NAG meeting is awaited with interest.
iii) ACER has the support of Cllr Tahir Maher to arrange an exploratory meeting with the Mosque Management to find potential solutions to suit all parties including early warning of potentially high attendance during religious festivals etc. Meanwhile Cllr Sheena Matthews has recently had a conversation with a Mosque representative concerning traffic issues,and has raised the issue with appropriate departments in WBC. Cllr Sheena Matthews reported that the Mosque attendee had responsibility for parking arrangements. In addition to volunteer Marshalls, the Mosque now puts out traffic cones to dissuade parking at the corner of London Road and The Drive to further dissuade cars from parking on the double yellow lines in order to leave the road clear for busses to pass. In addition the Mosque was encouraging worshippers to use the Thames Valley Park & Ride parking facility or the Thames Valley Park for parking.
l) Culver Lane Bridge Road Surface
Following repairs to the WBC owned drains under the Culver Lane bridges, The rutted and unsafe road surface under the railway bridge remains unsafe, particularly for cyclists. Cllr Newton stated that three miles of the railway drained out into the roadway which contributed to the recent flooding and road damage. It was the view of Highways that a solution to the railway drainage was needed before repairing the road due to the risk of damage to a new road surface. Cllr Newton stated he would use his previous experience in dealing with Network Rail when chair of a Rail User Group to process the issue. He stated he was prepared to invoke a Health And Safety issue if Network Rail did not respond, due to negligence of Network Rail causing danger to road users.
J) Impact of new Reading Bus Lane
The traffic jams caused by Reading’s new bus lane just after the railway bridge over the A4 have now come to the attention of the national press. The meeting heard that there had been no consultation by RBC with either ETC or WBC prior to the bus lane’s implementation. The issue had been noted by the Leader of Wokingham Borough Council as needing atten-tion, and the meeting was informed by Cllr Matthews that a Whitegates resident had been informed by the Mayor of WBC that discussions with Reading Buses and RBC were now tak-ing place. It appeared unlikely that Reading Borough Council would reverse its decision on the bus lane, and indeed was in the process of adding further bus lanes, including along Ox-ford Road.
Concern was expressed over the reported hold-ups to emergency vehicles. One resident re-ported that a prosecution notice had been received when moving into a bus lane to allow an emergency vehicle to pass. The meeting was informed that there were no stipulated excep-tions for moving into a bus lane to allow emergency vehicles to pass, and drivers were ad-vised to think before moving over in such circumstances, as they would be breaking the traf-fic regulations if they did so.
- LIAISON REPORTS.
a) MERA (Maiden Erlegh Residents Association): ACER continues to liaise closely on matters of common interest. ACER now has the same Borough Councilors and also the same MP as Whitegates, thereby further cementing our common interests.
b) NAG.(Earley Neighbourhood Action Group): ACER brought up the following issues at the September 9th meeting:
a. Mosque Traffic. The meeting was informed that although visitor numbers to the Mosque were significantly down, there had been instances of severe congestion on occasions. The Police were reminded that, although traffic jams around the Mosque had been few-er, The Police remain the only authority able to deal with traffic jams which were ob-structing the bus routes and resident access. Police were notably absent during the re-cent jams as reported above. This is unacceptable. A way has to be found to have a po-lice presence on predictable dates when traffic is going to block the bus route.
b. The Police representative was made aware of residents’ concerns over the new Reading Bus Lane causing roads in Whitegates to jam up by additional rat running. The traffic Jams needed Police attendance at least twice in the first few days to get traffic moving
c. The Mayor of Earley, Cllr Mike Smith, who was at the NAG meeting. indicated that he had received no prior consultation invitation from Reading BC regarding the bus lane.
c) EASI (Earley Adopt a Street Initiative): –ACER continue to work with EASI on organized litter picks as necessary.. More litter pickers were needed, ideally one in every street. Currently some litter pickers were covering several streets each.
d) FoBOS (Friends of Bulmershe Open Space) –
a. A meeting concerning the need for maintenance of Town Lane by WBC had been held with Borough Councillors Stephen Newton and Andy ng Siu-Hong. Following the meeting, grass cutting had commenced and routine upkeep was reported scheduled.
b. WBC had delayed watering the new trees in Bulmershe Open Space due to the wet weather. Some trees had suffered during the following dry weather. The assessed tree losses are due to be replaced this Autumn.
c. Green Corridor schemes to provide continuous nature habitats are still in progress. Liaison is through Cllr Sheena Matthews, or Nick Bather, chair of FoBOS.
e) SpeedWatch: One new volunteer has recently passed the on-line test. One additional team member is not enough to regularly record speeding. Residents frequently complain of speeding and the Police are now set up to attend proven hot spots for speeding. Without the evidence from SpeedWatch they will be very reluctant to attend. More resident volunteers are needed to make SpeedWatch effective. The equipment and authorised locations can be ready at short notice.
- NEW BUSINESS
a. New Local Plan : The new Local Plan is now out for CONSULTATION until 13th November. Although the main focus of the Local Plan is to provide for new housing, ACER’s concerns are for aspects concerning EXISTING ESTABLISHED SUBURBS and what protection there is to restrict cramming in more development as if Whitegates was an inner-city location. Submissions have already been made concerning this issue plus the rapid loss of greenery in residential streets and the need to retain mature trees. Detailed responses are planned, following a review of the proposed Local Plan.
b. Confiscation of E scooters and E bikes
Following a number of incidents relating to e-bikes and e-scooters Thames Valley Police have seized 118 e-bikes and e-scooters in the last 3 months, The areas included Church Lane. The scooters are supposed to be limited to 15mph, but are often modified to achieve much higher speeds
c. Cycling Accident Risk on Woodlands Avenue and Church Road Pavements
Cyclists have been reported colliding and knocking over pedestrians along Woodlands Avenue. Alarming near misses have occurred and one resident at the meeting reported being knocked over by an adult cyclist. Similar problems were reported in Church Road including an accident last year when a cyclist collided and damaged a car of a resident carefully exiting their driveway.
The problem appears to be that cyclists coming down Woodlands Avenue, a designated (but not segregated) dual purpose pavement for both cyclists and pedestrians, then turn into Church Road, a wide pavement which cyclists presume to be dual use, and continue cycling at high speed.
Signage and segregation is urgently needed along these stretches of pavement. Cyclists are understandably reluctant to use the road due to speeding motorists. The Borough Councillor present, Cllr Newton, was requested to raise this issue urgently with WBC Highways.
d. Committee Vacancies Chair standing down. Tim Marsh stated that due to all the unfilled vacancies in the Committee being primarily carried out by him, none of the functions were being done to his satisfaction. He had therefore decided not to stand at the next AGM, and accordingly was giving due notice so that nominations for a new Chair can be considered in time for the AGM.
9: DATE OF NEXT ACER COMMITTEE MEETING : Thursday December 5th h Location TBA
It was noted that after the close of formal business, the bar remained open and there were many small groups both socializing and having informal discussions.
