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The flood-prone Loddon Bridge Park and Ride could be replaced by a number of smaller park and rides
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Flood-prone Loddon Bridge park and ride could be replaced by micro schemes

By Jon Nurse
January 31, 2013

Connections around Wokingham could become simpler and quicker as a number of park and rides are considered to replace the flood-prone Loddon Bridge scheme.

Park and rides from Winnersh Triangle, Coppid Beech, Broken Brow near Thames Valley Park and Mereoak, combined with micro schemes around Wokingham town, are all on the cards in a new strategy to be considered.

The explosion of park and ride options would signal an end to the often closed Loddon Bridge scheme in 2014, with users directed instead to a new route starting next to Winnersh Triangle railway station.

Last year the council estimated it lost around £1,700 in ticket sales every day Loddon Bridge site was closed.

The new strategy, which plans through to 2026, aims to boost usage of public transport, reduce congestion and make the schemes self funding.

Wokingham Borough Council’s executive is expected to approve the strategy for public consultation tomorrow ahead of a review in May.

Wokingham town centre would be served by micro park and ride schemes, which use existing and usually under-used car parks.

A Coppid Beech park and ride site would use an existing bus service to link Wokingham and Bracknell.

Two orbital bus services are being considered, travelling from north of junction 11 of the M4 in Reading to Twyford, and from the same village to Arborfield.

And routes to and from Reading would be promoted with new park and rides at Mereoak and Broken Brow, and a new limited bus stop service starting in Bracknell.

In Thursday’s meeting, the executive will also consider a one-year extension of the Loddon Bridge Park and Ride contract, which ends on Tuesday, February 5.

It is expected to be the last extension before a planning application for an alternative scheme is submitted this year.

The predicted cost of providing the service, jointly funded by Wokingham and Reading Borough Councils, is £60,000 for each authority.

The service has seen a decline in use over the past six years, mainly due to regular flooding on the site.

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Most recent user comments 12 of 12

To all those who are concerned that Wokingham are subsidising Reading here you should be aware that this is a joint operating with Reading. What that means is they share the costs, profits (yes there were some a few years ago) and losses.

Whilst I would love that all Wokingham residents would only shop or work in Wokingham that is not the real world. The council is there to provide facilities for its residents as far as it can financially and like it or not this is one of them.

Cllr Keith Baker
01/02/2013 at 12:33

Damiano_Tommassi - the reality is whatever Wokingham does and however much it invests, it will never be as big and appealing as Reading. The reality is that if all of Wokingham Borough residents to Wokingham and Reading Borough to Reading and West Berkshire to Newbury then Reading traffic would be free flowing and Newbury and Wokingham in chaos. We know this scenario isn't going to happen and paying a small amount towards most of it's residents going to the areas major shopping and employment area seems reasonable and a lot cheaper than having to deal with there own transport inefficiencies.

Also, whilst reducing congestion is one of the aims, the other aim is that using a P&R will be the quickest journey into Reading for Wokingham residents. It isn't Wokingham as a whole who benefit, but many of it's residents do, which justifies sharing the costs. If sites were worked out which didn't flood, I suspect that an operation should be at least break even and even profitable, so no need for either council to subsidise.

Smiffy, Reading
01/02/2013 at 09:43

Hi Smiffy.

The drive into Reading is a little unpleasant on a Saturday lunchtime, yeah. But remember, congestion = money coming into Reading (and not going elsewhere). Further, having a park and ride reduces Reading's congestion but doesn't do much for Wokingham Borough (because pretty much everything between Loddon Bridge and the Reading shops is in the Reading borough).

Just seems a really odd way to go about things... for Wokingham to subsidise Wokingham money going to Reading. Regardless of where the boundaries are drawn, to invest hundreds of millions of pounds trying to make Wokingham a shopping destination while simultaneously encouraging people to spend their money in Reading is counter-intuitive to me.

Damiano_Tommassi, Wokingham
31/01/2013 at 17:10

@Damiano_Tommassi - whist I see your point, I think it is slightly out of context. If you take away the local authority boundaries the sites being suggested are logical park and ride sites for Reading, but fall within Wokingham boundaries. If you keep the boundaries down, the vast majority of people in Earley and Woodley migrate towards Reading. This is natural as Reading is the bigger urban area and is essentially a city whereas Wokingham is a town.

I agree that RBC benefits from more people visiting, but the road network gets hammered as a result. It isn't really fair that a primary cause of congestion in Reading is caused by residents of neighbouring authorities.

Also, I guess it works both ways - half of the money is to fund a quicker trip into Reading and the other half is to fund a quicker trip back to Wokingham. Hence why they should both pay!

Smiffy, Reading
31/01/2013 at 16:58

Hold up - "Wokingham town centre would be served by micro park and ride schemes, which use existing and usually under-used car parks." So the town centre will lose MORE parking spaces??

I'm sure someone who posts on here regularly had a promise from Cllr. Baker that there would be an increase in parking spaces... can't see how that's possible if they remove parking from Elms Road and turn some more into park and ride.

Damiano_Tommassi, Wokingham
31/01/2013 at 16:32

Hi Smiffy.

No, I don't think that's fair... if I go shopping in London, paying my own money to travel there and then even more in the shops and restaurants, I don't expect Wokingham Borough Council to send London a little bit of money.

Reading benefits from the shoppers, the car parks, the business rates, the train station and so on.

When Reading residents go shopping in Oxford, does RBC pay for them to take a taxi, or subsidise a bus route?

And when Wokingham is 're-generated'/desecrated, and becomes a wonderful, desirable shopping destination (dubious), will Wokingham Borough Council have spent £100m of taxpayer money improving shops in the town centre and still be paying for people to do their shopping in Reading?

Damiano_Tommassi, Wokingham
31/01/2013 at 16:20

@Damiano_Tommassi - the reason is as I said earlier - for many thousands of Wokingham 'residents' living in Lower Earley and Woodley, Reading is the nearest and best shopping. As thousands of Wokingham residents go to Reading, it is only fair that the bill is split?

Due to the dubious way the authority boundaries were drawn up, Reading has limited land within its boundaries to put in park and ride sites to be of any benefit. That is why neighbouring authorities need to be involved to actually work at a regional level, rather than the usual selfish independant level!

Smiffy, Reading
31/01/2013 at 15:32

Can you imagine what the Mary Portas or Dragons Den response to this would be?

Hi - We think it'd be great to burn some cash making it easy for car drivers to park in the borough but go shopping in Reading. Oh, by the way, we'll not be making money; the service will be interupted by floods; not available on a Sunday; and situated slap bang next to a train station going to the same place.

Is Wokingham contractually obliged to provide this service?

Kevin Baker
31/01/2013 at 15:24

I still don't understand why WBC would subsidise services to encourage people to spend money in Reading... will that continue after the regeneration? To spend money sending shoppers elsewhere AND spend millions building shops here would be a new level of idiocy.

Damiano_Tommassi, Wokingham
31/01/2013 at 14:59

How about reducing the car parking at Earley Station also so more people would use that instead of it being left empty now WDC have put the charges up again and again.

Me-Here, Woodley
31/01/2013 at 14:27

Kevin Baker - I think to boost shopping in Wokingham, some shops are actually needed! Seriously, it is obvious that Reading is the main shopping location in the area and not Wokingham, and this will never change. The other thing is that most residents of Woodley and Lower Earley (in Wokingham Borough) will always go to Reading and regard themselves as living in Reading rather than Wokingham. It is only the crazy authority boundaries that mean they have anything to do with Wokingham. It is therefore wholly reasonable that Wokingham contribute to the costs of P&R and other transport to Reading as it is the Wokingham residents that cause quite a lot of the problem!

Smiffy, Reading
31/01/2013 at 11:51

Are there any plans to introduce Oyster-style ticketing for buses, trains, and car parks?

Why do we subsidise £60K so that people can get into Reading?

I note that WBC promotes a 'free' bus service between the town centre and Tesco (and Finch and Tesco during the week). Could this be extended throughout the borough? I wouldn't mind paying extra Council Tax if the money was used to reduce car use, and boost shopping in Wokingham Town.