The council has had to remove and reinstall two zebra crossings constructed just five months ago at an additional cost of £6,600.

The pedestrian crossings on Southcote Lane were initially installed in November 2018 before the council received government funding for highway maintenance work.

Reading Borough Council (RBC) decided to use some of this funding to undertake resurfacing work on Southcote Lane, but did not anticipate having to remove the crossings.

The council said it only became apparent that crossings would have to be removed once the resurfacing work had started.

Having to install the crossings twice will cost the council an estimated extra £6,600 that could have been spent on two crossings elsewhere.

A council spokesman said: “The budget had to be spent within a tight timeframe and it was decided to use some of this additional funding to carry out a small programme of specialist resurfacing work to concrete roads following the successful completion of such work in Mayfair last year.

“Southcote Lane, being a concrete road, was chosen as a suitable road to include in this small additional work programme and considered to be deliverable within the timeframe.

“The intention was to retain the two raised pedestrian crossings which had been installed as part of an earlier scheme in Southcote Lane prior to the new additional funding becoming available.

“However, once work started it became apparent, they would have to be removed due to various technical reasons.

“The council will always endeavour to co-ordinate highway works but due to the urgency in delivering an effective and beneficial scheme within a tight deadline that, unfortunately, was not possible in this instance.”

The crossings are being replaced as part of the resurfacing work this week, having been de-installed in early April.

The total cost of installing the crossings twice is an estimated £13,200, according to the council.

This figure does include the cost of removing the crossings, however.

The raised pedestrian crossing will act as a speed bump and zebra crossing at the same time.

Further efforts to improve road safety have seen Southcote Lane recently made into a 20mph zone.