WORK to resurface hundreds of residential roads in Reading will begin on October 2, with roads in the first phase of the scheme revealed today.

Reading Borough Council (RBC) is committing £9m to road and footway improvement work, which will see up to a third of Reading’s roads completely resurfaced.

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The first 63 roads to be improved under the scheme will be completed by the end of March 2021.

Hundreds more roads across Reading will benefit from surfacing improvements taking place over the next three years in response to residents’ calls for better roads.

A Citizens Panel survey conducted by the Council in November 2018 revealed that more than 50 per cent of respondents listed ‘better roads and pavements’ as top of their lists for improvements, and the council has responded with the biggest programme of resurfacing it has ever undertaken.

The £9m investment from RBC is focused on residential side roads, and will complement additional resurfacing work funded by the Department of Transport on major arterial routes throughout the Borough.

RBC is hoping that from March, dependent on social distancing rules, it will be able to operate a new and novel engagement programme.

This will allow local residents to find out more about the programme on selected roads by meeting the team doing the resurfacing, learning how the process works and discovering how this fits into the wider scheme of road improvements across the borough.

Councillor Tony Page, Reading Borough Council’s Lead Member for Strategic Environment, Planning and Transport, said: “The views of our residents are of paramount importance to us, and something that came through clearly from them was a desire for better roads in the town.

"Despite challenging times economically, we are delighted to reveal that tens of thousands of our residents, in hundreds of streets and across all wards, will benefit from our £9m residential road improvement scheme which begins on 2 October."

The first phase of the road improvement scheme will be undertaken by contractor Eurovia Infrastructure Ltd.

Advance notice boards will go up on the roads to be resurfaced and residents will receive a letter 2-3 days before the work is carried out.

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Roads will be closed between 8am and 5pm for the improvements to safely take place, with cars needing to vacate the roads in advance.

The council said any parked vehicles will be liable for a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) and will be removed.

After a 1-2 week period when the roads will seem rough and gravelly whilst they are left to settle, the roads will be closed again so the contractor can return to sweep the road and paint the road markings on the new surface, leaving smooth new residential road surfaces across the borough.

The roads to be resurfaced in the first phase of the scheme (October 2020 – March 2021), listed by ward, are:

Ward Road

Abbey Newport Road

Abbey Sackville Street

Abbey Princes Street

Abbey Lynmouth Road

Abbey Baker Street (Russell St-Prospect St)

Abbey/Park Sun Street

Battle Elm Lodge Avenue

Battle Sherwood Street

Battle Alma Street

Battle Dorset Street

Battle Belmont Road

Battle Cambridge Street

Battle Cannon Street

Caversham Paddock Road

Caversham Piggotts Road

Caversham Wolsey Road

Caversham Hemdean Rise

Caversham The Slopes

Caversham Falkland Road

Caversham Hemdean Hill

Church Barnsdale Road

Church Modbury Gardens

Church Poplar Gardens

Church Hollydale Close

Church Torrington Road

Church Wentworth Avenue

Katesgrove Elgar Road South

Katesgrove Canterbury Road

Katesgrove Edgehill Street

Katesgrove Clent Road

Kentwood Cranbourne Gardens

Kentwood Hartslock Way

Mapledurham Upper Warren Avenue

Minster Brownlow Road

Minster Brunswick Street

Minster Boston Avenue

Minster Castle Crescent

Minster Westcote Road

Norcot Taff Way

Norcot / Southcote /

Tilehurst New Lane Hill

Norcot/Battle Waverley Road

Park Grange Avenue

Park Pitcroft Avenue

Park Manchester Road

Park Norris Road

Park St Edwards Road

Peppard Eric Avenue

Peppard Cavendish Road

Peppard/Thames Chiltern Road

Redlands Addington Road

Redlands Denmark Road

Southcote Southcote Lane

Southcote Circuit Lane

Thames Haldane Road

Thames Newlands Avenue

Thames Peppard Road (Service Road in front of 13 to 45)

Tilehurst Corwen Road

Tilehurst Crescent Road

Tilehurst Elmstone Drive

Whitley Vernon Crescent

Whitley Chagford Road

Whitley Honiton Road

Whitley Swallowfield Drive