A long-desired pedestrian crossing outside a school in east Reading could finally get funding next year.
The council has agreed to add a crossing on Upper Redlands Road outside St Joseph’s College to a list of candidate schemes to be consulted on next year for Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) funding, a tax on property developers.
Campaigners have been seeking community funding to end the “dangerous” crossing situation outside the school for several years now.
Speaking at Monday’s Policy committee, St Joseph’s College parent Nick Jones asked for Reading councillors to back a crossing on the road with funding.
Councillors at the meeting voted to approve a list of schemes which would get £1.5 million funding this year, with Mr Jones hoping to add an Upper Redlands Road crossing to the list.
A parent of a four-year-old child at St Joseph’s, Mr Jones said he walks, drives and cycles but would not advise anyone to cycle near the school at the beginning and end of the school day.
He said: “Pedestrians who wish to cross the road on the way to and from school are currently faced with a difficult, confusing and dangerous situation.
“Crossing with my daughter on her first day at school in September, I first became aware of the need for a formal crossing.
“On approach to the school, I am faced with a stressful and dangerous environment for pedestrians and I wish I had extra pairs of eyes to track rapidly evolving situations.
“The absence of a dedicated crossing for pedestrians results in them crossing at a manner of points along Upper Redlands Road both towards and away from the school.
“Vehicles are naturally performing multiple manoeuvres, entering and exiting the school at multiple points.”
He said he cannot find a safe place to cross near the school and he feels “equal peril” when he drives his daughter to school.
Green councillor Rob White tabled an amendment, calling for £31,000 in underspent CIL funds to be spent on the crossing.
When added to the £8,500 raised by parents and the University of Reading (UoR), this would cover almost the entire estimated costs of around £40,000 to build a crossing.
Cllr White said: “As well as being good for road safety, a crossing here would support the council’s walking and carbon-cutting ambitions.”
But councillors from all other parties rejected the amendment, saying all schemes should go through the proper public consultation processes.
Councillor Tony Page, lead member for Environment, Planning and Transport at Reading Borough Council (RBC), said: “It would be inappropriate to suddenly allocate money to a scheme on which we haven’t consulted within the CIL framework.”
The committee did agree, however, to add it to a list of schemes to be consulted on for next year’s round of CIL funding, which could mean the scheme gets funding this time next year.
What are CIL funds?
CIL is a tax on property developers. When developments take place in Reading, as part of approving planning permission, the council asks developers to pay towards local infrastructure such as improving play areas and pedestrian crossings. 15 per cent of this must be spent in the area in which the development took place.
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