Tilehurst Library railing needed!

by merioconnell on 7 November, 2013

Blog piece originally written 18.04.12 and posted on the Reading Lib Dem website

Meri in front of Tilehurst Library showing open access to School Road

Meri in front of Tilehurst Library showing open access to School Road

 

Since the Reading Chronicle kindly gave such prominent local coverage of my on going campaign to get a safety railing put up in front of Tilehurst Library, lots of people continue to approach me to offer their support for the idea.

This all began when I was chatting with a friend of mine outside the library entrance with our daughters after one of our Friday Rhyme Time sessions. Another mum came out of the library and crouched down to do up one of her sons coats, as she did so her other child made a break for the road. As he toddled off he kept looking back at his mum and laughing, he thought he was playing a game of chase with her.

It all happened so fast, by the time I realised the danger he was in, his mum had already sprinted down the library driveway towards him. I honestly thought that my friend and I were going to witness an awful accident because School Road, as any local person can tell you, is a really busy road. Luckily mum got to him before he reached the road. Accident averted and everyone got on with their normal lives.

Except that over the next few days I kept replaying the incident, over and over in my head. I started mentioning what I had seen to other parents and grandparents that I know from various pre-school groups. What I discovered was that almost everyone who uses the library had a similar story to tell. No child has been hurt on the road in front of the library entrance, but there have been countless near misses and scares. Worry about their children running out into the road had even caused a couple of parents I spoke to, to stop attending toddler sessions there.

Our local library runs 3 Rhyme Time sessions a week (it started out a one, but proved too popular!). It also hosts Sure Starts Explorer Club and Playdays sessions for under 5’s. This valuable community resource is at the heart of Tilehurst’s pre-school activities. If we are encouraging parents and carers to bring their little ones to the library, then we have a responsibility to keep them safe too.

The more I thought about it, the more I realised that something needed to be done and it was the abandoned railing in front of the old pedestrian entrance for Park Lane School that provided the solution. Schools in Reading all have protective railings in front of their entrances. The Council could simply erect one in front of the library.

I investigated the possibility with the library staff, but because the proposed railing would be off their premises (on the pavement by the kerb), they had no authority. I contacted Ricky Duveen (Lib Dem Councillor), who received a less than enthusiastic response from the appropriate council department. I thought that the council need to know the strength of local feeling about this issue and so started the railing petition.

I presented the petition to the council and was allowed to speak for a few minutes about why Tilehurst residents and library users think the railing is a good idea. I was disappointed at Cllr Pages response:

“Our priority will always be to reduce casulties on Reading’s roads and we will consider all locations where people get hurt.

We have no evidence to suggest that this is a problem area but as we are already considering safety related improvements in Tilehurst…I will ask officers to look at this request”

What really disappointed me was that, whilst petitioning, some people said to me that the council would only act after someone got hurt. I told them that they were being cynical and that I believed that our railing would get cross party support because it was a clear win / win solution. It seems that the cynics were right.

What made my presentation to the council even more poignant was that Karen Blake presented a petition straight after me, calling for a 20 mph limit along the Kings Road because 12 year old Harsh Dharmendra was killed there recently. Cllr Page offered his sincere condolences to the family, I hope that he doesn’t find himself doing the same thing to any Tilehurst parents because we have ‘no evidence… that this is a problem area’.

I haven’t lost hope, I am sure that when the Tilehurst Traffic Management Measures initiative, takes place they will see the simple sense of this request by Tilehurst residents and Library users. Hopefully there will be a consultation period before any final decisions are made and so you, brilliant residents, will get your say and have your voices heard!

   Leave a comment

Leave a Reply

You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>