Plea from Thames Water + Green Waste Collections Re-starting

Thames Water are pleading with residents to put 'non-disposables' in the bin rather than down the toilet.

Bin wet wipes, kitchen roll and tissues: don't flush them!

"One of the unfortunate impacts of COVID-19 is that we are seeing an increase in blockages in our sewer networks, as people doing extra cleaning or who have had problems buying toilet tolls are flushing non-biodegradable alternatives, such as kitchen roll or antibacterial wipes. This is creating problems in our sewers which can result in sewage backing up into people’s homes or polluting the environment."


Welcome news for gardeners is that Reading Borough Council's green waste collections will be re-starting from w/c 27 April. The annual charge will run from this date.

Green waste collections had been suspended on 27 March because the council wanted to ensure grey and red bin collections were prioritised despite staff shortages due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

Excess garden waste will not be collected: only that presented in the green wheelie bins or bags provided.

To sign up for the green waste service visit fill in this form

Mid April update on works at MPF

Here's an update on various matters which I hope you'll find helpful.

The Heights primary school
The piling works for the new school will be finished by the end of this Wednesday, 22 April. Kier, the DfE's contractor, has managed to reduce dramatically the programmed 4 weeks of piling works down to 2 weeks. Testing checks on Thursday 23 April might possibly be needed, but if so should only last that day.

Here's a video of Andy from Kier describing the works when I visited the site office a few days ago to check out the noise and vibration levels.

Mapledurham Playing Fields' drainage works

Drainage channel with sand on top

Agripower, the Council's contractor, re-started its works this month within the cordoned off area of the pitches.

Drainage is being improved and once complete, grass seed will be put down. The area will be re-opened as soon as the grass has become established enough to walk on.

1 of 3 new tarmac links from Hewett Ave

Separately, back in late March, the council finished off and tarmacked the three entrances into MPF from Hewett Avenue to enable easy access for all.

Mapledurham Pavilion works
Council officers are investigating with the contractor how to re-start the Pavilion refurbishment works while complying with Covid-19 distancing instructions.

Pavilion - awaiting a restart of refurbishment works

View west across playing fields one sunset

One Reading Community Hub Support

As a reminder, One Reading Community Hub Support has been set up for Reading Borough residents to help provide extra support where needed.

If you, or someone you know, is in need of extra support due to Covid-19 either:

Fill in the form at online coronavirus support form and someone will be in touch, or call:

Freephone 0808 189 4325 from 9 am to 5 pm Monday to Fridays and 9 am to 1 pm on Saturday and Sundays.

If you, or your business wish to volunteer, fill in the form here.

Groups can register online with Reading Neighbourhood Network

Local charities: information about scaled-back services

I received the information below from the council about scaled-back services from local charities:

Local charities have scaled back or suspended their face-to-face services to protect staff and their vulnerable service users from coronavirus.

However most continue to support people via phone or email services (see below for latest list compiled by Healthwatch Reading and Reading Voluntary Action).

Reading Voluntary Action is coordinating public offers to volunteer during this time.

Age UK Berkshire: All classes, activities and events will be closed from 21 March until further notice. Its office remains open: please phone 0118 959 4242

Age UK Reading:  Has closed all lunch clubs. Befriending moving to a telephone-only service but some vulnerable people are still being visited with agreement from both parties. Happy Feet service suspended but could be brought back in a different way. Information and advice line still open on: phone: 0118 950 2480 or email: info@ageukreading.org.uk

Alliance for Cohesion and Racial Health Equality (Acre): has suspended Rose Centre sessions for victims of FGM, and all other face to face interactions between staff and service users unless absolutely necessary, call 0118 951 0279 and leave a message or email info@acre-reading.org.

Berkshire West Your Way (supporting people with mental health needs): has cancelled all groups and drop-in’s and are to triage calls from their 90 existing clients

Change, Grow, Live (Reading’s drug and alcohol service): all groups, assessments and 121 appointments will be moved to telephone or video call. External drop-ins will be postponed and replaced with offers of phone assessments or support. Certain people will get two weeks’ supply of medication to reduce daily supervised pharmacy visits and arrangements will be made for users who are self-isolating.

Citizens Advice: Has closed its Reading face-to-face service until further notice. Advice is available online at www.citizensadvice.org.uk or by telephone 03444 111 306.

Communicare (which gives benefits/housing/money/jobs advice): It is working hard to keep its Advice Centre open with limited staff. It will deal with URGENT issues only and will limit the number of clients in the waiting room. Call before visiting. Advice available by phone and email: 0118 926394 office@communicare.org.uk

Compass Recovery College (offering courses to people with mental health needs): is closed until further notice

Depression Xpression: is suspending all meetings including Friday morning coffee until further notice. It has set up a WhatsApp Group and a Facebook Messenger Group (join their Facebook group and ask to be added to the chat group) for people to keep in touch during this time.

Launchpad Reading: Has launched a ‘here for you’ telephone service ‘for anyone in need of support, whether they have housing or homelessness issues or not. Call on 0118 929 1111 or email support@launchpadreading.org.uk.

Reading Association for the Blind (RAB): has suspended all clubs, outings, home visits and face-to-face appointments. It is providing a telephone advice, support and signposting service and may set up phone befriending and scheduled group chats.

Reading Community Learning Centre (which runs language, life skills and craft classes for women from black and ethnic minority communities); has closed until at least 27 April 2020.

Reading Mencap: ME Day activity at Alexandra Road & St Paul, Coffee Club, Gateway Club, Disco and Saturday youth club will not be running until further notice. Has provided email & telephone for family support and an Easy read leaflet for service users.

Support U: (Reading’s LGBT+ charity): Is offering a video or telephone call in place of face-to-face meetings (although they cannot offer video or phone calls to people in counselling) and their groups are cancelled for the current month.

March update on works at Mapledurham Playing Fields

As lots of residents are interested in the ongoing works at Mapledurham Playing Fields, so I hope you'll find this update helpful.

One of three Hewett Ave entrances

Notification by entrances

I am pleased to say that following my requests to connect MPF's breedon footpath from Hewett Avenue into Mapledurham Playing Fields, the Council's Highways department have a team starting the works on Tuesday 10 March. The works are expected to take up to a fortnight to complete.

One pedestrian access point will be open at all times (photo above to the right shows the current situation with mud and the grass verge between the road surface and footpath).

Temporary patch to be resurfaced

This is great news, particularly for mobility impaired residents as currently anyone pushing a wheel chair, pushchair or using a mobility walker would find all three access points tricky to negotiate.

Later this week Kier will be closing the access road to the Pavilion from 08.00 on Thursday 12 March until 08.00 on Friday 13 March for resurfacing works. This is to tackle the area near the junction with the Upper Woodcote Road which has had a very temporary patch for now.

Pedestrian/dog and cycle access will be maintained throughout on the temporary path (see above on the left-hand side of the photo and access road).

View towards Pavilion/school

Temporary closure notice

Whilst talking about pedestrian access, please note that the central footpath from the car park to the playing fields between the Pavilion and The Heights school's site has been closed whilst refurbishment works to the Pavilion take place.

For access from or to the car park, please use the footpath alongside the tennis courts. Anybody who hasn't been to the car park for a couple of weeks will be pleased to know that the whole area has been reopened for public use (see photo on the right above).

Meantime construction works for the school are proceeding. I saw contractors carefully cleaning down the mud from construction vehicles in the car park.

Mud tackled at Mapledurham Playing Fields - many hands make light work

On Saturday 1st of February, over 25 residents volunteered their time to tackle two big muddy sections of path around Mapledurham Playing Fields (MPF).

Some of the volunteers (before finishing off this patch)

A huge thank you to all who helped, coming together on just 24 hours' notice: from dog walkers, runners, parents and pupils of The Heights, ESCAPE toddler group, representatives from Caversham Trents Football Club and Mapledurham Lawn Tennis Club, as well as a Reading Borough Council officer. It was a wonderful community effort!

All hands on deck

The idea came about after a Chazey Road resident contacted me offering 10 cubic metres of wood chippings to the Council to recycle on MPF. The wood chippings had been used during building works and weren't needed any more.

On Friday, after an officer turned down the opportunity to use them, I decided to try and organise a community working party to get the job done.

Saturday's weather forecast was good, so although it was short-notice, I thought it was worth a try, never dreaming so many would come to help.

Having cleared the whole quantity

Down went the membrane

It was fabulous having all ages muck in, the atmosphere was great. It was amazing that we managed to move all 10 cubic metres of wood chippings - a volume and coverage equivalent to the footprint of a terraced house!

Subsequently, feedback has been great, with walkers delighted by the improvement. All in all, a morning well spent - thanks again to everyone.

Community working party to tackle MPF's muddy paths

Over recent months, due to the reduced area of Mapledurham Playing Fields being open to the public - as well as the heavy rainfall - areas of high footfall have become very muddy. This has led to a couple of falls on the slippery surface which is putting residents off from walking here.

To date, although I've managed to get Reading Borough Council to put down a large amount of wood chippings, due to access problems and the very wet/soft ground conditions, the council have been unable to get a vehicle onto the fields to deliver and cover the remaining muddy areas.

I'd hoped the council were going to be able to do some today, but since they weren't, I've organised tomorrow's event, hence apologies for the short notice. Please see the poster to the right-hand side for details which you can download here.

If you are able and willing, do come along and help. It will be great to get the job done!

A Chazey Road family are donating wood chippings they no longer need which is fantastic, especially since the council's supply has run out.

The Friends of Mapledurham Playing Fields are supporting and also kindly insuring the event, which has enabled council officers to give me the go ahead.

Thanks to everyone who is helping make this happen.