Maidenhead & Windsor

The Royal Windsor and Maidenhead Borough has made it clear to BT that it must take action to alleviate the traffic congestion its roadworks are causing in Maidenhead town centre – and the result is that BT has agreed to:

* commit extra resources to the scheme and extend working hours
* open two lanes of traffic on the A308 to alleviate traffic problems at the pinch point at The Bell pub – this will be in place in time for the rush hour on Friday evening.

The moves follow further council intervention with the company to reflect its major concerns and those of residents and businesses about the traffic problems caused by BT between Queen Street and Stafferton Way.

The plan is to put in temporary repairs to the road over the large communications chamber outside The Bell pub, allowing vehicles to use two lanes at this pinch point. The permanent work will be done during the school summer holidays when traffic is lighter.

The Windsor and Maidenhead council said it was very concerned about the current town centre disruption caused by the works and Cllr Colin Rayner, lead member for highways, transport and environment, said: “The council had asked BT to commit more resources to the repairs and had given permission for 24-hour-a-day working to get the problem fixed. We have asked the local BT director to come to the council and explain the company’s lack of action as soon as possible. BT has let down the residents and business of Maidenhead.”

David Perkins, head of streetcare and operations, said “Public utilities have the legal right to carry out necessary roadworks and repairs on the highway – in this case BT and Southern Electric’s requirement to upgrade their infrastructure for both residents and businesses in a large area of the town.

“While this is clearly very essential work, there is a balance to be struck between the need for electricity and telephone services and the inevitable effect on the highways.

“Under the New Roads and Streetworks Act the council is actively involved with utility companies, with a dedicated team of officers co-ordinating their work and making sure they cause the least possible disruption. However, even with this co-ordination and attention to detail, it would be impossible to completely plan out disruption when it is necessary to close a lane on a road that carries around 40,000 vehicles a day.

“In order to ensure that the works are completed as soon as possible, we gave BT and Southern Electric’s contractors authority to work outside normal working hours if necessary. The current combined works are now expected to be completed in three weeks.

“Despite the fact that the disruption was caused by BT, it was the council that proactively issued a series of press releases, provided information for travel reports on local radio stations and did a number of live interviews on BBC Radio Berkshire to try and get as much information to the public as possible.

“I would like to reassure residents and businesses that everything possible is being done under the council’s powers to bring this situation to a satisfactory close and council staff will continue to monitor the situation.”

To ensure that further disruption is avoided in the town centre the council has postponed its planned resurfacing of the southbound carriageway of Braywick Road which was scheduled for next week. The work will now be done during the school holidays.

The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead