To receive petitions on traffic management matters submitted in accordance with the Sub-Committee’s Terms of Reference.

(a)      Petition Receipt and Response – Last Crumb Junction

The Sub-Committee received a report on the receipt of a petition that had been received requesting the installation of controlled pedestrian crossing facilities at the junction of Westfield Road, Peppard Road, Prospect Street and Henley Road, known locally as the “Last Crumb” Junction.  The report also provided the officer response to the petition namely, that the existing entry on the regularly reported Requests for Traffic Management Measures would be updated to reflect receipt of the petition and to note that officers were seeking funding opportunities for increasing delivery opportunities for these requested schemes.

The report stated that on 2 September 2025 a petition had been submitted to the Council that had contained indications of support from 1855 individuals.  The petition had been hosted online and had been created on 3 July 2025 and read as follows:

“There is a total lack of facilities for Caversham pedestrians crossing from Westfield Road to walk up Peppard Road and visa versa. It is not hyperbolic to describe crossing here as utterly terrifying. The simple installation of a puffin crossing at this location would have limited impact upon traffic and yet improve pedestrian safety exponentially. It is not a case of, if an accident will happen here, but more, a case of when.

It should be noted that crossing here by pedestrians is a very frequent occurrence. Furthermore, many of these pedestrians are children. You have children going to and from: The Hill primary school, St Anne's RC primary school, Chiltern nursery, Caversham Preparatory school, Queen Anne's school and Highdown school. All these children are regularly forced to take their lives in their hands. Not only are school children forced to cross without adequate provision, parents who live on Peppard road who wish to take their children to the closest play area (Westfield road park), are also forced to gamble with their children’s safety. It is ridiculous the council has spent money on refurbishing this play area only for the journey there to be so dangerous!

Furthermore, if you wish to visit Balmore Park from Westfield Road, again, those wishing to access green spaces are having to play Russian roulette with their safety.

As any parent I want to promote a healthy lifestyle to my child by walking to school - a wish that is aligned with the government's promotion of healthy living; and yet, I am faced with the irony of having to cross a dangerous junction in order to promote a healthy lifestyle! This is of course the same danger facing anyone who wishes to walk into Reading town centre from Peppard road (and use the specially designed pedestrian bridge over the river!).

It is of course also important to remember that this danger to pedestrians does not only have an impact upon individuals - it has an impact upon society as a whole. If we are to reduce obesity and the associated costs to the NHS, we need to embed a culture of walking from childhood - how can this be achieved by asking children to face unnecessary dangers on a daily basis? In addition, we all need to be taking steps towards living in a carbon neutral way - how can these steps be achieved if they are literally causing our children to step onto a dangerous road?

Furthermore, as any parent, I want to be teaching my child the importance of road safety and the green cross code. This is impossible to do at this junction; and thus, must be having a huge impact upon the understanding of road safety for a multitude of other children, young people and adults in the area. It is also worth noting that for drivers it can hardly be a pleasant experience having to dodge pedestrians on their car journeys.

There are of course the normal excuses like 'it would cost too much', but are we really saying life is not valuable enough? Or, of course, the old trope, that it would cause delays. To this I ask, what is really more important? Asking a driver to add, less than, two minutes to their journey or saving a child's life as they walk to school? Or the ludicrous line that drivers would be confused by the change! This would easily be addressed with signage to indicate a change. It really boils down to, are we going to address this matter now, before a death, or find the line "lessons need to be learnt" is being said when it is all too late!.

Finally, it should be noted the dangers faced by all pedestrians crossing junction are not only even greater for our children, but also for our elderly and disabled too. The most vulnerable are being put in the most danger! This is abhorrent!”

The report explained that at the location all approaching roads had a 30mph restriction on them and were single lane approaches and exits, with the exception of Henley Road, which had an additional right-turn filter lane.  The junction was the meeting point of two nationally classified ‘A’ roads, so experienced relatively high volumes of local and commuter traffic by a number of transport modes.  The junction also served a catchment for a variety of local journeys, including access to schools, shops, bus stops and businesses.

While the junction had traffic signal control, these did not operate a controlled pedestrian crossing phase and the equipment, while operational, was one of the Council’s older installations.  The nearest controlled crossing was a zebra crossing on Prospect Street, approximately 175m to the south west.  In addition, the Peppard Road and Prospect Street approaches had relatively narrow footways that were additionally constrained behind and the eastern footway on Peppard Road started to raise significantly from the relative carriageway level. 

The report stated that when a petition had been received to improve pedestrian crossing facilities at the Last Crumb Junction in November 2017 the Sub-Committee had agreed to add the changes to the Requests for Traffic Management Measures for consideration at its meeting on 11 January 2018 (Minutes 42(b) and 58 refer).  A guide cost of over circa £500k has been estimated for the changes however, there were a great number of variables that could mean the cost would be much higher.  The List also contained over 130 other entries for which there was local demand but, no identified funding.  There were no set criteria which Councillors were required to apply when allocating funds but, typically a range of factors were considered such as the benefits of change, risks, displacement, costs and available resources.

The report explained that the Council was currently working on the budget setting process for 2026/27 and as part of the process was considering if more funding for these schemes could be provided outside of developer funding.  At this stage confirmation as to whether or not this would result in a funding stream could not be given as there were many competing priorities and until such time as funding had been secured for the project no detailed investigation could start.  The existing entry for this change would be updated to reflect the receipt of the petition.

At the invitation of the Chair the petition organiser, Heidi North, addressed the Sub-Committee on behalf of the petitioners by giving a presentation. 

At the invitation of the Chair Andrew Towse, Deputy Head Pastoral and DSL, Queen Anne’s School, also addressed the Sub-Committee in support of the petition.

The Sub-Committee discussed the report and the presentations and it was acknowledged that this was a dangerous junction for pedestrians which needed to be addressed.  The Chair and Councillor Ennis both explained that a lot of work had taken place to try resolve the issue and that the safety of pedestrians was paramount.  It was a complex crossing and time would need to be taken to get the solution right, with local residents and Ward Councillors involved in the process.

Resolved –

(1)      That the report be noted;

(2)      That the officer response in sections 3.3 to 3.5 of the report be agreed;

(3)      That no public enquiry be held into the proposals.