BUS SERVICES around Wokingham town, linking the shopping centre with outlying villages including Hurst and Twyford, will continue until March next year.
The executive member for transport and highways, Cllr Paul Fishwick, said that he and finance executive Cllr Imogen Shepherd-DuBey had signed a decision on Wednesday, July 13, to modify the contract term for the 128/9 bus service that runs from Reading via Woodley, Sonning, Twyford, Hurst and Winnersh to Wokingham.
The decision was made to allow the council time to tender a new contract.
He said: “The funding for these services was not budgeted for by the previous administration and £82,440 of S106 funding will be required to fund these services.”
The leader of the opposition, Cllr Pauline Jorgensen, was a former highways executive before the Conservatives lost power in May’s local elections. She interrupted Cllr Fishwick’s speech to point out that in February, extra funding was set aside by the then executive to subsidise future bus services.
She said she had no idea where Cllr Fishwick was coming from over the issue of bus finance.
Cllr Fishwick then talked about his decision to write to Matthew Barber, the Police and Crime Commissioner over a lack of speeding enforcement session.
“It hasn’t take place for over three years,” he said.
Cllr Fishwick continued: “Our experience … has been that Thames Valley Police are reluctant to prioritise speed limit enforcement activity through anything other than the Community Speed watch approach.
“While we and many of our local communities are supportive of this scheme, we do feel that it is important the efforts of local residents are backed up by a reasonable level of actual police enforcement activity.”
