READING’S newest outdoor swimming pool opened for business earlier this month for a limited autumn season.
And while it was there for a week before closing, heavy rain on Tuesday morning saw it return, before going again later that day.
The pool is also not for the faint-hearted. Not for the size of the diving board – it doesn’t have one – but because it was in a bus lane on one of the Ding’s busiest roads.
And it’s not actually a pool, but a large puddle that stretches from the pedestrian crossing opposite the Hope and Bear pub on Kings Road, all the way to the Orange 13 bus stop – a distance of nearly 50 metres.
It appeared following rain at the beginning of the month, and stayed for over a week, meaning pedestrians walking past or waiting for buses were at risk from being splashed by passing vehicles.
At its peak, it was so deep that the kerb was invisible.
The extraordinarily long puddle is no stranger to Newtown, appearing every time there is heavy rain. Residents have raised the issue with Reading Borough Council on multiple occasions.
They include Park ward Green Party councillor, and leader of the opposition, Rob White.
He told Reading Today: “Large puddles like the one at Cemetery Junction are a hazard to all road users, but especially pedestrians and cyclists.
“You can’t see what is underneath the water like potholes, for example, so you run the risk of coming off your bike or tripping up.”
He called on the council to do more to tackle the problem once and for all, leaving the only new swimming pools in Reading at Rivermead and Palmer Park.
“Labour councillors need to allocate more funding to unblocking and fixing the storm drains to tackle these large hazardous puddles,” Cllr White said. “Some of them have been reported multiple times over the last few years but are still there.
“For example, the one at the junction of London Road and Silver Street, or the one opposite the Hindu Temple on Basingstoke Road.”
Reading Borough Council said it had taken action.
The puddle was caused not by a desire to create more open-air bathing spaces, but due to Mother Nature.
A spokesperson said: “Our highways drainage team have attended the site.
“They found the drains were totally blocked with leaves and have cleared them so all should be working efficiently again now.”
However, heavy rain returned on Tuesday morning, and with it the puddle, however true to their word the puddle drained away as they day went on.
The spokesperson promised action if the problem persisted: “We attended and cleared leaves yesterday and our gully connections were clear and running when we left site.
“During intense rain the we ask residents to allow two hours for water to drain away before reporting anything as the build-up of standing water is normally caused by the main surface water sewers not having capacity to deal with it all at once.
“We will CCTV survey the gullies as soon as we get a short dry spell, as we can’t camera survey them when full of water.
“We will also ask Thames Water to check their main sewer to ensure that is clear.”
