Speed bumps will be coming to two residential streets near a busy road in Reading despite some neighbours saying they are ‘unnecessary’.
Berkeley Avenue is a main east-west route between Coley and Southcote and the town centre.
Some drivers head via Boston Avenue and Shaw Road in an effort to avoid traffic, which has led to claims that the streets are being used as ‘a rat run’.
Reading Borough Council’s highways department drew up plans for five speed bumps along Boston Avenue and three to Shaw Road to alleviate the issue.
In a consultation, some said the speed bumps would be unnecessary as they had never witnessed an issue with cars travelling fast in either street.
One neighbour objected to the addition of the speed bumps as one of them would be placed outside their house, therefore removing a parking space.
However, another argued that ‘reckless drivers’ using the streets to bypass Berkeley Avenue is an issue that the speed bumps would help alleviate.
The consultation and proposal to add the speed bumps were discussed at a meeting of the council’s traffic management sub-committee.
During the discussion, Cllrr Paul Gittings, who represents the area, argued that introducing speed bumps to the streets had ‘broad support’.
“If you look at the formal consultation it is broadly even,” he said of the responses.
While he noted that there were only six responses to the formal consultation, Cllr Gittings said he had received a ‘subsequent flood of emails’ after the Local Democracy Reporting Service covered the proposed change.
He went on to say that the responses he had received were broadly in support of adding speed bumps, stating that the two streets have been used as a ‘rat run’ by drivers seeking to avoid heavier traffic on Berkeley Avenue.
Cllr Gittings gave anecdotal evidence of a neighbour having his car hit at ’45mph’ in one ‘quite serious incident’ in the area.
Cllr Mohammed Ayub (Labour, Abbey), chair of the traffic management sub-committee, also said that he had received various emails supporting the introduction of speed bumps in the two streets.
The addition of the safety measures was agreed unanimously at the meeting on June 14.
