Just driving down Shaw Road today and noticed at about the centre of the long curved terrace, the road menders are busy putting an outward extension to the footpath. Not very big but it looks like an expensive job.
What I was wondering was why they are funding what looks like a restriction for the residents who park along there when on the other hand the council are struggling to mend the various highways in the area.

Different budget and work plan. New work is 'capital', pothole repairs are 'maintenance'.....

I have a feeling they are making the bus stop disabled friendly.

Which I believe is a 'required' spend directed from Central Government.....

I think you are correct. They have also done several stops along Kiln Rd in the last few weeks, which is on the same bus routes asthe one by Smiths Crescent.

You do know a lot about the goings on in Newbury for someone who 'doesn't care'.

So noticing what is going on around where I live & countering knee jerk uninformed rants can only be done if one cares?

I said knowing; not just noticing.

Oh I don't know for certain - I just noticed that about 2 weeks ago they did some roadworks at the two bus stops on Kiln Rd & the result was a riased kerb. I'm guessing that a raised kerb makes accessing a bus for the disabled easier.


Now there is some similar work going on on less than 500 yards away...

Is knowledge tied to care?

All very noble stuff I'm sure and making bus stops accessible for the disabled is perhaps some sort of KPI target that WBC have to meet........ But its probably removed two or three parking spaces and I imagine that local car owners DO care about that..... and there's probably only one person that gets on the bus from that spot every fortnight... and he/she probably would have been able to access the bus without the buildout.

A box ticking exercise in 'provision for the disabled' that fails to acknowledge that the daily modern day requirement for residents of a long line of Victorian terraced properties with no garages is that they need to be able to park on-street.

Or is this a sneaky way of getting the residents to ask for permits to park and that will in itself generate money for WBC?


good, good... thinking outside the box... Take something away with one hand and take something else away with the other... (I don't live there so don't care and if it's generating cash for WBC it's win win)

I can see Spartacus' point of view.
Are they doing it because "legislation says you need to make it disabled-friendly" or because of the complaint of more than one person about accessing the bus stop.
Permit parking would not surprise me. The amount of council tax I think it's harsh to be asked to pay for parking on a street. Got friends? Well you have to drive to their house, pick them up, drive him again, and then the same to drop them off.

While I am all for helping the disabled I don't think one disabled person should get preferential treatment over a non-disabled person. After all it's equality that should be being aimed for.

On an unrelated note I think there are too many roadworks around Newbury, everywhere I bloody go there are road works... annoying.

A lot of Govt funding requires a Council to deliver certain things, often as 'project funding' so the Govt and the Council ca claim credit: basic funding/spending is reduced (Hooray!) and well behaved Councils get extra.

Provision for the disabled is an emotive subject, and being personally involved with disability can change one's prospective.....

People tend to be ignorant of things they don't care about.

I tend to agree; as much as people see some projects as unnecessary, I support work that involves giving better access for all.

While I am all for helping the disabled I don't think one disabled person should get preferential treatment over a non-disabled person. After all it's equality that should be being aimed for.

what preferential treatment is this then?

heaven forbid that a car driving, able bodied person should have to walk a few extra yards so that a non-car owning disabled person can get on & off a bus a bit easier.

If you are REMOVING parking spaces for people then it's a bit more than a few extra steps.. it's where they park their car!? I'm only going by Exhausted post, stating that's where people park.. And now it's being extended for disabled people.

you assume that someone has lost their own private sapce. They have not. a single car's length on what was once a free for all has been removed. So instead of 30 cars, there is room now for 29. I guess it means one more car on the pavement opposite, on the rare occasions every space on the one side by used up.

But there's a bus stop already in place on that side, just 100m or so further along Shaw Road (opposite Hutton Close). Why the need to introduce an additional bus stop so close together?
Or are they getting rid of the 'Hutton Close' stop - and making those old folk that live there walk further....

As for the other side, they seem to have raised the kerb quite a bit so will be needing to stop vehicles parking anywhere near there as they have done previously, or else people will be damaging their cars when they come to drive off and expect a low kerb. Probably have to put in a full length yellow bus stop marking (about 12m minimum) That'll remove another 2 or 3 spaces. At weekends and evenings that area is nose to tail parking so with the space removed from the 'properties side' this is going to create more of a problem for residents.

But presumably they were consulted so they should have said something sooner rather than chucking the letter in the bin......

are there any pensioners still in Hutton close?

and anyway the issue is getting on & off the bus, not the distance to the stop.