As a church, we’ve been in constant discussion

Your anonymous correspondent (letters, last week) has overlooked some very important points when discussing the proposed new toilets and ancillary facilities at St James Church in Ruscombe.

Over the past few months members of St James’ congregation have been in constant discussion with various conservation and church bodies, all of whom have now given their approval to the plan.

In addition, there have been on site meetings with officials from Wokingham Borough Council who have provided very helpful advice on the best way of dealing with this need.

Between them these bodies have already taken into consideration all the points raised by your correspondent and ensured that we deal with them in the proper manner when preparing our planning application.

It is, of course, the council’s planning committee which takes the decision, but I want to reassure your correspondent that the points raised have not been ignored in the preparation of this application.

It’s simply a toilet

I refer to your lead letter in last week’s

I am disgusted at the tone of it – particularly as the writer has not got the guts to put their name to it.

Ruscombe church is an outstanding Grade I listed church and the proposal is simply for a toilet – vital – for those who worship there, who in some cases come long distances to attend not only regular services, but in support of baptisms, weddings and funerals.

Their view of the plans being by a small group’s “personal mission” is absolutely rubbish.

I assume the writer never attends the services, otherwise they would know that those who attend are a very community spirited group.

The writer has also added spurious facts about a previous hall, and quotes the closure of Charvil church hall – totally different circumstances.

As for parking, I doubt that would be any difference. There is NO space, let alone the ability to provide satisfactory drainage within the existing building.

The building only seats around 60, and folk normally car share, or walk.

Remember, in this day and age, toilets have to be disabled persons friendly and, if you travel on the GWR trains, you will see the size of those compared with the standard toilet cubicle. They also have to cater for nappy changing etc.

With all the new house building plans there is likely to be expansion of the population, and hopefully, some of those moving in to the new McCarthy and Stone residential home will wish to worship at S James.

If the building plan pictured in this paper a few months ago with the field on the opposite side of the road, and much of the land on the north side of the railway built on, a proportion will come to St James. I am told that very few of those who live adjacent to the church actually attend. With a toilet, I am very sure the age profile would reduce. The recent introduction of new data protection laws has brought into the spotlight one of the politicians’ favourite buzzwords: transparency. Often preached, not always practiced.

Take, for example, our very own local government executive who provide frequently ambiguous information, make pronouncements of which Hans Christian Anderson would be proud and take secretive decisions behind closed council chamber doors. The result being that the question asked by so many has become ‘Are

Before the writer of the letter makes any further comment I suggest that they studies how other parishes with very similar issues have overcome this problem – it can be done very tastefully and with respect to those whom we remember with love.

I care about St James

I would like to respond to the anonymous letter about the proposed building of a church hall over the grounds of St James in Ruscombe.

Firstly, I agree with what they say and that I have yet to find a local resident who doesn’t. The reasoning given for the proposed extension is, as I understand it, to breathe life into the church and to encourage new members to join the congregation.

I might suggest that a good starting point for this might be to change the services that take place at St James. At the moment they are geared towards the older demographic and young families go to Twyford.

Just because a person doesn’t choose to worship in a local church, it doesn’t mean that they don’t love it or value it. People choose where to worship for all sorts of reasons.

I don’t go to St James due to the very unpleasant behaviour of several regular members of their congregation who, for a long time, persisted in parking in front of my drive so that I couldn’t get these people to be trusted to act in our and the borough’s best interests?’

Trust and reputation are qualities earned the hard way over a period of time, yet can be broken in an instant.

So, perhaps in the interests of electorate trust and their own good reputations, local councillors will be prepared to answer, maybe through the pages of this newspaper, the following:

1. Wokingham Borough Council, directly or indirectly, is prepared to offer as an incentive to those willing

my disabled daughter into our house. It only got resolved after I involved the Bishop. Several years later we still get filthy looks thrown at us so we don’t feel welcome.

This does not mean that I – and very many others locally – don’t care about the church though. It doesn’t mean that we don’t want to support the many who have loved ones buried there who are utterly devastated by the prospect of this proposal and it doesn’t mean that we will stand by and witness the desecration of one of the most spiritual and tranquil spots our Borough has to offer.

Yes, we are lucky to live nearby and there will inevitably be those who will write us off as ‘nimbys’ but I hope I have managed to convey the deep affection that local residents have for St James, whether they worship there or not.

Within the confines of the church itself there is ample room for a toilet. This happens in churches across the land. The need for yet another community space in this area is completely unnecessary and is widely considered to be the vanity project of a handful of the current congregation.

It is certainly not supported by everyone who attends.

I can only put my faith in the common sense of the Local Authority planning department who have already advised the church to withdraw a very similar application once. The fact that to take spaces in the new Peach Place development, a period of occupancy rent free? True or false?

2. The purchase of the former Peach Street premises of Marks & Spencer by Wokingham Borough Council, the cost of which, inspire of being obtained with public money and kept secret, was allegedly well in excess of £1 million. True or false?

The questions, as should be the answers, simple. The ball, as they say, is in their court. the church sits in the greenbelt, in a conservation area and is Grade I listed makes one wonder why on earth it’s even being remotely considered at all.

In the future, I hope the current clergy look at the services offered at St James’ and make them more accessible to local people. Perhaps if they installed a toilet in the church that would help.

One thing is for certain, the church is dearly loved and we will protect it on behalf of all those buried there, their loved ones and all the future generations who choose to worship there.

Devolution?

On page 5 (and page 6, its clone) of the 31st May issue of the paper, I was drawn to the headline “Evolution evolves at new talk”.

As an open-minded and rational consumer of discoveries from the world of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM), my suspicions were aroused when I learned that the talk was being organised by a group called Answers in Genesis.

After a few minutes of research on this organisation and their speaker, Nathanial Jeanson, I learned that they are pedlars of Creationism, a religious belief that life was created by God exactly as described in the old testament book of Genesis.

Creationists – like the anti-

vaccination and climate change denial movements – use pseudoscience to try to convince the public of the veracity of their claims. Sadly, these believers can set back efforts to reduce public ignorance on matters vital to public health and environmental protection often with tragic consequences.

Any of your readers minded to attend this talk should do some background reading on Darwin’s theories – and Creationism – beforehand and be ready to challenge what they hear.

I’d also like to encourage readers interested in the latest development in STEM to engage with the Thames Valley branch of the British Science Association (www.britishscienceassociation. org) who run regular talks that promote the public understanding of science. These talks are aimed at a general audience.

May I also call out The Free Radicals (www.freeradicalsimprov. co.uk)? We are an improvised comedy team that run a sciencethemed show every month in central Reading. The shows feature a guest science communicator followed by improvised comedy.

Unlike Answers in Genesis, our shows make it obvious what’s real and what isn’t.

Question of time

It seems that the Wokingham Borough Council Executive just prefers to not want to answer the difficult questions.

If the leader of Wokingham Borough Council is really concerned about Councillor questions taking too long, perhaps she needs to look at getting her own group in order.

In our recent council meeting, we spent 37 minutes in a ceremony to make the new mayor. When we eventually got to Members Questions, my six-second question( my supplementary question was 24 seconds) was then responded to by Cllr Keith Baker, who took 3 minutes 11 seconds to reply (another reply took 4.5 minutes).

I’m not sure how I could’ve shortened it further unless I left out the vowels but I’m not sure if that would have helped. The question time could be further decreased if the WBC Executives were held to the two-minute reply time as specified in the rules, which seems to never occur.

This is not the first time this has occurred, it seems the norm rather than the exception. It is shameful

that a total of only three-anda-half questions were allowed from councillors and the whole member’s questions in a time period that was cut short allowing only 17 minutes, 8 seconds. This is one of the very few opportunities for councillors to ask questions of executive members, where we actually get an answer and treating them in this way makes a mockery of democracy.

We are ALL elected to represent our residents and they must be given the opportunity to ask questions that our residents want to be answered I urge the leader and the mayor to ensure that every councillor gets an opportunity to ask a question and have it answered and to not go around blaming those asking their questions.

I would like to propose that councillors questions be extended to 40 minutes and the initial question answered by email (as is presently done in other local or county councils) and then a supplementary question would be allowed and the answer is limited to two minutes.

Questions a burden

I read with interest the article titled “Councillors’ answers called to question by angry opposition” and the letter by councillor Helen Power “What a welcome!”. I have also watched the meeting online, which are the facts, not what certain elected members think.

The experience that Cllr Helen Power portrayed in her letter of her first Full Council meeting was summed up excellently, together with Annabel Yoxall’s experience as a resident.

For Helen, it was disgraceful how she, as the newly elected member for Evendons has been treated, and questions couldn’t be raised by other opposition members. This shows that the Conservative administration are not willing to listen to the views and concerns of others, contrary to what the Conservative leader had promised earlier in the same meeting.

Looking at the timings on how long it took to ask the first three questions then comparing the time the Conservatives took to answer them was ridiculous and if this had been a football match the referee would have handed out a yellow card for ‘time wasting’ on the first answer quickly followed by reds for the following two answers were far too long.

The other interesting twist was that the question and answer session was scheduled for 20 minutes, but the mayor announced that the fourth question would be the last, with the session ending after 17 minutes and 8 seconds which included the mayor asking for an extension of time which took 30 seconds. Therefore, three-and-a-half minutes short of the full session, discounting the mayor’s 30 seconds, with several members not even getting an opportunity.

The mayor chairing the meeting and should be ‘nonpolitical’ should allow all members the same amount of time for questions and answers and not be biased in giving one political group more time at the expense of another.

I just hope that the next Full Council meeting will provide a more balanced approach with an equal amount of time allowed for questions and answers. I will watch and listen with interest, and I urge other residents to attend and witness this for themselves.

An explanation

I would like to take this opportunity to comment on last week’s article ‘Councillors’ answers to question by angry opposition’ (page 13).

I’ve been criticised for a lengthy response; but I felt it was appropriate to include background information for the new councillor so she had the full facts. Her question and my answer were both within the time allocated.

To say the question was not understood is just not true. I reiterate my answer. We have taken access very seriously and members of the project team and the contractors have met CLASP, the local self- advocacy group for people with learning disabilities, to listen to their problems and respond wherever possible.

Once complete, the Market Place will be far more accessible to all members of the community. One of the main benefits will be an even surface and an uncluttered area.

In her supplementary question, she asked to meet to discuss the issue to which I agreed.

She met with council officers the very next day, which she had not made me aware of, so it is unfair to claim I did not accept her offer. At no time did I refuse to meet with her and interested local residents. I have been meeting local residents across the town on a regular basis for some years now.

Lastly, on a separate note, l feel that l should comment on this past week’s town centre road closures. I apologise for any inconvenience. We decided to take advantage of the opportunity it provided our contractors to carry out some work on Broad Street overnight, which would have had to happened in the near future.

Wokingham Borough and Town Councils are both committed to supporting and delivering the cultural events and activities that bring communities together and provide the vibrancy that is vitally important to our social and economic well-being.

The International Street Concert is an integral part of Wokingham town’s cultural calendar. It was a great evening for everyone. Although alternative venues were considered, it was decided that moving the concert would take away the opportunity to support local restaurants and pubs situated within the town centre.

And earlier in the day the town was buzzing, thanks to the wonderful ArtFest!.

Whilst our work has been disruptive, it is coming to an end and Market Place will open by the end of July and we thank you for your patience.

Half-baked reporting

I always buy rather than picking up a free copy in the NatWest, as I believe in supporting a local publication.

However - there is half-baked reporting on the front page this week and, both on the front page and inside, ill-thought-through comment – again – from Cllr Shepherd-Dubey. There is an alternative to the “six-mile (really?) diversion” referred to in the article and letter.

There is an obvious shorter route avoiding the town centre, via Binfield Road, Keephatch Road, Warren House Road, Bell Foundry Lane, Twyford Road and Holt Lane. Turning left gives access to the south of the town, turning right access to the west.

I concede that this event, together with the on-going road closures, inconvenience residents (including me) albeit for only a relatively short period.

Leaving aside the merits or otherwise of the road closures remaining in place, the ArtFest! and International Street Concert is a cultural event put on free for residents.

The organisers of such initiatives should be applauded, rather than being subjected to unbalanced reporting and meanminded criticism. It’s only for 34 hours!

The last time I criticised the standard of local journalism to your predecessor The Wokingham Times, that part was omitted.

I will be interested see whether this letter is published, and, if so, in its entirety.