Councils team up to make case for third Thames bridge
A REPORT outlining the economic benefits of a third crossing over the River Thames was published this week.
The Strategic Outline Business Case ( SOBC) for a third river crossing between Wokingham Borough at Thames Valley Park, and South Oxfordshire at Play Hatch, was published by four local authorities and two Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEP) after agreeing to further explore the possibility.
A new Thames Crossing has been discussed for decades and would require a significant infrastructure investment should it go ahead, but the plans have taken a big step forward with the publishing of the business case.
On September 18, a summit meeting was held by Reading East MP Matt Rodda at Reading Borough Council’s civic offices, attended by Henley MP John Howell and senior officers and councillors from all six partners which make up the Cross Thames Travel Group: Oxfordshire County Council, Reading Borough Council, South Oxfordshire District Council, Wokingham Borough Council, Thames Valley Berkshire LEP and Oxfordshire LEP.
The SOBC sets out the strategic case for a new crossing, which includes:
The demand for access to and through Reading, which puts significant pressure on the current limited provision of River Crossings in the area and the roads leading to these.
The rapid growth in the area requires corresponding transport infrastructure improvements to keep pace.
The high demand for river crossing means that the local transport network has low resilience to any bridge closures.
The business case also outlines how the new crossing would fit in with each individual authority’s own transport policies, up to 2026, and how they would benefit from the bridge.
In Wokingham Borough, the benefits would include an improvement in air quality and traffic congestion through Sonning especially, as well as relief to main roads throughout the borough.
The report says: “Wokingham Borough will experience an improvement in road capacity as a result of the construction of the New Crossing. The New Crossing would relieve pressure on roads of strategic importance between Reading and Wokingham Borough.
“The existing unsuitable road and bridge at Sonning would see particular relief from traffic congestion and improved air quality.”
The case states that the new crossing would also tiein with Wokingham’s policy to ‘ encourage the provision of appropriate infrastructure, services and facilities that enable the borough’s residents to achieve their potential’, which would be achieved by providing dedicated cycling facilities across the new bridge, and reductions in congestion over Sonning bridge would encourage greater cycling and other forms of outdoor exercise.
The report states that as well as reducing journey times throughout the area, the new crossing would ‘result in social, economic and environmental benefits in various local authorities of Oxfordshire, Reading, Wokingham and Berkshire Councils, therefore it will be in the interests of all the appropriate local authorities to work together to develop the New Crossing.’
To view the SOBC visit news.wokingham.gov.uk/ news/new-thames-crossingstrategic-outline-businesscase