We’re getting close to 2000 supporters!

DON’T FORGET THAT OBJECTIONS CLOSE ON THE 9TH AND 13TH OF JUNE 2016, PLEASE USE THIS TIME TO SIGN, SHARE AND OBJECT!! Rob White, Counsellor for the Green Party, has made the suggestion that if everyone who has signed the petition could email or write to the Council too, we can really make sure they are listening to our concerns/inundate them! I have re-drafted a letter (and included it in this update) so you’re welcome to copy and paste that into an email. You need to quote CA/4748 and CA/4562 as these are the new proposal references. You need to send it to highway.objections@reading.gov.uk and include parkinginredlands@gmail.com so that they can keep up to date with the number of objections. Please take the time to read through the information here: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0Bz_X7eEoFWp5ZFZWSVVSa1ltR3M&usp=sharing, it has some really interesting information about the impact on residents, pollution levels, safety and the future impact on the environment. There is also a flyer about the public meeting. As I said yesterday, there is also a public meeting on Monday, the 6th of June, at St. Lukes Church on Erleigh Road which you are all welcome to attend. LETTER TO COUNCIL: To whom it may concern, I am writing to oppose the changes proposed to take place along Addington Road, Erleigh Road and the other roads around the hospital (ref. CA/4748 and CA/4562). I write in support and on behalf of the staff, patients, visitors and residents. The Royal Berkshire Hospital serves a population of 600,000 people across acute medical and surgical areas. And with nearly 5,000 staff members working at the hospital, what is the Council proposing to do to help manage the parking situation? By reducing what is already available, this will only serve to make a bad situation much worse and by introducing these restrictions, you will simply move the problem to another area, causing huge problems with residents all over the area. People will go further afield to find the free parking, clogging up other residential streets and increasing traffic. Staff members already have to pay for a parking permit for the hospital and even then are not guaranteed a space. The fees for the permit are rising from 1% to 1.25% and 2% which will be deducted from their salary. Given the fact that pay for NHS staff has only risen by 1%, it is hardly surprising that some people simply cannot afford to pay for the permit and have to park on the road. What will happen to the hundreds of staff, student nurses and student midwives who are not eligible to receive a hospital parking permit? Students do not get paid for doing their training and cannot afford to pay £12 a day and staff groups such as ward clerks are simply not eligible for a permit. They have no choice but to utilise the on-road parking. For patients and visitors, with parking charges at the RBH already massively over-priced, the loss of on-road parking will only increase the anxiety and tension around parking when visiting patients. I have signed the petition on change.org and seen the thousands of comments from visitors who report driving around for hours trying to find a space, often arriving late or missing appointments. Obviously this then has a massive knock-on effect on the running of the hospital and risks a waste of clinical hours in lost appointments. Please also consider the elderly and the patients experiencing chemotherapy and other extremely distressing circumstances who have to attend regular appointments. Is it fair that you are subjecting them to even more stress and anxiety? I believe the new restrictions will add stress and anxiety to people attending appointments and make it even harder for staff at the hospital to park. The harsh truth of it is that people, staff and patients, will go to other hospitals and the Royal Berkshire Hospital, a leading hospital, will suffer. Yours sincerely,