Local Issues

A good 3 inches of snow here in Brightwalton this morning. It stopped snowing at about 1am and was followed by some showers until about 3am. Whilst we have lost a bit of the snow we had a 1am last night, there is still a good a crunchy layer. There is lots of ice out there, so please all take care.

The response to this campaign has been amazing, with even the most hardened pro-speeder agreeing that there is a problem on this stretch of road. I would also back a suggestion from the Newbury Today forum, which is to introduce variable speeds on the section of road with the variability based upon the conditions ahead. A common theme with all suggestions though is to ensure that they are actively monitored and managed; something the recent 'no overtaking' for lorries trial seems to have failed on. Average speed cameras along the section would meet these needs.

But, please remember, that whilst reducing the accidents on the A34 is a critical thing to do, we are also trying to stop reckless and thoughtless diversion driving through our Downland villages, and we are trying to protect the reputation that West Berkshire is an amazing place to live (and not an accident blackspot).

p.s. there are also plenty of statistics and real speed related detail from this document:

http://20splentyforus.org.uk/UsefulReports/TRLREports/trl421SpeedAccidents.pdf - Page 2 is a good start. Where you can find details such as "The percentage reduction in accident frequency achievable per 1mile/h reduction in average speed is between 2-7%"

Thames Water have announced a nearly 7% rise in prices in West Berkshire and both the people and press are complaining over the hike. I do wonder if these are the same people that spoke up against privatisation of our nation's assets? It's yet another reality check - private profit driven companies are out there to make money. Thames Water are looking to make money out of you. There are not operating for the betterment of society, to reduce prices, nor are they looking to invest heavily in their obligations without taking your money first. It's all about profit - and you are providing it.

Another big one today at East Ilsley. Nightmare for us around here. There are essentially three key roads feeding the down lands - the A34, the A338 and the B4494. When the A34 is mashed, traffic diverts to the other two - neither of which are designed for this level of traffic and all of which get bottled up towards Wantage or through the narrow Downland roads.

It seems that because its on the border of Berks and Oxfordshire, no one takes responsibility - or only takes it on 'their side'. I can't find any evidence that west berks and oxfordshire have sat down independently or together to fix the problem or raise the issue with the Highways Agency. Can't help thinking that the Tories in West Berks won't do anything about it because they rely upon voters in the 'bmw' classes who I see regularly breaking speed limits for fun and often causing these very problems.

Not helped I'm sure by two different fire and rescue services, two different ambulance services etc - and now that their budgets are squeezed they are not even prioritising proactive or pre-emptive activities.

The effect on the Downlands is mostly traffic - speeding traffic and the pollution they cause racing through our narrow lanes, disrespecting our local communities with anti-social panic driving as they try to get back on their original route. My year living in West Ilsley was hell - traffic hell. You've no idea if you going to be able to get out of the drive way, to school, works or the shops, and certainly no way of knowing if your kids are safe cycling in the village. This must be a nightmare in East Ilsley. Great Shefford is often hit too with cars racing down the A338 diverting around the A34 accidents.

Personally I think there should be a 50mph zone from the M4 to the Oxfordshire border, and it must be monitored by average speed cameras (the only thing drivers seem to respect). By doing so, I recon 99% of all the accidents on that road will go away, the traffic will flow more timely and the Downlands will be spared the anti-social driving of the panicked drivers searching for a diversion.

Ok, it's been a while since I've seen a local milkman. But Milk and More and seeing a bit of a come back. Being in the middle of no where there are no local shops, so when I found out that Milk and More deliver out here I thought that I would give it a try. Our local branch is based in Newbury and they deliver three times a week to the downland area. They have a good web site and if you order before 9pm, they can deliver any extras the next day.

I've switched now from loads of darn plastic bottles of milk (we are a big family) to some nice glass pint bottles - something that can be reused and not just recycled. They also do organic milk in the glass pint bottles, so that's what we have. So the big question - is it more expensive that Tesco? Simple answer is yes. More complex and honest answer is No. But why no? Ethics aside, if I took a regular trip to the local shops I generally tend to buy things I don't need - chocolate, that two for one bargain and similar. With the milkman service I buy what I need. Bread, milk, cheese and some other basics.

So has this worked for us? For sure. It's working out very well. Things turn up just when I need them and I don't need to take that 'could be expensive' trip to the local shops. I've not been woken up by the milkman and the quality of the service is second to none. The thought of having bottles that can be reused appeals too. My plastic recycling bag is half empty now and this has to be a good thing. Therefore, it's a big thumbs up for Milk and More as a local milkman here in West Berkshire's Downlands.

I applaud Newbury Weekly News for raising issues such as the growing personal debt mountain, but I wonder why they ignore the fact that this has been created by the policies of the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats in Government? They are deliberately using money from ordinary people to pay off their banking chums - the end result is that the majority of people have growing debt mountains - debt accrued to pay off the pure greed of the Tory and Lib Dem's old boy networks in banking and big business. Sickening.

http://www.newburytoday.co.uk/News/Article.aspx?articleID=18858

David Akerman has put Brightwalton on the map by breaking the UK amateur record for an unmanned balloon flight - he got the balloon to 40,986m. Congratulations to David - it would be good if you could chat to the school - I would imaging many of the kids would be excited to hear about it and see a balloon!


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"Congratulations again to David - an excellent achievement", Adrian Hollister.

I've used Phone Coop for my standard phone line for ages now, it's a great service and if I need anything I can talk to a real person who is genuinely interested in helping.  Their broadband options though are just not up to my high broadband consumption and where we live, there are no real options other than BT or another provider running over the BT network.  So BT was my default option as their network does a good job at higher bandwidth uses, like iPlayer, Youtube and the other things my kids go through in their free time.  I switched from BT residential broadband to BT business broadband as I started working more from home and the wifes book-keeping business took off.   BT have generally been ok, most things just work and I rarely need to speak to them to get problems fixed.

Moving home apparently was a thing too far for BT Business.  They did move my broadband service and when I arrived in the new home there was a new BT Hub and details emailed.  Smooth going so far.  But why would a BT business customer need a residential hub and hang on, what's this - a new contract?  So a quick phone call to some anonymous BT retail helpline number (on all my new paperwork) left me confused and not really understanding what changed and what went wrong.  So working on the assumption that some serious misunderstanding had occurred I redialled the BT business line from the original contract and explained my situation.

To my great surprise the person on the phone listened to me, summarised my problem back to me and told me they would call around the various BT departments and get back to me within a hour.  Oh yea, I thought, I've heard this all before.  So I put the phone down and started to recap and document what had gone on so far.  After about 10 mins the phone rang again - it was BT.  The same chap who I spoke too a few minutes before.  He not only accepted responsibility for the problem, but he had fixed it too.  Sorting out what must have been a myriad of departments within BT and fixing any new/old contract issues to boot.  So, it will take 5 days to switch us back to BT Business Broadband - so perhaps this blog entry is premature, but so far I cannot fault BT Business Broadband - if only the residential service was as efficient.

Adrian Hollister

Darn it, it's frustrating trying to change your address details. So here is my good list and bad list from experience of my recent move and from feedback from friends in a general 'coffee around a table' rant about things that annoyed us...

The 'not good at change of address customer services' list...
-Next (all reported call dropped or engaged tone)
-Natwest (for trying to up sell new services and forcing redirection around the company just to get you to buy something new you don't need)
-Which? (cos you can't change anything on-line)

The 'good at change of address customer services' list...
-Various banks
-BT
-Phone Co-op
-Argos

Following yet another set of plans for a Wind Turbine next to the M4 at Lambourn, is this something that we must accept as part of our future or discard the idea as a “crime against nature.” (Anthony Stansfeld - Con, Kintbury)?

Follow the discussion on the Newbury Today Forum