To hear an update from:

·         Ben Smith, Head of Commissioning (RBWM)

·         Simon Fisher, General Manager at Courtney Buses

·         A Thames Water representative.

Due to the absence of Ben Smith, Councillor Haseler gave the Forum an update which had been passed on from Ben.

·         Maidenhead Station:

-          Highway works at Broadway junction and amendments to the car park exit were now complete.

-          Works at the Queen Street / A308 were substantially complete with the simplified junction; new traffic signals and enhanced pedestrian facilities had been installed.

-          Work has commenced to create the cycle hub adjacent to the station forecourt which was scheduled for completion in April 2020.

-          The forecourt works would only commence once the existing parking had been relocated to Stafferton Way multi-storey car park.

·         Maidenhead ‘Missing Links’

-          This project would create a cycle route from Maidenhead Station to North Town Moor, which would link to the cycle network to Cookham.

-          There were a number of phases, the most significant of which was a new cycle crossing of the A4 linking the town to Kidwells Park.

-          All elements were at the design and development stage with one of the first phases being an enhanced bridge over Strand Water (Town Moor) to create a safe cycle route. The remaining elements would then be subject to phased delivery over 18 – 24 months commencing summer 2020.

·         Housing Sites Enabling Works

-          This project was a package of traffic management measures to deliver additional capacity at five key junctions around Maidenhead.

-          The first junction to be completed would be the Stafferton Way (A308) roundabout which would be resurfaced and altered upon completion of the station works.

Councillor Haseler said that the right turn out of the Broadway car park had worked well over Christmas, which had been alleviating traffic coming out of Queen Street especially now there was a lack of a right turn there.

A resident said that the traffic on this stretch had presented a risk to pedestrians who had been crossing the road and were not aware of the cars. Councillor Haseler said that there was a pelican crossing in close proximity to this area and this should be utilised by residents.

Councillor Taylor said that something could be done to change the traffic lights to help the traffic flow out of Broadway car park. She said that the Queen Street lights were still not phased right and that there was one set of traffic lights too many on the junction. Without this extra set, the flow of traffic on the busy junction could be improved. Council Hill suggested that a unified traffic control system could be implemented which would be able to adapt to congestion.

A resident raised concerns that the work around the station was not helping those with a visual impairment. The traffic light crossing at the station was raised and the tree base was slopped which made it hard for wheelchairs users. They said that it was important for an inclusive design to be considered.

While Thames Water were unavailable to attend the meeting, they provided an update about the sinkhole on Shoppenhangers Road. They had located the collapse in the sewer pipe but have not able to establish why the sewer collapsed. They have decided to replace and relay a large section of 75 meters which would help prevent further issues at the location.

The excavation had been ongoing for approximately 2 weeks. Whilst this work was being completed, two over pumps and an overland sewer were used to pump sewage from the manhole before the break to the manhole after.

There was an issue with the pumps at the weekend which caused some flooding. Due to the length of the sewer diversion and depth, approximately 3 to 4 metres, it was estimated that the work would take approximately 8 weeks. Thames Water were working extended hours, however should the works take longer than expected this would be communicated.

James Pugh, Manager at Maidenhead Golf Club, asked if signage could be put up that informed users that the Golf Club was still open. This request had been passed on to Thames Water and Ben Smith.

Simon Fisher, General Manager at Courtney Buses, informed Members of the impact the sinkhole had on the buses and future aspirations for the company. The sinkhole had not had a massive impact on services, with no cancellations and only added an extra ten minutes to some services.

Looking towards the future, Simon Fisher explained that Courtney Buses would be rebranded to Thames Valley Buses in May, with the vehicles changed to reflect the new name. The company was operating in a challenging environment, per head Maidenhead was the second lowest for bus usage in the country. There had also been a decline in the number of concessions using the buses around the town. Some extra stops in Broadway would be beneficial as a significant number of people wanted to access this area while lighting could be improved at the bus stop under the railway bridge.

Councillor Haseler asked if electric buses were something that had been considered. He was told that there was an electric bus trial currently ongoing in Slough, but after 5 hours the battery would be lower than 50%. Buses needed to be used all day and so it was unlikely to be something available in Maidenhead in the next five years, unless there was significant battery progression.

Councillor Bhangra queried the type of bus that was currently being used, and was told that in the current fleet there were Euro 5/6 diesels. There were initially 4 hybrid buses but these had all been converted back to diesel.

Councillor Jones asked what more Maidenhead could do to help promote bus travel to residents. Simon Fisher explained that one factor was due to parking in the town being cheap and accessible. In comparison, Reading had extensive and well used bus travel due to poor and expensive parking options.

Simon Fisher told the Forum that they were currently developing a new app which would allow residents to buy tickets and plan routes on the go.