Councillors vote on Thursday on consulting for 20mph zones either side of Oxford Road, funded by £375,000 of developer money. Five more schemes go with them.
Reading councillors are asked on Thursday to open a public consultation on new 20mph zones covering residential streets on both sides of Oxford Road. The money is already allocated: £375,000, and none of it comes from the council’s own budget.
The proposal goes to the Traffic Management Sub-Committee at 6.30pm on Thursday 10 September, along with five other schemes. Together the six come to just under £3.5m.
Where the £375,000 comes from
Two developer-funded pots, both capital:
- £200,000 from the local 15% share of the Community Infrastructure Levy, agreed by Policy Committee.
- £175,000 in Section 106 contributions from the Battle Hospital site development.
The scheme has been a long time coming. Officers trace it to a petition answered in 2021, and a separate community survey run in January 2021 by Labour councillors in the Battle, Kentwood and Norcot wards. Of 219 respondents to that survey, more than 80% were in favour of a 20mph zone in the area (Appendix 2, proposed amendments to the Principal List).
The same appendix records the casualty history officers logged for the area: three serious and eleven slight collisions in the latest three-year period available to them, which ran to August 2021. Eight of the fourteen were on Water Road or Grovelands Road, and two of those listed speeding as a likely causation factor.
What would actually change
A 20mph limit, plus physical humps and cushions to make drivers keep to it. The report is specific about the type (item 11, Oxford Road area 20mph proposals):
- New humps would be sinusoidal, a gentler profile than the standard round-top hump.
- Speed cushions go on streets with bus routes and heavier lorry traffic, because fire engines and ambulances can straddle them.
- The zone applies only to adopted highway, and would be signed at its edges.
- Oxford Road itself is not included. The limit stops at the residential streets either side.
One element is not ready. The double mini roundabouts on Grovelands Road would be converted to a single offset roundabout, which officers say should both slow traffic and stop drivers cutting the give-way. That part needs more feasibility work and is not in the statutory consultation. If it turns out not to be deliverable, the alternatives come back to the sub-committee.
There is also a saving buried in the design. Reading has illuminated advance warning signs at its existing humps in the area. Twenty is a signed zone, so those signs are not required, and the electrical supplies to them can be decommissioned.
The other five schemes
| Scheme | What is proposed | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Bath Road and Castle Hill | Active Travel Fund scheme: double yellow lines on Castle Street to protect driveway access, and a shorter eastbound bus lane on the A4 | £2,488,577 |
| Digital Traffic Regulation Orders | Replace the borough's paper parking orders with one map-based digital order. No restriction changes on street | £469,000 capital |
| Oxford Road area 20mph | New 20mph zones and speed calming on residential streets either side of Oxford Road | £375,000 |
| Portman Road crossing | New parallel crossing, a zebra with a cycle lane alongside, opposite Milk & More near the Cow Lane roundabout | £85,000 |
| Amersham Road estate 20mph | New 20mph zone with additional humps across the estate | £40,000 |
| King's Road bus lane | Break the outbound bus lane at three junctions so left-turning drivers change lane earlier | Under £10,000 |
Why King’s Road is on the list
The King’s Road item is the cheapest and the one the council chose to publicise. Officers will not release the collision causation data, saying it would not be appropriate to share it publicly, but they do describe the pattern. It splits almost evenly between two things (item 12, Road Safety: Kings Road):
- pedestrians crossing at or near the controlled crossings outside Reading College and west of Cemetery Junction
- vehicles turning left across the outbound bus lane into Reading College, Kingsgate Street and Rupert Street
Only the second is treatable by engineering, officers say. The fix is to break the bus lane for a stretch before each of those three turnings, so a driver changes lane 20 to 30 metres early rather than swinging across at the last moment. The report expects “little, if any” effect on bus journey times, because it does not put more traffic in the lane.
For the pedestrian half of the problem, the council says it has met Reading College on site twice and is relying on the college’s reach with the people who use that stretch every day.
There is a catch on timing. Parts of the bus lane still carry red surface dressing that would have to be resurfaced before the new markings could go down, and that stretch is only on the reserve list for resurfacing, not the programme. Even if the order is made, delivery may not start until January 2027.
What it means for you
Nothing on this agenda changes a road this month. Every item is a request for permission to start a formal consultation, which is the point at which you get a say.
The process is the same for all of them. A notice goes up on the affected streets, in a local newspaper and on the council’s website. You then have 21 days to object. To count, an objection has to be in writing, has to state the grounds it is made on, and has to go to the address named on the notice.
The consultations are expected in October and November. After that:
- Oxford Road 20mph: objections considered December 2026, work from March 2027, most of the spending in 2027/28.
- Amersham Road 20mph and Portman Road crossing: objections December 2026, work February or March 2027.
- King’s Road: consultation October, decision November, delivery possibly January 2027, subject to resurfacing.
- Bath Road and Castle Hill: consultation this month, construction April 2027 to April 2028.
One difference is worth knowing. For the two 20mph zones and the Portman Road crossing, any objection at all sends the scheme back to a public committee meeting for a decision. For King’s Road and the digital orders, officers are asking to decide the outcome themselves, in consultation with the lead councillor, without returning to committee. The stated reason is speed.
If you want to watch, the sub-committee meets in public and publishes recordings. Roadworks already under way in the meantime are on our Reading roadworks and travel page, and planning decisions are on the Reading planning applications page.
Questions people ask
When is the Reading Traffic Management Sub-Committee meeting?
6.30pm on Thursday 10 September 2026. Agendas, reports and recordings are published on the council’s democracy site.
Would the Oxford Road 20mph limit apply to Oxford Road?
No. The report states the zone “will not apply to Oxford Road”. It covers residential streets on either side of it.
How do I object to a Reading traffic scheme?
Wait for the statutory notice, which appears on the street, in a local newspaper and on the council’s website, then write to the address on the notice within 21 days, stating your grounds. Objections that do not state grounds are not valid.
Who is paying for the Reading 20mph zones?
Developer money. The Oxford Road zones use £200,000 from the local 15% Community Infrastructure Levy and £175,000 of Section 106 contributions from the Battle Hospital development. The Amersham Road estate zone uses £40,000 of CIL.
What is a parallel crossing?
A zebra crossing with a marked cycle route running alongside it, so people walking and people cycling can cross at the same place. The Portman Road one would link the existing shared path on the north side to a new one on the south.
Sources
- Traffic Management Sub-Committee, 10 September 2026: agenda and reports
- Item 11: ‘20 is Plenty’ Oxford Road area 20mph zones for the funding split, the design, the Grovelands Road roundabout and the timetable.
- Item 12: Road Safety, Kings Road for the collision pattern, the bus lane proposal, the cost and the resurfacing caveat.
- Item 9: Amersham Road estate 20mph and item 10: Portman Road parallel crossing for those two schemes and their costs.
- Item 7: Active Travel scheme, Bath Road and Castle Hill for the £2,488,577 funding and the construction window.
- Item 8: Digital Traffic Regulation Orders for the £469,000 budget and the licensing cost.
- Appendix 2: proposed amendments to the Principal List for the 2021 community survey and the casualty record for the Oxford Road area.
- Reading Borough Council: scheme proposed to improve safety on King’s Road, 3 September 2026.
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