Your letters

Water firm must change

At last, the tanker has at last gone from Henley market place, the centre of our unique town.

But let us look at Thames Water. It is vastly in debt and yet investors, several from abroad, are piling in the money, good dividends are being paid and the chief executive is both handsomely paid and walks away with a hefty bonus.

It looks as if the shareholders agree to the bonus because the dividends keep coming.

It would be good to see the bonus going to someone with a good plan to let us use all that leaking water and to lessen all that s*** going into our very slow moving river.

Nearly election time. It could be an excellent canvassing topic for our new candidate who comes in to replace John Howell MP. — Your faithfully,

Chris Howlett

Ravenscroft Road, Henley

Solution to traffic flow

Sir, — I know I have played this tune before but I still firmly believe that if only the traffic in Henley was able to move smoothly through the town without having to stop and queue unnecessarily at traffic lights, the pollution could be drastically reduced.

A series of roundabouts, I believe, would achieve that effect.

I am not alone in thinking it was a great mistake to change the roundabout at the Station Road/Reading Road junction for lights. So often traffic is held up there, quite unnecessarily, when it is clear for it to move on and keep the traffic flowing.

During the coronavirus pandemic would have been an ideal opportunity to switch the traffic lights off and monitor the effects and we could still do this on a Sunday. So it’s roundabouts for me. — Yours faithfully,

Rhona Mogridge

Makins Road, Henley

Now enforce speed limit

Sir, — I refer to the comprehensive article regarding the school playing fields development in Sonning Common (Standard, July 28).

It was good to note that the developer will provide funds for the Memorial Park and sports needs as well as the requisite Community Infrastructure Levy.

Is it too much to hope that some of the CIL funds allocated to the parish council will be spent on traffic-calming measures to reinforce the 20mph limit recently imposed throughout the village?

The Sonning Common community will be very much aware that many of the 20mph signs are ignored, including on Grove Road and Reades Lane, where the primary and secondary schools are located, and there are no reinforcement measures in place.

Even the old 30mph warning sign on Kennylands Road opposite the Millennium Park has fallen into disuse and has not been upgraded to reflect the new speed limit.

This might be a good starting point at limited cost, though possibly less effective than actual roadworks such as the chicanes on Caversham Park Road.

Fingers crossed. — Yours faithfully,

Alastair Morris

Sonning Common

Cycleway questions

Sir, — Your report headlined “Residents welcome idea of cycleway from Sonning Common to Emmer Green” (Standard, July 28), raises some questions that Sonning Common Parish Council should consider.

A total of 1,212 people responded to the questionnaire, which covered Sonning Common and Emmer Green, with 54 per cent of the respondents from Emmer Green and 46 per cent from Sonning Common.

1. How many of the 57 per cent of respondents (690 people) who said they would use the cycleway “regularly” were from Emmer Green?

It is totally understandable that people from Emmer Green would enjoy safely cycling up through Sonning Common to the Chilterns area.

It is far less clear why Sonning Common residents would enjoy cycling to Emmer Green. For what purpose?

2. If a large portion of the regular users come from Emmer Green, why is the parish council pursuing this project alone? Altruism has its limits.

3. It is clear that Oxfordshire County Council takes the view that new cycleways must be extensively used to justify the huge cost.

This project is way down the list on this criterion. Should viability be a concern?

4. £375,000, the estimated cost of the cycleway, is a vast sum for a parish council to raise.

What is the likelihood of this happening? Does this estimated cost include legal fees and possible land
purchase?

5. If the parish council owns the cycleway has the ongoing cost of maintenance been considered?

6. If the project does take off with the parish council in the prime role, what plans are there to cope with the immense amount of administration involved, from land transfer to awarding and supervising contracts?

The parish office (clerk and deputy) is already working at full stretch, at times to breaking point. — Yours faithfully,

Douglas Kedge

Lea Road, Sonning Common

PM ignoring promises

I have taught about climate and environment policies in a number of universities and I am astonished by what our Prime Minister has just done.

It is essential that everyone who can should urge their MPs to write to Rishi Sunak about his aim to radically expand fossil fuel exploration in the North Sea, ignoring government promises of a net zero carbon UK by 2050, and about climate and environmental policy failings more generally.

The Committee on Climate Change, the Government’s climate advisers, has said the Government has no credible path towards its claimed climate goals.

There is a large amount of credible literature demonstrating a serious problem with carbon capture and storage technology, while nature-based solutions like tree-planting, rewilding and conserving and extending peatlands are far more effective.

Since transport is the largest carbon-emitting sector in the UK, the Prime Minister’s aversion to cutting flights, especially his own, and for challenging both 20mph speed limits and low traffic neighbourhoods shows his misunderstanding of basic environmental and climate policies.

Local councils lack the resources and staff to deliver the climate and environment policies overwhelmingly supported by the public.

Environmental organisations with 20 million UK members have promised to challenge the Government if it continues to backslide on climate and environment. — Yours faithfully,

Steve Dawe

Extinction Rebellion Oxford

Jet stream mystery

Sir, — We hear regularly on the TV news that the current hot temperatures in southern Europe are largely the result of the jet stream being in a more southerly position than usual and therefore trapping hot air from Africa above southern Europe.

This is admittedly atypical but not unprecedented.

Accepting that the effect of this is highly undesirable for those countries affected, I have yet to hear any explanation as to why the burning of fossil fuels causes the jet stream to change position. Perhaps Just Stop Oil could enlighten us? — Yours faithfully,

Paul Fairweather

Rotherfield Greys

Letter writer sadly lost

Editor, — A familiar name appeared in the deaths announcements recently.

Rolf Richardson used to appear regularly on your letters page for years, joining many others in sharing their feelings and opinions.

It’s a pleasure to see one’s own efforts in print and each and every one of us correspondents helps to fill the Henley Standard with views on current issues and thoughts on the past. — Yours faithfully,

Peter M Adams

Ramshill, Petersfield, Hants

Enjoyable encounter

Editor, — The hedgerows are abundant with blackberries and as I was filling my containers while walking to Caversham Marina, a jogger stopped to admire my pickings.

It transpired that he was one of the many Hong Kong Chinese who are very grateful for the UK’s guarantee for them to reside here.

He had been part of a group which sent delegates to Beijing around the time of the Tiananmen Square uprising.

We had much to chat about as I had worked in both Beijing and Hong Kong.

That chance encounter made my day and in addition I had a good walk and collected 1.5 kilos of blackberries. — Yours faithfully,

Douglas Wright

Caversham

Please send us stamps

Editor, — We need to get the word out about the Friends of BCRT (Bone Cancer Research Trust) appeal for used, new and obsolete postage stamps.

Our group is raising funds to help mostly children, teenagers, young adults and the elderly so your readers’ help is much required and appreciated.

Stamps should be sent to: Friends of BCRT appeal, 20 Bowers Road, Benfleet, Essex, England, SS7 5PZ or email charitystampappeal
@gmail.com — Yours faithfully,

Terri Bush

Friends of BCRT appeal