Companies such as Grain and CityFibre have been digging up pavements and roads across the town to install Internet cables. Often one company has dug up a road and then another company has come back a few months later to do the same thing to install another cable. Greens have been working to try and get these works coordinated and tackle this disruption.
Councillor Dave McElroy (Green, Redlands Ward) raised this at a council meeting recently. Speaking after the meeting he said: “It is unacceptable that a road is being dug up for an Internet cable one month and is then dug up a few months later for another Internet cable. Unfortunately the council doesn’t currently have much power to coordinate works to install Internet cables by companies like Grain and CityFibre. We know what a pain they have been with pavements and roads closed, pedestrians force into the road and parking problems worsened. So, we have been raising this with the council.
“There is one thing the Labour-run council could do which would give them more power. This is to become a ‘permitting’ authority. This would allow them to put conditions on some of the works. It wouldn’t revolutionise things, but it would improve them and give the council more control. Bracknell did this years ago. We have been lobbying for this, but unfortunately Reading Council are saying it will take them a year to jump through all the hoops to get approved. Please let us know how things go on your road and Greens will keep working to tackle disruption.”