Twyford

Many of you may not be aware of the different ways in which you can contact and interact with the Twyford Police.

Firstly, Thames Valley Police has now only one general purpose phone number,
0845 8 505 505.

In an emergency you should always dial 999.
(999 Or 112 from a mobile phone)

You may also be familiar with Neighbourhood Watch and the schemes that help pass information on crimes in the local area to residents.

But if you don’t want to be part of Neighbourhood Watch there is another simpler way to receive information from the Police.

It’s called Community Messaging.
It’s a simple to sign up, go to www.tvpcommunitymessaging.org
Or call 0845 8 505 505 and ask for your Neighbourhood Watch Administrator.

The benefit of community messaging is that you can receive all the messages that go out through Neighbourhood watch without having to start a scheme. If you live ‘in the middle of nowhere’ you can still receive all the benefits.
Essentially you become a one household Neighbourhood Watch!

For further information, go to www.thamesvalley.police.uk
Or call the Thames Valley Police general purpose phone number
0845 8 505 505.

Jackie Daniels PCSO
Twyford Police Station
Station Road
Twyford
Reading
RG10 9NT

Open: 2-6pm on Monday and 10am-2pm on Saturday

Following my meeting with Moir Lockhead, Chief Executive of First Group, and representatives from Network Rail I wanted to give you an update on where we are so far.

The good news is that Moir Lockhead accepted that FGW had got the December 2006 timetable wrong and they need to resolve the problems in the December 2007 timetable. He went so far as to say that he couldn’t understand why they made the changes in the December 2006 timetable – neither could we given that we told them the problems it would cause!

The bad news is that there will be not be a new timetable in May 2007, only minor changes and these will have no effect on Maidenhead and Twyford and our branch lines. There will however be some minor changes from 26 March but these will have a very limited impact on our local services. The 0555 from Oxford to Paddington will be extended from a 5 carriage to a 10 carriage service and it will now depart Oxford at 0551 and arrive at Twyford at 0630 and Maidenhead at 0641. The 5 extra carriages will be a help, but as the service will also stop at Pangbourne before Twyford I would be interested to know if it solves the overcrowding.

The other change in the morning for us is the 0620 Henley to Twyford which is now going to leave at 0618 and arrive at Twyford at 0630 – this will hopefully improve connections to London. Our final change is the 1836 Paddington to Oxford which will now depart at 1833, taking the slot of the stopping service to Exeter – it is hoped that this will improve connections at Twyford to the branch lines.

Please do keep me informed about how these changes work out - if they do not improve services I shall be sure to let them know. And I will continue to push them for more substantial improvements to out stations.

I find it deeply frustrating that there is no new timetable in May. Both the Secretary of State for Transport, Douglas Alexander, and the Head of Railways at the Department for Transport, Dr Mike Mitchell, said that FGW would bring in a new timetable in May 2007 and both admitted that Maidenhead and Twyford were an area which needed significant improvement.

I wrote to Alison Forster on 22nd February setting out in detail the major problems we have with the service to our area. I have yet to receive a reply. I cannot believe that she has ignored these comments and made no improvements. They have refused to address our needs in May and this is simply not good enough.

Despite the lack of a consultation, the December 2007 timetable will be finalised in April and I shall be meeting with FGW and Network Rail in late April to talk it through. I shall not be satisfied unless I see significant improvements for Maidenhead and Twyford and the branch lines – that means at least as many fast and semi fast services that we had before December 2006. If I do not see satisfactory improvement I shall take this matter up once again with the Secretary of State and ask him to use his powers to penalise or remove FGW.

As you know First, Network Rail and the DFT have come up with a 40-point recovery plan. I have still not seen the detail of this yet, but Moir Lockhead has now promised me a copy and I shall be taking him up on this offer. Once I have seen it I shall, of course, get back to you. One thing I can tell you is that when I asked Alison Forster to talk me through the plan the first improvement she mentioned was heavy cleaning. We would all like to sit on nice clean trains but our problem at the moment is standing on dangerously overcrowded and frequently late running ones. FGW simply do not seem to get the point.

Another example is the assertion from Moir Lockhead that First are trying to encourage more people to travel off peak to ease overcrowding. When I pointed out to him that most of us work 9-5 or longer and simply cannot negotiate these house he seemed not to believe me. Please add your comments to mine and email fgw.feedback@firstgroup.com. They need to know that the answer to overcrowding is not forcing people to travel off peak.

Although it may feel like it, it is not all bad news. I continue to work closely with FGW, Network Rail and the DFT. Changes will be coming in December and although this is a long way off we have Moir Lockhead’s promise that the December 2006 was no good and the December 2007 timetable will be a significant improvement. Moir Lockhead told me he was going to ‘fix our railway’ – I shall hold him to this promise.

Thank you all for all your help. Please do keep the emails coming in to me and to FGW. They need to know that the problem has not gone away, nor will it go away by ignoring us. For all of those who have emailed FGW regularly and find it hard to get a response you might want to know that Moir Lockhead was full of praise for the efficiency. He urged me to make full use of them in passing on comments (which I have) – I pass on this encouragement to you. If you find that they are specifically slow let me know and I will inform Mr Lockhead.

The Rt Hon Theresa May MP
Shadow Leader of the House of Commons

A new catering contractor is on the menu for Dinton Pastures Country Park and Hurst Golf course, near Twyford promising to offer a range of tasty food. And this will take place in a completely refurbished environment, including upgraded kitchen, serving bar, flooring and redecoration.

Specialist catering contractor Edwards & Ward has made such a success of the borough’s school meal contract and a restaurant for staff at the council’s Shute End offices, that it has been asked to provide the catering at the country park and golf course under a temporary contract and existing partnership arrangements.

Earlier this year, the council announced proposals to combine the catering facilities at the Twyford country park and golf club, improve the inside of the country park café as well as extensive improvements to the outside, with covered patios. The lease of both the Tea Cosy Café and Hurst Golf Course are coming to an end and the proposals were the first step of a longer-term aspiration to improve all of the facilities at the country park.

Having taken on board comments from both Twyford country park visitors and golfers, the council is now proposing to continue for the present to provide catering in the two separate venues (café and golf course clubhouse).

And the contractors have indicated that there will be jobs for those existing catering staff that would like to transfer to the specialist contractors.

Executive member for corporate services Cllr Rob Stanton said: “I appreciate that this change could be unsettling for employees at both venues, but I hope that they will consider moving across to our partners Edwards & Ward.

“In taking on the school meals contract they have delivered healthy and tasty meals, improved take-up and successfully managed the transfer of staff from previous contractors. And the feedback we have had from this is that staff enjoy coming to work.

“I hope that this success will be emulated at Dinton Pastures and the golf course and that staff and visitors will all benefit.”

Negotiations will continue to allow staff who wish to transfer to the new contractor under Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) (TUPE) regulations to do so.

The refurbishment (including a new hot water heating system for the whole building) will take place between March 26 and March 30 when the café will be closed, allowing the newly refurbished café to open in time for the Easter holidays. During the refurbishments, refreshments will be available from the golf clubhouse and the toilets will remain open.

Prices for food at the café is expected to be at a similar level to current prices, although those at the golf course clubhouse may change as they are brought in line with café prices.

Wokingham Borough Council ~ nr Twyford

Twyford People who are new to using computers can get personal information technology (IT) tuition at four Wokingham district libraries.

Lower Earley, Woodley, Wokingham and Twyford libraries are now offering two taster sessions to get people started on computers. The first session covers using the equipment, accessing the internet, finding websites and using the Google search engine. The second session covers emailing, plus basic word-processing such as writing a letter. The sessions will be taught in small groups (no more than three people per tutor) and no previous experience of using a computer is needed. At the end of each course people taking part get free notes about what has been taught and tutors can offer advice on where to go to learn more. Nearly 300 people benefited from the sessions last year.

Cllr Dianne King, executive member for Twyford community development, said: “Many of us take using computers for granted but for others they can form a daunting prospect – and they don’t need to be. With these sessions the Wokingham district’s library service can offer a simple and stress-free way to learn the basics of IT.”

Both the sessions last about two and half hours and cost £5. Places need to be booked and paid for in advance by visiting the library. Course dates are available from individual libraries: Lower Earley Library, in Chalfont Way, on (0118) 931 2150; Woodley Library, in Headley Road, on (0118) 969 0304; Wokingham Library, in Denmark Street, on (0118) 979 3474 and Twyford Library, in Polehampton Road, on (0118) 934 0800.

Wokingham Borough Council ~ Twyford

Council set to make lottery bid for library?

Your Lib Dem district councillors Stephen Conway and Dee Tomlin are very hopeful that Wokingham District Council will make a bid to the Lottery Fund for money for a new library in Twyford.

Stephen recently showed the head of the library services at Wokingham the letters and emails of support he had received for the campaign to persuade the council to make a lottery bid.

Stephen said ‘I was delighted with the positive response. More than 200 people and organizations took the trouble to write or email, for which we are very grateful. With this evidence of community support, Dee and I are very hopeful that the council will make a bid.’

Twyford Liberal Democrats

Less than a week after my last email I wanted to update you on the promising news from my meeting with the Secretary of State at the Department for Transport.

Since the introduction of the December 2006 timetable I have made it clear to the Government, time and again, that the train service is not good enough and have pressed for improvements. I’m pleased to say the campaign has had some success. It is clear that the Government have taken a tough stance with FGW.

In our meeting the Secretary of State confirmed that there is now a 40-point recovery plan agreed by FGW and Network Rail with the Department following the Secretary of State’s meetings with them. This should improve the running of the trains and mean fewer delays. I shall be meeting with them in the near future to discuss this plan and see exactly how it will deliver better services to Maidenhead and Twyford and the branch lines.

There will also be a new timetable in May 2007. It is a great victory for all of us that FGW have finally accepted the failure of the December 2006 timetable. I understand that services will be added and capacity increased across the network. But until we see the detail we won’t know how far it will go in meeting passengers’ complaints. Rest assured I will keep up the pressure for more fast and semi-fast services and increased capacity for Maidenhead and Twyford.

The Secretary of State also made clear that if any train operating company were to show that it could not maintain its franchise requirements he would have no hesitation in using the powers available to him to remove all of or part of their franchise.

These are small but significant victories. Action is being taken. Now we need to see that turned into real improvements in services. I will be working to ensure that the recovery plan and new timetable make a difference for Maidenhead and Twyford, and if not, I shall be returning to the Secretary of State for further action.

As ever, please do keep me informed of your journeys and experiences with FGW, and keep writing to them to let them know how you think they’re doing. I do not want the campaign to slow down until we see a real difference to our services. I am glad to see that the Department for Transport have finally sat up and realised how important this issue is. But what we want to see is results. Until then, the campaign continues…

Yours Sincerely,

 

Theresa

The Rt Hon Theresa May MP