EXCLUSIVE: "Terrifying" Caversham junction to be "sorted out" at last in £500,000 safety project
Victory for local campaigners as Reading Council commits to major works near Last Crumb
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Today we bring you an exclusive story from Caversham – but it also impacts transport, safety and wellbeing across town.
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A notorious junction in Caversham described as “dangerous” and “utterly terrifying” is finally to be made safer with around £500,000 of council funding in a victory for local campaigners.
The four-way intersection of Peppard Road, Henley Road, Westfield Road and Prospect Street – dubbed the “Last Crumb junction” due to the nearby pub – has been the subject of multiple safety campaigns over many years without success.
But Reading Borough Council has now exclusively told The Reading Reporter that it is committed to spending an estimated half a million pounds of its own capital to introduce safe pedestrian crossings at the junction.
“It’s going ahead,” said a senior source at the council. “There will be significant funding, circa half a million, but it’s got to go through the budget process. It’s a junction that’s needed sorting out for a long time.”
The source also confirmed that the estimated budget for the work does not include money acquired from developers of the old Reading Golf Club site in Emmer Green, but section 106 contributions do remain from that and could be used if the works at the junction run over budget. A report from the council’s Traffic Management Sub-Committee on September 11 last year stated that “there are a great deal of variables that could mean a much higher cost”.
The council has also stipulated during ongoing negotiations that it will not object to the proposed additional housing development on the northern edge of that site, providing that the developer contributes a further £150,000 towards improving transport in Reading north of the river Thames. This additional development is proposed for land that falls under the jurisdiction of South Oxfordshire District Council and is subject to an ongoing planning process in that neighbouring authority.
Caversham residents hoping for a quick resolution at the Last Crumb junction will be disappointed, however. Firstly, the council is still in the process of finalising its budget for the 2026-27 financial year, meaning the finer details of the funding will not be confirmed until February.
The council has called for “patience” from residents and warned “there won’t be shovels in the ground for quite a long time” because a full consultation is required before any works can be completed, due to the complexity of the junction.
Henley Road (A4155) and Peppard Road (B481) are significant arterial roads linking Reading with South Oxfordshire. Prospect Street, connecting with Church Street and Gosbrook Road, is the major arterial road through Caversham.
Despite the high number of vehicles using each road, there are currently no pedestrian crossings at the junction, and there is no wait time built into the phasing of green lights for each road, during which pedestrians could cross.
While the council recognises that some pedestrian crossings are needed for safety, it is also concerned about the impact on traffic flow given the volume of vehicles using the junction, including freight.
The council source said: “The debate will be about priorities: is it about trying to improve traffic flow, or is it about making sure pedestrians and cyclists are safe? I think you can do both, with a bit of reconfiguration, particularly coming down from the north.”
Long traffic jams frequently occur on the southbound Peppard Road during peak times, starting at the junction, with Prospect Street a bottleneck for traffic inbound to Reading. Further delays to the phasing of green lights on northbound Prospect Street could lead to problems further back in Caversham during commuting hours, when heavy traffic is already a problem. Queues on Westfield Road can stretch back towards Gosbrook Road during peak times.
In addition to traffic flow problems, there is concern that any increase in the number of cars queuing at the junction could contribute to poorer air quality for local residents.
The council has also expressed concern over the issue of road ownership at the junction, with a number of utilities running services beneath the road’s surface.
Nevertheless, the commitment to investing such a significant sum of money into fixing the junction’s problems is a major achievement for local campaigners, including Heidi North, who launched a petition last July calling for the installation of a pedestrian crossing to “stop a fatality” at the junction. It has gathered 1,976 verified signatures, whereas another previous petition attracted 1,200 signatures.
Feelings were high in Caversham last summer following the death of two pedestrians on Peppard Road, around half a mile north near the junction with Cedarwood Crescent. Two sisters, aged 70 and 68, and identified by their families in a tribute statement as Sandra and Sylvia, died at the scene after being struck by a Volkswagen while out on a walk shortly before 8am on June 27.
In an impassioned plea for action, Ms North described the junction as “dangerous” and “utterly terrifying”, and insisted that “those wishing to access green spaces are having to play Russian roulette with their safety” – referring to residents crossing Peppard Road to access Balmore Park.
Ms North also raised grave concerns over “children (who) are regularly forced to take their lives in their hands” and “school children forced to cross without adequate provision” due to the number of schools locally. Chiltern Nursery, Caversham Prep School and Queen Anne’s School are all in close proximity to the junction, while The Hill and St Anne’s RC primary schools and Highdown secondary school are also nearby.
Among those commenting on the petition was a resident called Richard, who described crossing the junction on foot as “risky and death defying, in daylight and darkness”. Another comment, written by Sam, insisted that it was “honestly a miracle” that no one had been seriously hurt at the junction.
“Almost daily I see near misses from cars about to hit each other, children running across the road, elderly hurrying along as quickly as they can, it’s just not a safe place and it’s so awful that the council will only do something AFTER someone dies,” said Sam.
The THINK! map, a road safety tool that uses data provided by the Department for Transport, shows a number of accidents at the junction have been reported to police in the last decade (but more recent accidents do not show due to a data lag).
The council source also suggested that transport improvements in north Reading such as that at the Last Crumb junction could become “relatively easy to fund” in future, if a new mayoral authority is created for the Thames Valley region.
Both Reading and South Oxfordshire are among the 13 councils that have signed an expression of interest letter to create a Mayoral Strategic Authority (MSA) within the Thames Valley. The letter was submitted to the government in December. It is hoped that a MSA would unlock additional powers and funding for the region, plus coordinate more integrated and effective transport and infrastructure.
Because a large amount of its traffic is either from or destined for South Oxfordshire, the Last Crumb junction could in theory and in future form part of an agreed transport strategy for the region, and thus see improvements paid for from “the mayor’s pot” rather than being left to Reading alone to fund.
The introduction of a MSA could also have major implications for the long-awaited third bridge over the river Thames at Reading. The third bridge is considered vital to easing traffic problems in central Reading – but South Oxfordshire has objected to any proposals, due to concerns about the bridge shifting traffic pressure into its villages and towns surrounding north Reading, plus the potential for damage to the environment and wildlife habitats in its jurisdiction.
“I think (a mayor) would help us to start being a bit more constructive, working with our neighbouring authorities around planning,” said the council source.
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I've always wondered - but not really thought it through perhaps - would a roundabout work on this junction instead?
20+ years of living on Peppard Road and in all that time the council has done nothing substantial regarding road safety here. There's a (poorly lit) zebra crossing on Buckingham Drive and that's about it. There's a light-controlled crossing on Peppard Road near the Milestone Way shops in Emmer Green, but from there down to the Last Crumb there are more speed cameras than controlled crossings. I think that tells us a lot about the council's priorities.