I know this may be the wrong place to ask this question but has any one any information on who to complain to about the amount of time the crossing is closed.

I some times count 100+ vehicles queued up waiting for the crossing to open.

Waiting for some 20 minutes is not uncommon only for the gates to open as no train appeared!

Network Rail would be the organisation to complain to.  The only way that this problem is going to be solved though, as has been discussed at length on this forum, is by building a new bridge, which at the moment is basically too expensive to be a feasible option in the current financial climate.

This has been discussed at length.  For more recent debate see link to 'the other website:

http://forum.newburytoday.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=1560&st=0&start=0

The council recently told me that the cost of a bridge in 2004 was expected to be just over £20m. With inflation, you could maybe add a couple of million to the total cost.

Hi,
I know the council missed the boat in the early 80's with a bridge, and that is now never going to happen.

But my question is why is the level crossing down for so long, but more frustrating is the crossing is closed for 10 minutes and the opens with no sign of a train????.

Cheers James,

I know this will become more of an issue when those 2000 houses built on Monks lane are completed.

Quoted from WASHWATERMAN

Cheers James,

I know this will become more of an issue when those 2000 houses built on Monks lane are completed.

Clutching at straws there Washwaterman. Not exactly close to Monks Lane and certainly not really a short cut especially if the crossings are closed so often.

Quoted from brian

Clutching at straws there Washwaterman. Not exactly close to Monks Lane and certainly not really a short cut especially if the crossings are closed so often.

I don't agree, I think the Sandlford development will increase traffic on Burys Bank road.

Quoted from Greenham Common

I don't agree, I think the Sandlford development will increase traffic on Burys Bank road.

Not if they've got to queue at the crossing.

Quoted from brian

Not if they've got to queue at the crossing.

If you were right, there would be little traffic or queue!  Being from the area, I can assure you Burys Bank road is the preferred route for many people in the south of Newbury/Greenham area to get to the A4 or Thatcham.

Quoted from Greenham Common

If you were right, there would be little traffic or queue!  Being from the area, I can assure you Burys Bank road is the preferred route for many people in the south of Newbury/Greenham area to get to the A4 or Thatcham.

I know that in the morning, I see loads of cars flashing past the roundabout at the top of Pyle Hill towards Burys Bank Road so I guess you're right. However, by the time they get round to putting a single house on Sandleford, the racecourse estate will be up and running including a bridge over the railway and the promised improvements to the Hambridge Road/ A4 road junction, so this may provide an alternative. What I'm not quite sure about is the recent approval of traffic lights for the Boundary Road/Kings Road/ Hambridge Road junction. The earlier planning application for Sterling Estate provided a new road through the estate. Is there a U turn by the council to change the way Kings Road works and make a dual two way route along Kings Road. If so, this would provide an alternative route from Sandleford along Kings Road, Hambridge Road and to the A4 junction at the other end and then to go East towards Reading around the Floral Way Thatcham by-pass (or whatever the designation is ) that comes out near to Colthrop.

Quoted from brian

What I'm not quite sure about is the recent approval of traffic lights for the Boundary Road/Kings Road/ Hambridge Road junction.

Oh joy... more bloody traffic lights!

Quoted from brian

the racecourse estate will be up and running including a bridge over the railway

Unfortunately the bridge over the railway will not be built until the developers have "sold" their 300th house. There are devious methods of getting round this.

For instance, there is one local developer who bought houses which he demolished and built flats. Because the developer pleaded hard times with the owner, he obtained an agreement whereby he (the development company) would only pay the full agreed purchase price once the last flat had been sold. He didn't sell the flats, he rented them out. In consequence, because the last flat has not been SOLD, he has never paid the balance of the agreed purchase price.

I believe to be a matter of rank incompetence not to have insisted on a bridge build before occupancy.

Quoted from Greenham Common

I believe to be a matter of rank incompetence not to have insisted on a bridge build before occupancy.

Quite, and as I understand it, the agreement is for the 300th house, not once 300 houses have been sold. And so if the designated 300th house remains as a showhouse (i.e. not sold) then the bridge will probably not be built for another 5 years.

Remember that we are talking about a planning agreement arranged by the same people who sold our car parks for a quid.

Update,
There are now 5 temporary cctv cameras on the approach to the level crossing from the burys bank side,

has some one woken up to the fact that this is now becoming a major issue?

I think you'll find these cameras are all part of the package that the local Councillors have mustered up as part of the £10k 'Transport Study' .  The cameras are up ... woop-de-do  "Here's the report which says nothing you didn't already know. Now hand over the money"

Nice to see the money not wasted!!!!

Quoted from spartacus

I think you'll find these cameras are all part of the package that the local Councillors have mustered up as part of the £10k 'Transport Study' .  The cameras are up ... woop-de-do  "Here's the report which says nothing you didn't already know. Now hand over the money"

So where are these cameras being monitored if they were installed as part of a council led transport study or are they part of Network Rail's attempt to prove that we don't need a bridge and feed back to the signal box.
Mind you, there were loads of surplus cameras left over when we went digital in Newbury and other West Berks areas so perhaps they are freebies.

They had gone by the following day so we may never know, although I feel better about the one I saw at the top of Sandpit hill that time.

Not going mad after all!!

Quoted from WASHWATERMAN

They had gone by the following day so we may never know, although I feel better about the one I saw at the top of Sandpit hill that time.

Not going mad after all!!

Are you sure that there were cameras on the crossing. The mind sometimes plays funny tricks and a camera obsession has plagued the forum in the past.