Emergency services have raised concerns about a controversial new bus lane branded a "nightmare" by locals in Reading," amid questions about the consultations held over the road change.
A bus lane going west towards the town centre in London Road - between its junctions with Liverpool Road and Amity Road - came into effect from mid August.
The lane has sparked an outcry from nearby residents and road users, who have said its impact on traffic has been "appalling."
Among the concerns listed by residents has been the impact on emergency service vehicles, with reports of ambulances and fire trucks on blue lights struggling to navigate the restricted traffic.
Now Reading Borough Council has confirmed that the only consultation response from an emergency service came from Thames Valley Police - with the force "concerned" about the bus lane's impact.
A spokesperson from South Central Ambulance Service said that the local operational management team had not been consulted on the new traffic measure.
The ambulance service added it had not received any complaints from ambulance drivers - but local crews had reported that traffic has been "reluctant" to move into the bus lane to allow ambulances to filter past.
The spokesperson from the service said: "Given that many of our ambulance crews, having dropped off a patient at RBH are then sent straight to the next 999 call, it might be helpful for the council to confirm or raise public awareness that should traffic need to temporarily move into the bus lane to allow an emergency vehicle on blue lights to pass coming in the opposite direction, the drivers wouldn’t be fined for that."
In their consultation response, a Thames Valley Police representative said the force would "generally not object" to schemes aimed at boosting "sustainable forms of travel" - but the force did have several concerns about the London Road scheme.
These included traffic speeding along nearby roads as a "rat run" and fast-moving traffic from the A3290 joining stationary traffic queuing on nearby roads.
The spokesperson added: “If the scheme goes ahead, I would ask that Reading Borough Council continue to monitor the traffic after the implementation of the scheme to identify any adverse impact the scheme has.”
Now traffic conditions have deteriorated to an "appalling" state, according to one local resident.
Dan Shockley said: "Alongside this we’ve seen multiple emergency vehicles get caught up in the backed up traffic waiting to reach the bus lane including ambulances with blue flashing lights trying to reach the hospital.
"Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for improving public transport and cycling options in Reading, but that shouldn’t be at the expense of local deterioration in air quality and health and safety.”
Responding to the concerns, a spokesperson from Reading Borough Council said the bus lane was "expected to have an impact" as residents "adapt" to the change.
The council representative said: "We would add that the current closure of Church Road, Wokingham, another major route into Reading, due to long running SSE works, is also impacting current traffic flows.
"We believe it is important to acknowledge that London Road is not just a through route into central Reading, but a residential area in its own right which has suffered from poor air quality for many years as a result."
The council will continue to monitor the impacts of the new bus lane and surrounding roads to identify any potential measures to mitigate issues where possible, according to the spokesperson.
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