Hills Meadow Proposals

All households should have received from Thames Parks Consultations a leaflet referring to mooring and recreational improvements. We think it is important that we all respond to these proposals. You can find information on the council's website.

The leaflet is informative and as all the proposed options will affect our locality as well as Heron Island, it would be useful to the council for residents to respond individually, basically a YES/NO reply, with a deadline of the 30th June.

We've spoken to the council and they have told us that plans are at a very early stage and they are currently having various discussions with the EA but the following key points were useful:

Ø  There would be plans to dredge the mill stream, as well as clear some of the fallen trees to improve access and water flow. This should remove some of the silt problems we get and he is aware of the new ‘islands’ which have appeared and that they are causing issues. We also alerted him to the ‘draining’ of the Mill Stream when the weir gate was up a little too long, which could cause issues for boat owners;

Ø  The boats would be moored on the View Island side of the Mill Stream, rather than the Hills Meadow side, the trees (which are mostly self-seeded sycamores) would be removed from the banks of the river. The footpath wouldn’t be moved but would be improved; 

Ø  They have looked at replacing the weir gate however the EA are reluctant to replace it as it is prohibitively expensive. It is also unlikely that Reading Borough Council would pay for the works as it would make the scheme unviable;

Ø  The moorings are likely to provide for about 12 boats;

Ø  They are currently in the process of costing up the provision of moorings and associated services, there is no specific timetable in place for decision-making as there are a fair few issues which need resolving and the EA are very slow to come back to them;

Ø  It is likely that there will be more detail after the summer, it would be around then when they decide whether to proceed with the proposals or not. This decision could be as late as the end of the year.

You can return the completed form to:

Parks Services, Prospect Park Pavilion, Prospect Park, Reading, RG30 2ND

You can find a copy of the document in the resources tab