Page 1027 - Reading Mercury

including the 72-year-old Mr. Arthur Belcher, who finished the curse with the best of
them.
The walk, which followed the quiet lanes and footpaths in and around Wokingham,
is in aid of the Wokingham day centre for the elderly. This sum of at least £3,000 will
bring the present savings toward the scheme to £43,000 plus. (This includes a grant of
£30,000).
The chairman of the Wokingham and District Association for the Elderly, which
organised the event remarked that this was a marvellous achievement.

rd
Thur 3 Feb
WOKINGHAM’S BLUE POOL ROW RUMBLES ON
A woman resident was ejected from the meeting of Wokingham Town Council on
Thursday last week after members started to discuss the controversial Blue Pool issue.
Order had to be called by the Mayor of Wokingham, Cllr. Dr. R. Child, who
threatened, “I shall suspend the meeting if there is much more of this. The residents
know that this Council has their interests as much at heart as they do.”
On leaving the Town Hall the woman shouted across the room, “It’s about time that
some of you people got down there and saw what was happening. We have taken
enough talk as we can stand.” Pleas for order were lost in the subsequent burst of
applause by over fifty residents who attended the meeting.
There were three separate discussions on the Blue Pool during the evening. The
matter was first raised by Cllr. R.B. Naish who referred to the nuisance of mud in the
Blagrove Lane area caused by vehicles travelling to and fro from the Blue Pool. “This
has been going on for now for close on two years. I think it’s about time we stopped
playing games and had a little action to get rid of this mud.”
Cllr. Mrs. M. Fergusson Kelly said that the mud was also a traffic hazard. “There
has been an accident in that lane. It is very difficult to brake on that road.”
In a report of the Public Works Committee it was stated that the police had received
complaints over the mud and proposed to take action under the Highways Act, 1959.
However the Committee have decided to follow up a suggestion that a more
satisfactory way of dealing with the problem was by way of a special by-law. Cllr.
Naish later raised the subject of the Blue Pool under the Public Health Committee
minutes. He said that the smell was worse than ever. “I can assure you that
Finchampstead Road people have complained of this smell and if action has not yet
been taken to stop this I think it must be taken at once.”
The chairman of the Public Health Committee, Cllr. John West, said that everything
was being done that could be done. “The Public Health inspector has told me that
there is still a smell there but at the present moment there has been some
improvement. He has the whole matter under a very careful and watchful eye. If he is
not satisfied and further action needs to be taken he will not be afraid to do it.”
The question whether to serve an enforcement or a stop notice on the owners and
occupiers of the Blue Pool was brought up by Cllr. I. Watson. “I find no real evidence
why we should not serve a stop notice. It seems to me sensible that a stop notice
should be served with an enforcement notice the whole thing may go on for some
while.”
The Town Clerk, Mr. Nigel Butler, explained that a stop notice was only served in
an obvious case of a breach of the planning law. “In this particular case there is not an
obvious breach of the planning law. Where you have a disused clay pit, the problems
associated with that cannot in fact be easily overcome by a stop notice. He advised

1025