Page 997 - Reading Mercury

remembered for the fight he put up when the War Department wished to build a
grenade range near Arborfield. More recently ha was involved with the Ministry of
Social Security over his steadfast refusal to pay Selective Employment Tax on his
workers at Bozedown Farm, Whitchurch. A widower with two grown daughters who
both survive him, Mr. Remnant and his wife lost their only son in January 1945, when
he was killed in action while serving with the rifle Brigade.

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Sat 24 Feb
TOWN CENTRE BATTLE AGAINST BLACK DUST
Wokingham traders and shoppers will have to contend with the problem of creeping
black dust for at least another three weeks. People on the town centre are already in
despair over the fine black oxidised substance that has been the plague of the town
since Peach Street and Denmark Street were stripped of their surfaces two weeks ago.
Constantly hanging in the air, the dust settles on food and fitments, lies thick on cars
and covers shoppers as passing cars throw up fresh waves. But the dust is the result of
a necessary process when resurfacing these roads. A new surface could not be laid on
top of the old as that would have brought the road level with the pavement, so the old
tarmac had to be burnt off. But not all of it burns away, and the result—fine particles
of oxidised bitumen.
The new surface cannot be laid until the old dust has been dispersed by passing
traffic, and a spreader is available from the county council to do the job in about three
weeks’ time.

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Sat 9 March
WOKINGHAM ‘OVERHANGS’ TO HAVE NEW ROLE
The four-year-old controversy over Wokingham’s ‘overhangs’ has finally come to
an end. They have been bought by a Wokingham builder who hopes to transform
them into a commercial proposition by the end of the year. The builder, Mr. T.
Chamberlain, Larch Avenue, Wokingham, expects to have to spend £20,000 on the
five cottages, numbers 53 to 59 Peach Street, before the work is completed. Architects
are already preparing plans for ground-floor offices and two-bedroomed flats above.
Four years ago the cottages were declared unfit for human habitation and since then,
despite endless struggles between Wokingham Town Council and County Council,
they have fallen into a state of decay.
Wokingham Town Council appealed against the preservation order made by the
Berks County Council, but were turned down because, said the Ministry of Housing,
the cottages are of special archaeological and historic interest. Wokingham Council
fulfilled the obligation to prevent the properties from becoming a health risk, but no
further move was made to restore them.
At a public inquiry the local Public Health Inspector, Mr. John Bowden, estimated
that the cost of restoration would be £20,000 whereas the County Council claimed it
could be done for half that amount. Even with a substantial Government grant and
offers of financial aid from various preservation societies, the council was afraid that
annual restoration work would result in an increased rate levy.
The five cottages are scraped by passing lorries, but are said by Wokingham Society
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to date back to the 16 century and are the last remaining examples of typical
Elizabethan-style properties in Wokingham.
The Society which instituted the idea of preserving the overhangs has the backing of
the Council for the Preservation of Rural England. The Ancient Monuments Society

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