Traffic management in Thatcham

West Berkshire Council is the highway authority for Thatcham: West Berkshire is the highway authority for local roads. Trunk roads are managed by National Highways.

Almost every English highway authority now runs a permit scheme under the Traffic Management Act 2004, so works on the road need a permit, applied for through the government's Street Manager service. Minor works usually need 3 working days' notice, standard works 10 and major works 3 months.

In and around Thatcham, the A339 carry most of the through traffic. On roads like these, queue lengths decide the method: we set signal timings to keep traffic moving and suggest night or off-peak work where it helps.

Thatcham is home to around 25,000 people, so works plans need to think about pedestrians, buses and deliveries as well as through traffic.