A meeting will take place to discern why hundreds of motorists were once again stuck in hours of traffic while an event was taking place at Newbury Showground.
The All About Dogs Show and Newbury Garden Show took place on both Saturday, April 13 and Sunday, April 14, causing significant traffic build-up on the A339 from the Vodafone roundabout and on the A34 up to Chieveley.
Events at the showground have regularly caused traffic problems on the busy A roads, the last notable instance being the Newbury Fireworks Spectacular last November, which saw some paying customers unable to even get to see the fireworks display due to the gridlock.
West Berkshire Council, Newbury Showground owners and Aztec Events (the organisers of the All About Dogs Show) will be meeting in the near future to dissect what happened at the weekend and to decide what will be done differently next year.
David Gale was stuck in traffic on Saturday for over two hours.
He said: “The repercussions of this mismanagement extended beyond mere inconvenience.
“It resulted in lost time and fuel, which has economic implications for all affected.
“The lack of foresight in handling such a predictable issue as traffic influx for a double-event day is concerning and requires immediate address and reassessment of [the] event management protocols.”
He has called for the relevant authorities to provide a detailed explanation for why the traffic was so bad, outline the steps to prevent it from occurring again in the future and consider implementing more signage and advance notices before similar events take place.
The Newbury & District Agricultural Society (NADAS) owns Newbury Showground, organises and operates the annual Newbury Show and lets the showground out to other event companies throughout the year.
NADAS has a hand in preparing the showground for other events that take place there, but it has stated that it has nothing to do with the way the events are run on the day.
NADAS chairman Steve Ackrill said: “Because of problems that have happened in the past, we have had several meetings with West Berkshire Council talking about [the traffic problems].
“We put all of the recommendations that we received from the council into place. Quite clearly it still didn’t work.
“I’m not trying to pass the buck, but we did everything that was asked of us.
“West Berkshire Council were happy with the traffic management plan.”
Mr Ackrill suggested that a crash on the M4 could have contributed to the traffic issues, but he believes the main cause was that only one car park was used, whereas three are used at the Newbury Show.
He informed newburytoday that NADAS would be having a meeting with Aztec Events and West Berkshire Council to discuss the problems.
Aztec Events and West Berkshire Council have both been approached for comment.
Were you affected by the traffic chaos at the weekend? Tell us your story by emailing cameron.blackshaw@newburynews.co.uk
