Working from home 'could ease town's congestion' (From Basingstoke Gazette)

Working from home 'could ease town's congestion'

9:08am Friday 30th July 2010 in Local By Chris Gregory

A NEW initiative to promote working from home with employers in Basingstoke could ease congestion on the town’s roads, a meeting heard.

Councillor Stephen Reid wants Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council to encourage businesses to let their staff work from home for one day a week, where possible.

He claimed that the measure could help reduce traffic at peak times by up to 10 per cent on Basingstoke road network.

Cllr Reid told the borough’s full council meeting that the idea for the scheme came after BT announced it would roll out a superfast broadband service to 45 per cent of the borough.

He said: “We are the first to have this broadband so let us take an initiative that shows how it can be used in an innovative way.”

Under the proposals, the borough council would launch the scheme, having identified business partners to implement it.

The scheme would then be administered by the business partners, which could either be a chamber of commerce or businesses representing particular areas, like Basing View.

The co-ordinators would be asked to make sure each participating company spreads their ‘work-from-home’ days evenly throughout the week, measure the take-up and impact, and report back to the borough council.

The scheme was backed by borough councillor Hayley Eachus, who said the idea should be seen as a trailblazer and was “very much in keeping with our times”.

Chineham ward councillor Martin Biermann praised the scheme but added that a decent broadband service for everyone – the focus of The Gazette’s Let’s Get Connected campaign – would be crucial.

He said: “It should be borne in mind that several parts of the borough, and in particular Chineham, do not have a super medium-fast broadband or even a slow broadband service.”

Popley East borough councillor Andrew McCormick said that many employers do not recognise Government legislation for work-from-home practice, let alone a borough council initiative.

Tadley Central councillor Stephen West praised the idea but said small businesses would find it difficult to give their employees the technology to work from home.

The borough council agreed that the economic prosperity and performance overview and scrutiny committee should look into the proposal.