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Help name our food waste vehicles

Primary school pupils across West Berkshire are being asked to help name our new food waste collection vehicles.

Eight new vehicles will be joining our fleet ready for the new seperate weekly collection of food waste, which starts from Monday 31 October. 

The competition is being run through schools - and we're looking forward to seeing some fun suggestions to put a smile on residents' faces as they venture out across the district. 

Book tokens and family swim passes are up for grabs for the schools and pupils who submit winning entries!

Details of the competition and how to enter have been emailed directly to all primary schools within West Berkshire. The competition closes on midnight at 25 September.

Details of the new food waste service can be found here: www.westberks.gov.uk/foodwaste

Help for households this autumn 

We've put together an online advice page to help households struggling with bills.

With the cost of living increasing, the Government’s new Help for Households website brings together 41 support schemes so that people can access all the help available in one place.

We want you to know that we’re on hand to help and have created a West Berkshire version that we hope will make it easier to source local support.

Our economic achievements for West Berkshire

An annual review of our Economic Development Strategy Refresh has showcased our achievements over the past year.

The review looked at our progress delivering the strategy, our achievements so far and some of the feedback we've had from local businesses. It also set out what we've done to respond to external factors, such as the pandemic. 

Some of the key achievements highlighted in the review include:

• Distribution of £6.4m of Covid support grants to local businesses
• Setting a new way forward for the redevelopment of the London Road Industrial Estate
• Delivering a Masterplan for Newbury town centre with similar work on the way for both Thatcham and Hungerford
• Targeted support for employment and skills through the Kickstart scheme and Rebel Business School
• Enhancing our engagement with local businesses and delivering a Business West Berkshire website.

Our commitment to being ‘Open for Business’ remains, with a busy programme of activity through to May 2023 when the Strategy’s priorities will be reviewed to ensure we continue to support and grow the local economy.

Throughout September we're highlighting the fantastic work going on across the district as well as how residents can get involved.

Free bus travel on World Car Free Day

We’re providing free bus travel across West Berkshire to celebrate World Car Free Day on Thursday 22 September 2022.

Instead of driving, you could consider using the bus for work or school, or to see friends or family. Buses are an environmentally friendly mode of transport and they serve many areas of the district. Information about timetables can be found here and there are a variety of tickets available. It includes our recently launched Group Ticket, which is valid for up to four people, great for days out as a family or with friends.

Greenfest

Join us at GreenFest this Saturday! GreenFest is a free, fun day of sustainability solutions for all ages held across Hampstead Norreys. It covers topics from transport, community action, nature, and many more. You can find us in the Climate Action and Community Zone, as well as the Transport Zone.

Cllr Steve Ardagh-Walter, Executive Member for Environment and Transformation, will also be speaking about our carbon neutral journey.

We’ve also added extra bus services from Newbury to GreenFest to help visitors choose more sustainable transport. You can find out more on the Greenfest website

Catch up on our Environment YouTube live

On Monday evening, we held a webinar about what local businesses can do to go green.

We were joined by local green businesses Sheepdrove Organic Farm, Cotswold Fayre and Thatcham Refillable, who all discussed what they are already doing to help get the district closer to carbon neutrality, along with ideas and guidance for other businesses and residents in the district.

If you missed the session, you can now catch up and watch the presentation along with a live Q&A here.

Plastic Blitz

80% of plastic waste pollution passes through our rivers, streams and ditches on its way to the sea…Let’s Blitz it!

Between the 17-25 September we'll be supporting the PlasticBlitz campaign by Thames Rivers Trust, to clear up the harmful litter and plastic waste on land around our rivers and river catchment areas. To register your litter picking group, school or community organisation, call Action River Kennet on 01672 512700.

We can also provide litter kits on a first come first served basis - find out more here. 

London Road Industrial Estate – Refreshed Approach

Are you interested in the Council’s refreshed vision for the London Road Industrial Estate (LRIE) - and how we'll be delivering it?

Join us on Wednesday 21 September when we'll be hosting a webinar to present our new approach and how we'll be working with existing and prospective leaseholders on the site. The webinar, which begins at 5.00pm, will be hosted by Councillor Ross Mackinnon, Executive Member for Finance and Economic Development.

Register for the webinar in advance (deadline 20th September) or submit your questions by email to economicdevelopment@westberks.gov.uk by 16th September.

New community orchard in Newbury

This December, we will be planting a new community orchard at the open space at Poplar Place in Newbury. This is an exciting project that we hope will provide a wildlife friendly conservation area and a valuable community resource. Tree planting is also a valuable way to tackle climate change.

We would like to involve as many members of the local community as possible in the planting and maintaining of the orchard and hope that you can let us know what you think and help to spread the word.

We will be holding a community engagement event on Saturday 24th September 2022 from 10.30am – 12.30pm on site to explain more about the project. Do come along and have a chat if you have any comments, or email our Countryside Officer Jo Watt.

New play area

Our new inclusive play area at Poplar Place will be officially opened at 10am on Saturday 24th September. Funded by the Council,  the new multi play unit represents a castle, designed to inspire imaginative play.  Whilst there will be a wide range of activities to suit children aged 2-8 years, emphasis has been placed on inclusivity for users with motor impairment. There are ramps and risk and challenge elements to meet a variety of special educational needs. We hope to see you there!

And finally...

• Burghfield Common Library will be closed from Monday 10 to Friday 14 October for essential redecoration. During this time, no books borrowed from the library will be due for return. We’re sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.