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Proposals for Thatcham and Hungerford town centres unveiled

Proposals for Hungerford and Thatcham town centres have been unveiled following a public consultation earlier this year.

Following engagement with local communities earlier this year as part of our work to develop strategies for both town centres, the key improvements being put forward for further development in collaboration with local communities include:

In Hungerford:

• Creating a new ‘town square’ outside the Town Hall that could be used for markets and events.
• Creating spill-out space for businesses on the High Street.
• Improving pedestrian connections.

In Thatcham:

• Full or partial pedestrianisation of The Broadway.
• The creation of a ‘Community Hub’, improvements to the gateways to the town centre.
• Physical changes to the A4 to lower traffic speeds.

The changes are included in the Town Centre Strategies for Hungerford and Thatcham, which are due to be considered by the Executive on Thursday 23 March. The reports, including the strategies, are recommended for approval.

Public Meetings

The following public meetings are coming up over the next ten days.

• Wednesday 15 March at 6.30pm – Eastern Area Planning Committee
• Thursday 16 March at 7pm – Council
• Monday 23 March at 6.30pm – Governance and Ethics Committee
• Thursday 23 March at 5pm - Executive

Public meetings are streamed live on our YouTube channel and open to the public to attend in person. To read the agenda and reports for each meeting and the YouTube link for each meeting simply click on the relevant meeting in the list above.

Wild West Berkshire

An innovative pilot project to teach children that being healthy can also help the natural world has been launched. ‘Wild West Berkshire’ talks about eating healthier food, taking more exercise and how that helps wildlife and tackling climate change.

The pilot is a joint initiative with the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust (BBOWT). Emma Hine from BBOWT is a trained teacher who is working with 218 children at the Willows and Lambourn CofE Primary schools.  She says, "In the autumn we talked about kale, purple-sprouting broccoli and parsnips.  I expected them to say 'I don't want to eat vegetables' - but they were saying 'I really want to try this when I get home’.”

As well as befriending vegetables, the children play a host of games to help them join the dots on how their health connects to nature.  

Find out more.

Creative Wellbeing Walks

A new series of Creative Wellbeing Walks has been launched in partnership with Rambler’s Wellbeing Walks.

Walking and creativity go hand in hand, working together to promote physical and mental wellbeing. Led by local artist Simon Jardine, they’re opportunity to discover and show your creative side.  Each walk includes short stops to paint, draw or photograph areas of interest and ends with a creative class, tea and coffee.  

They’re open to everyone - no experience of photography, painting and drawing needed. Free art equipment is provided. The walks are informal, relaxed and friendly and are suitable for adults, but not families or children.

The next walks are at Mortimer Library, Mortimer – 10-1pm on Wednesday 22nd and 29th March.

Places must be booked in advance by emailing Gemma Taylor. 

With over 1,500 members of staff corporately, plus additional members of staff working across our local schools and education settings, we're one of the largest employers in the area. There are lots of reasons to consider a career with us - from the wide range of services we provide to the training and benefits we offer.

Current vacancies include:

• Senior Waste Officer (Compliance & Enforcement)

• Customer Services Advisor

Save time and money with new Liftshare pilot scheme

Liftshare, a car sharing platform, has been launched as a pilot scheme for local residents in East Garston, Chaddleworth, Great Shefford and Hungerford.

If you are often travelling alone and wondering how inefficient it is when others are probably doing similar journeys, or you need to be somewhere and just don’t have the means to get there and could do with a lift, then this could be for you!

Sharing journeys using the ‘Liftshare’ scheme is flexible and you only share with people who you choose to connect with – you remain in complete control.  Only residents with West Berkshire postcodes can sign up to the scheme so it’s very much a local initiative which will give residents the confidence to try it out.  This is a positive step for the community, the environment and your bank balance too!

Residents who live near or travel to the areas included in the pilot are invited to find out more and give it a go by signing up for FREE online . 

London Road Industrial Estate (LRIE) to be renamed Bond Riverside

All students who entered the competition from Newbury College and WBC representative Katharine Makant (R)

The London Road Industrial Estate in Newbury is to be renamed Bond Riverside as part of a multi-million pound regeneration scheme.

Competition winners collected their prize last week at our Identity Project and Urban Design Careers event for their innovative entry of Bond Riverside

The LRIE Identity Project was a competition aimed at 16 to 18 year olds in which schools and colleges across West Berkshire were invited to put forward their visions for the rebranding of the London Road Industrial Estate.

The winning students, Molly, Xander, and Toby from Newbury College, have not only won £1,000 cash for their college, but now also earn a historical prize of proudly having their name ‘Bond Riverside’ as the new name for the industrial estate.  

We value your views on the decisions we take. There are several areas we are currently holding consultations on, including:

• Draft Parking Review Amendment Traffic Regulation Order 33 REF 008841MS

Soil Conditioner Give Away A Big Success

Thank you to the 500 residents who came to our soil conditioner give-away event at the weekend. We saw a whopping 47 tonnes of soil conditioner, which is made from the food and garden waste we collect from your homes given away over the 2 days! We hope this is useful to our residents in getting their gardens and allotments ready for spring planting. We are extremely grateful to our partners Veolia UK for working with us to make this happen.

Easter at the Waterside Centre

This Easter holidays, the Waterside Centre are splashing out with their activities on offer for young people, including paddling, climbing and much more! Activities are available for primary school children aged 8 to 11 and for secondary school children years 7 to 13. Prices start at £5 per person with the option to add a hot meal. There are different dates and times available so please visit their website to learn more.

And finally...

• Look out for your 2023/24 council tax bill arriving on your doorstep soon. You can find more information about council tax and some answers to commonly asked questions on our website.

• On Saturday it’s Child Exploitation Awareness Day. It aims to highlight the issues surrounding Child Exploitation; encouraging everyone to think, spot and speak out against abuse and adopt a zero tolerance to adults developing inappropriate relationships with children or children exploiting and abusing their peers. Find out more and how to spot the signs on the Stop CE website.