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 With 2024 almost upon us, we’ve been reflecting on a busy and eventful year here at West Berkshire Council.
From starting the year with a community event to plant a new orchard on a cold and frosty January morning, to the reopening of the Northcroft Lido in the summer, to offering free festive bus travel this Christmas, there's been plenty going on across the district.
Thank you to everyone who has helped us make West Berkshire such a great place to live, work and visit. Whether you’ve responded to a consultation, volunteered in a library, joined in a tree planting event, taken part in a community forum or came along to one of our events, we appreciate your support.
You can find out more about all the events we featured in the video here.
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Christmas message from our Leader |
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 Councillor Lee Dillon, Leader of West Berkshire Council, went down to Hungerford this week to film his Christmas message in front of the town's beautiful Christmas lights.
Councillor Dillon would like to thank you all for all the work you do to make West Berkshire such a wonderful place. We are all looking forward to what 2024 may bring!
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 Our Market Street offices close for Christmas at 4:30pm this Friday, 22 December. We will be open again as normal between 27 and 29 December, before officially reopening for 2024 on Tuesday 2 January.
You are welcome to visit our offices during these opening hours, but if you urgently need assistance when we are closed, please visit our out of hours emergency webpage here.
 Don’t forget that your bin collection dates will change over the Christmas period. Rubbish and recycling will be collected a few days later than usual over the festive period, but you can find your collection date here on our website. You should have received a bin hanger on your bin from our crew with the Christmas dates printed on it – handy to keep on the fridge as a reminder.
In addition, garden waste will not be collected from Monday 25 December until Monday 8 January. Garden waste collections will resume as planned on Tuesday 9 January. This two-week period will free up more drivers and operatives to ensure your rubbish, recycling and food waste service continues as scheduled throughout the busy Christmas period and into the New Year.
If you subscribe to the garden waste collection service, you can get your real Christmas tree collected. Please put it out with your garden waste bin for collection between Tuesday 9 January until Friday 2 February. Trees over 4 feet must be cut in half. Please remove all lights, decorations, and pots.
If you don't subscribe to the garden waste collection service, you can take your Christmas tree to one of our household waste recycling centres. Please make sure to book an appointment before you visit.
 Our Ukrainian Hub were very grateful for the incredible turnout at their Ukrainian Christmas party last week. A big thank you to everyone who joined the celebrations and brought all the delicious food, making it a festive feast!
A special shout out to Ukrainian humanitarian aid organisation John's Red Bus, West Berkshire Volunteer Centre, Newbury Baptist Church for their unwavering support and to all our incredible volunteers - thank you all as your contributions made the celebration truly memorable.
It is important to cherish the spirt of community at Christmas, but it is also important to remember that this time of year can be difficult, especially for our Ukrainian community. You can find information on the welfare and support provided by the Homes for Ukraine Hub Team here.
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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:
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 Good progress has been made delivering the Council Strategy, according to the first performance report since the strategy was launched earlier this year.
The Council Strategy sets outs five priority areas and three or four specific goals for each one. An accompanying delivery plan sets out how these will be achieved, and by when, during the strategy period from 2023 to 2027.
Across the five priority areas, four are achieving or exceeding targets (green) and one is amber. You can find out more about where we are meeting our targets, areas of focus here and performance generally in this news article.
Among the particular areas of achievement noted in the report are:
- Good performance for children's social care measures
- The timeliness of decisions for planning applications
- Progress made enabling digital access to services
- Young people leaving care being successfully supported into employment
Visit our online performance portal to see quarterly updates showing our progress delivering on each of the priority measures.
 Plans to withdraw the Local Plan for West Berkshire have been blocked after intervention by the Government.
The Minister of State for Housing, Planning and Building Safety, Lee Rowley MP, has written to West Berkshire Council to instruct the Council to progress with the examination of the Local Plan, which was submitted to the Planning Inspectorate for examination in March 2023. The letter warns that further action will be taken unless the Council agrees to halt its current path.
Our statement following the receiving of the letter is available to read online.
You can read more about the proposal to withdraw the plan due to concerns about development on green space. As a result of the letter, councillors discussed, but did not vote on, the proposal at yesterday's Extraordinary Council meeting.
Our financial position this year is improving – with the projected overspend by the end of the year halved over the past three months. At the end of June we were forecasting a £6.3m deficit, but this was reduced to £3.3m by the end of September.
The improvement is down to new financial controls beginning to take effect, including reductions in external agency spend. You can find out more about our financial performance on our website.
Our next Budget Consultation drop in session is Wednesday, 3 January at 5:30pm at Willink Leisure Centre. The drop in session is an opportunity to find out more about the consultations and ask any questions you may have.
Councillor Lee Dillon, Leader of West Berkshire Council and Councillor Iain Cottingham, Executive Member for Finance, will be at the Leisure Centre to answer questions and talk through the consultations with you.
You can find the consultations online here.
We're looking to revisit the pedestrianisation of Newbury town centre with a new application to the Department for Transport (DfT) later this month.
We will be applying for an Experimental Traffic Regulation Order (ETRO) following discussions with the DfT in recent months. With an ETRO, the trial and the consultation run in parallel, meaning feedback is based on real experience of the changes.
The proposed trial seeks to extend the pedestrianised zone's timings, stretching from 10am to 11pm, and would affect Northbrook Street, Bridge Street, Bartholomew Street (north), Mansion House Street, and Market Place.
The trial, which will be in place for a minimum of six months, will not only assess the impact on the town, but also engage with residents, businesses, and stakeholders for their views on the changes through a consultation.
We want to find out if pedestrianisation can make the town centre more attractive to shoppers, workers and visitors by boosting the day and night-time economy. We're looking to create café culture ambience and alfresco evening dining, increase the number of evening events, reduce traffic, and reduce air pollution in the town centre whilst giving priority to pedestrians and cyclists where appropriate.
More information can be found here.
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 We’re celebrating a bumper year for delivering learning services to adults and families across the district. We’ve seen a rise in the number of adults attending courses, returning to pre-Covid figures, and class sizes on the up for both digital and face to face courses.
No matter your age, background or qualifications, you're never too old to pick up new skills. You can find out more here.
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We value your views on the decisions we take. There are several areas we are currently holding consultations on, including:
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 From January 2024, there will be changes to charges for ceramics, rubble, soil and plasterboard at our Household Waste Recycling Centres.
We will accept up to four 25 litre rubble bags, or a single piece of waste no larger than 2000mm by 750mm by 700mm in size, for free, as long as you make no more than four visits with this type of waste over four weeks. Anything more than this amount will be chargeable at current rates to cover specialist disposal costs (as permitted by national legislation).
Please visit our website for more information.
For most of this year, rainfall has been significantly above the average with many of our rivers now at risk of spilling over their banks, and some flood alerts are already in place.
Although it’s been ten years since the last major flood in West Berkshire, we’ve been preparing and working with our partners to make sure we’re ready, should the situation worsen.
We've all seen the devastating impact extreme weather can cause to roads and our homes. It pays to be prepared, and if in doubt, the check list below can help you with what you can do right now.
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 As living costs soar and the winter sets in, we are introducing a robust support package to assist the local community until spring 2024.
Collaborating with local voluntary sector partners, including Greenham Trust, we have been allocated over £1.3 million from national Government and we have allocated funds to address various needs. Key measures include:
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£30,000 for food and energy support channelled through local charities to alleviate food and energy expenses.
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£19,580 for appliances and furniture providing essential items for residents in need.
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£10,000 emergency accommodation support ensuring access is available to hot meals for those in emergency accommodation.
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£30,000 for carpets and curtains supporting those moving into accommodation without these essentials.
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£80,000 for struggling pensioners boosting assistance for pensioners towards hot meals, energy costs, and essential repairs.
There is also funding for young carers and those leaving care, vouchers for residents who receive free school meals, and £150 cost of living support payment for eligible residents who are entitled to housing benefit – mainly pensioners.
If you fit into any of these categories, or know someone who does, please don’t struggle in silence. More information can be found on our Household Support Page.
 The Public Protection Partnership's Trading Standards service has put together a list of 12 scams to watch out for this Christmas. Scammers tend to prey on our festive good will at this time of year with very convincing marketing. Don't let fraudsters steal your Christmas, follow these helpful tips.
- Beware when purchasing a free gift, trial offer or subscription as you could be setting up a Continuous Payment Authority or a direct debit, allowing the company to take any amount of money from you bank account at any time.
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There are fake charities who try to take advantage of unsuspecting members of the public. If you are contacted by a charity requesting a donation, you can check it is genuine by visiting the Fundraising Preference Service webpage or by calling 03009993418.
- Be careful to check parcel delivery 'sorry we missed you' notices are genuine as fake ones are delivered by scammers. The phone number given is likely to have a high premium and you'll often be asked for card details to pay for a surcharge as 'the parcel' had no stamps.
To find out more, you can contact Trading Standards on 01635 519930 or at tsadvice@westberks.gov.uk. You can also call Citizen Advice Consumer Service on 03454 040506 to report a scam.
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Junior doctors are due to take further strike action for three days from Wednesday, 20 December 2023 and six days from Wednesday, 3 January 2024. This is highly likely to have a significant impact on health services across Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West.
Plans are in place to try and alleviate any pressures in December and January, but the main advice for patients in the lead up is:
- Only go to A&E if it’s a life-threatening situation. Call 999 in an emergency.
- Choose NHS services wisely as you may get seen quicker than waiting in A&E during this busy period by:
- Using your local pharmacy (before you get really ill)
- Contacting 111 if you’re unsure or worried
- Contacting your GP
Read more about the strikes here.
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And finally...
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Many of our community pharmacy vaccination services will pause after 15 December and the National Booking Service and NHS Booking App will close. Eligible patients can still get vaccinations up to 31 January 2024 through local services in pharmacies or walk-in sites, although there will be fewer Covid appointments and people may need to travel further.
See your local options on the Stay Well Website to get in touch with the vaccine sites directly. You can also find more information here or by calling 119.
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