 Apply today for a free tree for your garden
Almost 500 of you have applied for a free tree for your garden through our garden forest scheme.
We've got thousands to find homes for through our partnership with The Woodland Trust. This scheme is open to Wokingham Borough residents who own or have access to a residential garden in the borough.
Expressions of interest must be submitted by 30 January, with the outcome for these announced in March. If successful you will be able to collect your tree in the autumn ready for planting season.
 Tenants needed for new district centre
As one of our major new communities, Arborfield is set to benefit from a new district centre off Nine Mile Ride and Sheerlands Road. This will have a food store and other shops plus offices, restaurants, cafés and more.
The complex, which will be built by developer Crest Nicholson as a condition of its planning consent for about 2,000 new homes in this area, has our permission in principle and Crest should announce more details within a few months.
The developer has now started commercial discussions and any local businesses interested in taking a space should email community@arborfieldgreen.co.uk to find out more.
We know this scheme is long awaited and Crest has apologised to residents for the delay in confirming further details, as well as thanking them for their patience. It says recent events have created a challenging environment for commercial projects like this, but has promised to share more information in the coming months.
 Get fighting fit in 2022
Have you made a New Year's resolution to keep fit? If so, you will be pleased to know that our sport and leisure team are running a couple of fantastic promotions at our brand new boxing fitness hub, BXGFit, to help you kickstart your fitness goals.
7 Days for £7*
Get unlimited gym access for seven days plus two classes of your choice at BXGFit for £7 when you sign up as a new member.
Unlimited gym access includes use of the training ring, storage rig with three fitness stations, cube rig with attachments, punchbags including aquabags, heavy bags and uppercut bags, plus more.
Classes include boxercise, circuits, HIIT, flexibility and core, kickboxing, fluid fit, boxing for the over 60s, juniors boxing, express box, core blast, power hour and more.
Save 25 per cent when you buy a three month package*
Save 25 per cent when you buy a three month class package before 31 January at BXGFit. The offer is available to adults and juniors (aged 8 to 16), detailed below.
- Adults: £99 for three months (£33 a month)
- Juniors: £62 for three months (£20.66 a month)
To redeem these offers, please download the free BXGFit app, available on the Apple App Store or Google Play or find out more on the Eventbrite website.
You can also email bxgfit@wokingham.gov.uk or visit the team at 12a Peach Place, Wokingham, RG40 1LY. BXGFit is open seven days a week, Monday to Friday from 6.30am to 9pm, and Saturday and Sunday from 8am to 6pm.
*Offers applicable to new members only. Classes subject to availability. Terms and conditions apply.
Feeling confident in accessing domestic abuse help
As part of our Equality Plan 2021-25, we set out a number of important objectives that we want to achieve in the coming years. One of these is to ensure our staff have the right tools to understand how best to tackle inequality and meet the needs of our increasingly diverse community.
We’ve published a new case study on our website to highlight some of the great work being done in our domestic abuse service to help staff and partners ensure the service is accessible to all. It covers:
- How data analysis helped us recognise that few people with protected characteristics were accessing help with domestic abuse, when compared to demographics of our area
- How we established a comprehensive training programme for colleagues and partners to help them understand more about the issues that impact people with protected characteristics who experience domestic abuse; and how they can use this to improve accessibility of services, responses and support
- The local and national partners we worked with to deliver the training, which focused on groups such as the Gypsy Roma Traveller (GRT) community, LGBT+ people, older people, people with learning disabilities and/or autism, those with sensory needs, men, and black and minoritised communities
Ultimately, our goal is to ensure that all residents in our area who are affected by domestic abuse, regardless of gender, sexuality, ethnicity, age, disability or other protected characteristics feel confident in accessing help and support. Read the full case study on our website.
What you might have missed
- Live in Woodley and fancy a free bike check? Dr Bike from our MyJourney Wokingham team is carrying out checks every Thursday between now and Easter school holidays. Book a slot via the events page and you’ll get a free inspection, as well as fixes if he can complete them
- Our council leader wrote a letter to Michael Gove MP, Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, calling for reform to the planning system as we continue consulting on our Local Plan Update
- The Wokingham Job Support Centre is running an online job search workshop on Thursday (20 January). This runs from 10am to 12.30pm on 'Online Job Search: 6 Steps for Success', book a place on (0118) 977 0517 or email jobsearch@wjsc.org.uk
- We’ve recently launched on hyperlocal social network NextDoor. You can sign up or view our public service page for more information
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