 Blue bag and food waste bag deliveries begin
New green food caddy liners and blue general waste bags will start being delivered this week. These will be delivered over a six-week period, with all residents receiving them by mid-March.
More than five million blue bags will be rolling out across the borough over the next six weeks. These are for general waste, with each household receiving 80 bags in two rolls of 40 to cover the period between April 2022 and March 2023.
You can check when yours are due to be delivered by using the blue button below, just enter your street name.
All households will also receive an allocation of 75 food waste bags. Food waste put into the blue general rubbish bags gets disposed of, rots and releases methane, a harmful greenhouse gas. When recycled, food waste can generate energy to power our homes. If you need a any food waste caddies check our recycling webpages to find out where to get one.
Last year, residents in Wokingham borough threw away a massive 36,000 tonnes of rubbish - half of which could have been recycled. Recycling saves the council taxpayer money as it costs less to recycle waste than it does to dispose of it. It also conserves natural resources and saves energy by using recycled instead of raw materials to create new products.
 View from the skies of our newest facilities
We’ve got some new video footage to showcase some of our borough’s newest facilities from a bird’s eye view.
The projects are part of our plans to strategically build homes in our borough to ensure our communities get the new infrastructure they need.
We’re proud to be building strong, well-connected, cohesive communities equipped with a rich variety of services and amenities. Take a look at examples of these facilities on YouTube via the links below.
 Successful eco-friendly plastic kerb trial
We installed plastic kerbing as part of a new cycle path on London Road in Wokingham last summer. Plastic kerbs are lightweight kerbstones made using 88 per cent recycled materials and are aesthetically similar to concrete kerbstones, however are designed not to chip or crack.
The London Road trial installed a 1.3km stretch of plastic kerbing. This length of kerb allowed a carbon saving of 40,555kg compared with installing traditional concrete kerbs. This included carbon savings through the supply chain as well as the manufacturing and transport related carbon and the raw materials.
We have recently undertaken a review on the efficiency of the plastic kerbs, looking at the cost, longevity and environmental benefits, and as a result of the positive outcomes, will be using plastic kerbs more frequently.
Concrete kerbs require lifting equipment and at least two workers to handle the kerbs as they are up to ten times heavier, whereas plastic kerb installation is less costly as there is no need for lifting equipment and the installation requires fewer workers and less time.
In addition, the difference in weight between plastic and concrete kerbs means that significantly fewer vehicles are required to transport the kerbing from the manufacturer to the site. In this trial the total weight of plastic kerbing was 7,522kg. The weight of the equivalent number of concrete kerbs would be 93,695kg.
 New green space taking shape
Plans for a linear park, a length of green space connecting different areas of the Arborfield major development, are making good progress with the latest section set to open this summer.
This will run alongside Waterman's Lake, to the north of Biggs Lane, with others linking in stages to the new district centre further to the south west.
The park will offer plenty of walking and cycling opportunities, helping residents to live healthy lifestyles while improving air quality and aiding our efforts to do all we can to reduce the borough's carbon emissions to net zero by 2030.
It is being provided by Crest Nicholson as part of our approach of working constructively with developers to secure infrastructure.
We're still in talks with Crest about providing a new pavilion at Arborfield Green cricket ground, again as a planning condition, to replace the existing building which is nearing the end of its useful life.
This would also include new cricket and football pitches as well as new tennis courts on the nearby recreation ground, designed with input from the teams that use them, and should hopefully be completed this year.
New Omicron business grants now available
We've recently opened our Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) funding scheme which aims to support businesses severely impacted by coronavirus restrictions and the rise of the Omicron variant.
Businesses must have been actively trading as of 30 December 2021 and meet other eligibility criteria to apply for funding under this scheme. More details include:
- Funding will be distributed on a first come first serve basis
- Each business who meets the eligibility criteria will receive a one-off discretionary payment of £1,000
- Businesses cannot claim this grant if they received a Omicron Hospitality and Leisure Grant (this grant is still open to applications to eligible businesses)
- Only one discretionary payment will be paid per businesses irrespective of the number of properties / premises they have
- All payments will be made by the 31 March 2022
Please ensure you have read the policy document to confirm your eligibility under this scheme. You can start the application process using the button below.
What you might have missed
- We’ve got a series of workshops and courses now open for booking for our arts programme. These take place at Cantley Park in Wokingham throughout the spring and include sessions on candle making, collage, lino printmaking and more
- Berkshire Public Health is running a survey looking at pharmacy services across the county and how they fit the needs of the population. Take the survey on the pharmaceutical needs assessment on its website and is open for response to 28 February
- Our Overview and Scrutiny Committees are considering their work programmes for the coming year and want to hear from you on what they should look at. They can look at any issues which affect the residents of the Borough, but not individual complaints. Issues considered in 2021/22 include our response to Covid-19, the climate emergency, equalities, safeguarding of children and adults, school performance and much more. If you would like the committees to consider an issue please contact our scrutiny officer Neil Carr with details, by 4 March 2022. Email him on neil.carr@wokingham.gov.uk
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