 Welcome
Welcome to your Shinfield Parish major development newsletter, which is published on Tuesday evenings every eight weeks.
We hope you enjoy reading about the latest goings-on in your community, including new community amenities and improvements to existing ones - many of which are funded by developers building new homes in the area.
Our Wokingham Borough Connect email newsletters cover a range of topics, from local event listings to the latest on rubbish and recycling and much more. You can sign up using the button below.
 Studio scheme preparing for action
Preliminary ground works have started on Shinfield Studios' new Creative Media Hub, a world-class film and television studio which we awarded planning permission last year and is expected to open next year.
The 85,000 sq m complex is being built on part of the Thames Valley Science and Innovation Park to the south of the M4, plus additional land to the north and south of Cutbush Lane.
It has already confirmed Disney as its first client and will host major international productions across 18 film stages and eight workshops with additional offices and other facilities.
The hub will create 1,500 new jobs with a similar figure arising from indirect employment generated by its use.
As a condition of the works, which are now screened off with hoardings and artists' impressions, the applicant has already resurfaced and widened a footpath running alongside the site as well as cutting down vegetation.
The application also commits to improving biodiversity on land in the Loddon Valley as well as improvements, including upgrades to another path in the area.
The studios will be a joint venture with the University of Reading. Until they are finished, production will take place at a temporary studio nearby which we've also approved and is now built.
 Road shut to prepare for museum project
The British Museum, which is planning to open a new storage and research facility on land next to the Thames Valley Science and Innovation Park, has permanently closed a section of Cutbush Lane East to traffic.
We required it to do this as part of its planning consent for its Archaeological Research Collection, which it is developing in partnership with the University of Reading.
This will house artefacts including ancient sculptures, mosaics, archaeological finds and historic casts. Many will be moved from the museum's existing stores at Blythe House in London, which is due to close next year.
The local community, including pupils from schools and heritage organisations, will be able to visit by appointment and it will also be accessible to students and academics.
No opening date is set but we'll keep you updated and look forward to welcoming the museum to our borough, with all the cultural and economic benefits this will bring.
Artists' impression: John McAslan + Partners, project architect
 VIDEO: Tackling congestion across the borough
We've rolled out many initiatives to tackle congestion in Wokingham borough and the Shinfield Eastern Relief Road, delivered by the University of Reading in 2017 as part of our multi-million pound major new roads project, is just one example.
You can find out more about the full range of measures in a video we recently produced, which features our streetworks traffic manager Ed Day and Cllr Pauline Jorgensen, our executive member for highways and transport.
As well as investing in sustainable and active travel options like walking and cycling, we're rolling out a range of "smart" measures including traffic lights which can change how often they cycle based on how busy the roads are.
These have cameras which monitor traffic flows and can be updated manually or run to an automatic program. The data they record can also provide evidence if we need to make changes such as a new speed limit.
We'd like to thank the Department for Transport for providing £250,000 in funding towards this.
We're also working on variable message signs to deliver traffic updates at the roadside, helping motorists to make more sensible decisions, and much more - all part of our commitment to keep Wokingham borough moving.
 Local Plan Update - thanks for sharing your views
We recently finished consulting on a revised growth strategy for our Local Plan Update, which will outline where new housing and other forms of development - including ample community infrastructure - should go until 2038.
Many thanks to everyone who shared their views on the proposal, which includes a garden village of about 4,500 homes at Hall Farm/Loddon Valley between Shinfield, Arborfield and Sindlesham, as well as about 800 homes within the existing South Wokingham major development plus 2,700 or so across smaller sites.
This is similar to our current Local Plan, which allocates about 13,000 homes across four major developments at Shinfield parish, the former Arborfield Garrison and North and South Wokingham. It's due to provide about £1 billion in roads, schools, public green spaces and more.
We'll go through feedback and make some amendments, subject to a range of conditions including national planning policy, then put a revised proposal before our full council over the summer to prepare for another public consultation in the autumn.
This will be sent to a planning inspector, along with residents' comments, for independent examination.
We know not everyone is happy with the idea but we have to take new homes to meet Government requirements as well as allowing some natural growth to keep our borough vibrant and give future generations a chance to remain local.
To find out more about the pressures we face - and what we've done to meet your needs, while trying to keep development at a reasonable and sustainable level - visit our Building Communities the Wokingham Borough Way information page.
 Sign up for emergency alerts newsletter
We’ve launched a new emergency alerts email newsletter in response to Storm Eunice.
This will be used as required when we have extreme weather, potential flooding and emergency incidents which impact large parts of the borough.
We’ll send you the latest local advice and updates on key services like roads, bins and where to go to get more help.
It will be the newsletter we use to provide multiple updates a day with key information when responding to incidents like the recent storms.
You can sign up using the button below.
 New nature park set to open - and another to expand
We're planning to open a new nature park at the Parklands development, to the east of Basingstoke Road and south of Church Lane in Three Mile Cross.
The 1.6-hectare green space, which will be home to a wide range of plants and wildlife, will be well planted with trees and hedges while a large existing hedgerow near the north of the site will be kept.
There'll also be a network of footpaths and bridges, which will connect to the wider public footpath network, as well as two drainage ponds which will form a wet grassland area.
Ecological improvements will include bat and bird boxes in the trees as well as homes for stag beetles, hedgehogs, reptiles and amphibians.
We haven't set an opening date yet because the vegetation on the site needs more time to take root and grow. However, we're looking forward to announcing more once it's ready and we hope to take over managing it as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, preliminary work has started on the extension of Langley Mead nature park, off Hyde End Road to the south of Shinfield village.
This will expand the original 18-hectare park, which has become very popular and attracts more than 13,000 visits annually, by a further 22 hectares.
It will only be lightly furnished and landscaped to preserve a natural rural atmosphere but will include a car park, footpaths with bridges, seating and information boards.
These parks, funded by housing developers, are among the many benefits of our strategic approach to allocating land for new housing - which highlights our commitment to conserving and improving biodiversity.
They'll also help us meet our objective of creating a cleaner, greener borough and doing all we can to fight the climate emergency by reducing our carbon emissions to net zero by 2030.
We've provided more than a dozen nature parks, covering some 120 hectares in total - about the size of 170 football pitches.
 Roll up your sleeves to clean up your community
Shinfield Parish Council is staging a community litter pick between 11am and 2pm on 9 April, starting from the community centre in School Green.
The event is supported by the Robyn's Nest café based at the site and it will be providing refreshments free of charge. Equipment is provided.
Anyone who can't join in but would like to help regularly can join the council's Adopt A Street initiative by emailing clerk@shinfieldparish.gov.uk
The community centre, a joint venture between us and the parish council with the University of Reading's support, opened late last year and was funded by developer contributions.
It has three large soundproofed halls for hire plus smaller meeting rooms, a courtyard garden, a children’s area, a library run by us and a kitchen. It also houses the parish council offices.
Bookings may be arranged via the parish council.
 School pupils share their recipe for happiness
As part of Children's Mental Health Week from 7 to 13 February, pupils at Alder Grove Primary School in Shinfield were encouraged to draw the people, animals, objects and places that make them happy.
Their impressive artistic efforts ranged from drawings of their friends and family to their pets, their homes and even their favourite foods!
The school, run by the Keys Academy Trust, opened in September 2020 and construction was funded by contributions from housing developers.
It's one of seven new primary schools which are set to be built across the borough, along with the already completed Bohunt secondary school at Arborfield, as part of an investment of almost £100 million in education under our Local Plan.
Also completed are Floreat Montague Park in South Wokingham and the relocated Farley Hill Primary School, also at Arborfield. A second primary will eventually follow in Shinfield parish at Spencers Wood.
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