 Welcome to your community newsletter
Her Majesty The Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations are just around the corner, but why not take a break from baking cakes and putting up the bunting to read the latest news from our new North Wokingham community?
We wish you, your families and neighbours all the best for the coming weekend - and keep reading this edition to find out more about festivities across the borough. Fingers crossed for good weather!
Also, don't forget that we publish regular newsletters on a wide range of topics from the latest events to rubbish and recycling, our countryside services, libraries, sport and leisure and much more.
Have a browse by clicking the button below, which will give you the chance to sign up for anything else that interests you.
 Major road almost finished after milestone opening
The North Wokingham Distributor Road, a major new road we're building to serve your community and relieve congestion in Wokingham town, is almost complete after the penultimate sections opened to traffic.
These are a new 1km carriageway to the west of Old Forest Road, which runs from the A329 Reading Road roundabout to a new junction with Old Forest Road, and a newly upgraded stretch of Old Forest Road and Toutley Road.
Both were built by our contractor Balfour Beatty, who installed a new 45m bridge crossing the railway line off Old Forest Road and realigned part of the existing Toutley Road to include an improved crossing over the Ashridge Stream.
This new section has an off-road cycle path to encourage active travel, improve local cycling and walking links and reduce the number of vehicle journeys on the wider network. We've also created a nature park with hundreds of new trees at Old Forest Meadows, more details of which below.
Several road closures were needed, including a full closure of Toutley Road for much of last year, although we did everything we could to minimise this and we'd like to thank you for your patience.
 North Wokingham Distributor Road: the bigger picture
The North Wokingham Distributor Road will run from the A329 Reading Road to the west of Wokingham town to the A329 London Road in the east. It also includes Queens Road, Bell Foundry Lane, Diamond Jubilee Way and Oak Avenue.
The only remaining section is a 550m stretch between Bell Foundry Lane and Dalley Road, which is accompanied by a new 4.5-hectare nature parks with two ponds, one of which is specially built to attract wildlife, plus footpaths and other habitats.
Work finished last year but it isn’t ready to open due to the volume of construction traffic from new homes being built on an adjoining section. We're working closely with the developer to confirm an opening date and will announce this as soon as possible.
As well as building new roads, we support and encourage more active and sustainable forms of travel such as walking, cycling and public transport through initiatives like our My Journey Wokingham team.
 Have you visited Old Forest Meadows yet?
This 12-hectare green space, which the Emm Brook flows through, lies to the north of Old Forest Road in North Wokingham and was created alongside an adjoining section of our North Wokingham Distributor Road.
As well as opening up a beauty spot to residents, complete with benches and an evenly surfaced 1.7km circular walk, we've planted hundreds of new trees here to create new habitats for local wildlife.
The park is also home to a beautiful wildflower meadow, another reason to visit, enjoy the views and maybe even take a few photos.
Old Forest Meadows is one of several nature parks we've created as part of the new North Wokingham community, alongside Ashridge Meadows (Eldridge Park), Kentwood Meadows and Keephatch Meadows. We've also improved access to the Keephatch Park Nature Reserve, off Diamond Jubilee Way.
We'll continue to spotlight these in future editions of this newsletter.
 Stay cool at Cantley Park this summer
Got a craving for coffee? Kids screaming for ice cream? If so, pop into the café at Cantley Park!
Located just outside our new North Wokingham community, it offers a varied menu with hot and cold drinks, pastries, cakes and sandwiches to eat in or take away. This summer, it'll be open from 9.30am until the later time of 6pm during the week and from 9am until 5pm at weekends.
It's proven hugely popular since it opened last September and is ideally situated next to our new play area, which features state-of-the-art interactive equipment for children of all ages including teenagers.
It's also dog friendly, so why not pop in after your morning or afternoon walkies? (Please note that dogs aren't allowed in the Cantley play area - more information on keeping your pet and others safe and happy in public can be found here.)
You can find the café off Twyford Road, postcode RG40 5QG, with good access via local foot and cycle paths. Cantley Park is also served by the 122 bus, which stops at the southern entrance off Milton Road.
Lunchtime discount at Cantley Park Café
You can also download this Cantley Park Café leaflet and take it with you on your next visit for a 20 per cent discount.
This applies when you buy a panini, drink and selected snack when visiting between midday and 2pm, Monday to Friday, until 30 June.
 New play area in the works
We're planning to build a new playground for the North Wokingham community on land off Queens Road in Matthewsgreen, near the neighbourhood centre where a Your Co-op food store opened earlier this year.
It's been on the drawing board for some time but we didn't want to start until building work had finished for safety reasons. The finished design will include a multi-use games area, suitable for a range of sports, plus other play equipment.
We'll keep you updated as this progresses and hope to be able to share more over the summer.
 Celebrating the Queen's Platinum Jubilee
We're inviting all our residents to share their celebrations on our Engage Wokingham Borough platform in a number of ways. We'll ask you to create a free account if you don't already have one, but this won't take long.
If you take pictures on the day, email them to cem@wokingham.gov.uk with a short description of the event and you could appear in a future edition of this newsletter.
Please note we'll need written consent from anyone appearing in a photo, including parents or guardians of children, and we'll contact you to get this before publishing.
Finally, you may also be interested to know that we've published a list of jubilee road closures that are taking place across the borough.
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