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Temperatures are due to hit 36°C today in Wokingham Borough, check our top tips to beat the heat.
If you’ve missed it, bin collections are starting earlier at 5.30am so crews can work when it’s cooler. They’ll go back to their normal start times once temperatures drop.
Our partners at the fire service and police are seeing increased calls to water safety incidents during the last few days, usually involving young people.
Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue has water safety advice as part of its 2022 heatwave advice pages. The water safety advice includes:
- Take care when swimming in lakes, quarries, canals or rivers
- Beware of cold water shock when swimming in water, the difference in air and water temperatures can cause difficulty to even experienced swimmers
- Don't jump into water from bridges or other high places
- Don't enter the water to help, give them a focus by shouting 'swim to me'
- Throw life aids, like buoys or throw bags, if they're available
 Supporting our borough’s bus services
We’re working alongside bus operators and other partners to keep routes running across the area.
Funding is committed to keep services running for Three Mile Cross, Spencers Wood, Swallowfield, Shinfield (Tiger 7) and Wokingham (Thames Valley Buses 121, 122/3, 124, 125A/B, 127).
Services for Earley and Lower Earley (19A, B and C) will continue to run while we look at options for the future, with the same for services for Spencers Wood, Shinfield and Arborfield (Leopard 3, 8 and 9).
Alternatives are being looked at for the Bohunt School 93 service in Arborfield Green, as well as other school buses which have come to the end of their contracts.
As of May this year passenger numbers were only about 77 per cent of pre-pandemic levels. Fuel and driver costs make up more than 50 per cent of the operational costs of running a bus service, which makes the industry highly vulnerable to inflation.
While the Government has recognised this by providing almost £1million to support the borough’s bus services in recent years, that funding will come to an end in September and no additional budget was allocated by the council's previous administration to keep these services running.
 Potential fly-tippers caught in the act
Our new anti-social behaviour team has successfully stopped two potential fly-tippers from dumping a large amount of clothing in the borough. The incident took place one afternoon in June on Sindlesham Road in Arborfield.
One of our anti-social behaviour officers noticed a van parked suspiciously on the side of Sindlesham Road.
Two males appeared to be sorting through piles of clothing onto the path. The anti-social behaviour officer approached, turned on a camera and read the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) caution to the men.
Once questioned by the officer, the men claimed they were sorting through the clothing and were going to take the unwanted clothes to a local waste collection service for disposal. The officer expressed disbelief in their story and stated that the side of a busy road was not the correct time or place to carry out this activity.
The anti-social behaviour officer made a note of their company name, waste carrier’s licence number and van details, whilst advising the two men that the council has a zero-tolerance approach to fly-tipping. The officer let the men continue their journey following some words of advice.
 Plans approved for new care home
Proposals to provide the borough with a state-of-the-art specialist dementia care home took a step forward last week. The application for Toutley East in Wokingham was approved by our planning committee.
The outline application included proposals for a new 68 bed specialist dementia care home along with up to 130 new homes.
There would also be extensive landscaping, and a potential new noise buffer to reduce the impact of noise from the nearby A329M.
Plans also include direct pedestrian and cyclist links through to the new Matthewsgreen primary school (St Cecelia's) and district centre which sits just to the south of the north Wokingham site.
 Changes to Rose Street in Wokingham
We want to hear your views on a proposal to introduce changes to traffic management on Rose Street near its junction with Broad Street.
The proposal forms part of the town centre improvement works aimed at enhancing the street scene and improving accessibility for both pedestrians and vehicles.
The existing traffic island which reduces the width of the carriageway will be removed and replaced with kerb buildouts on both sides of the road.
The width limit will be retained for safety reasons and the crossing point will be raised to footway level to reduce speeds and assist pedestrians. Respond and see more details using the button below.
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