 Have your say - future of transport, the arts and more
We’ve got a number of live consultations and surveys running on Engage Wokingham Borough, the place where you get to have your say.
Your views help shape the services we provide. Here’s some of what’s currently open for responses:
 Go paperless with your Council Tax bills
We have finished preparing the new Council Tax bills and you can now view your bill online, with paper bills being posted from Friday 10 March.
To view your bill online, you will need to register for an account and you can switch to paperless billing, which is quicker and more environmentally friendly.
Signing up for e-billing helps to reduce the number of paper bills we send out and it also lets you know when you have a new bill to pay.
We understand some residents will have problems when it comes to paying Council Tax, particularly in light of the cost of living crisis. If you are having difficulty in keeping up with your payments, help is available:
Contact us as soon as you can if you are struggling to pay your Council Tax. You can email us or call (0118) 974 6000.
 Arborfield, Lower Earley and Shinfield volunteer fairs
The Wokingham Borough Volunteer Recruitment Fair is going on the road. The Wokingham Volunteer Centre and other voluntary organisations will be at:
- Arborfield Library, Community Centre, Arborfield (RG2 9NN) on Monday 27 February – 10am to 12 noon
- Lower Earley Library, Chalfont Close, Earley (RG6 5HZ) on Tuesday 14 March – 10am to 12 noon
- Shinfield Library, School Green Centre, Shinfield (RG2 9EH) on Monday 24 April – 10am to 12 noon
There will be a chance to meet local charities and organisations looking for local volunteers. Across the three events, attendees include the Link Visiting Scheme, ABC to Read, volunteer driving schemes (Earley and Shinfield), Wokingham Borough libraries, The Cowshed and more.
It follows an event in January in Wokingham where hundreds of people attended to find out more about volunteering opportunities locally. If you are interested in finding out more about volunteering in your local community, please pop along to these events.
 Keeping social rents as low as possible
Social rents in properties owned by us will go up by less than the maximum allowed by the Government to help residents through the cost of living crisis.
We’ve agreed an increase of just 5.99 per cent even though the national cap, announced in the Chancellor's Autumn Statement last November, permits up to seven per cent in the coming financial year.
This is part of our ongoing efforts to strike a fair balance between maintaining sound finances, which is getting harder as we face unprecedented running costs and inadequate Government funding, and supporting householders who are struggling the most.
Reducing the increase to 5.99 per cent brings less income still, but we can sustain this. It is making careful savings which will continue to protect essential services like adults' and children's social care or anti-poverty initiatives.
Upcoming planned teacher strikes
Teacher strikes are planned for Thursday 2 March. Schools will be letting parents know directly how the strikes will affect them, so please look out for any communications from your school and send them any queries directly.
What you might have missed
Here’s all our updates from the last week:
If you’d like to sign up for anything listed above, use our email newsletter sign up page.
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