 Our vision for fairer number on new homes
We’ve urged ministers to allow a lower, more sustainable amount of new housing to be built in Wokingham Borough under possible reforms to the national planning system.
As part of our long-running campaign on this issue, we’ve responded to a consultation on proposals by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities which we think could offer a fairer deal.
As it stands, when we’re calculating how many new homes must be built in future, we can’t take into account when more have already been built than we planned for. The proposals appear to change this, which we’re pleased to see as we think the system lacks common sense and puts unsustainable pressures on the borough.
Developers have recently been building faster than expected in our area, which is beyond our control, but we’re not allowed to offset this by planning for fewer new homes in the years to come.
We support any measures to change this, and we’ve also called for further reforms that would make it easier to defend our case when we refuse permission for inappropriate developments and the applicant then appeals to a planning inspector.
 Food Waste Action Week: Win. Don’t Bin
Led by WRAP, a climate action organisation in the UK, the third Food Waste Action Week (6 to 12 March) is now under way. This year's theme is ‘Win. Don’t Bin.’
This week, there will be loads of information on how to save time and money by making the most of the food you buy on the Love Food Hate Waste – Community Facebook page.
You can also take a quiz on the campaign website to receive emails that will give you tailored tips about reducing food waste as well as the chance to win a prize.
 Recycle more, waste less
Most of you should now have received your blue general rubbish bags for the upcoming year. We should finish the delivery by the end of this week.
This year, we’ve decreased the number of blue bags for each household to 54 for cost and environmental reasons. To make sure you don't run out before next year's delivery, you should be putting out just one bag per week on average.
Here are some tips to help you recycle more and waste less:
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Reduce: when shopping in stores or online, try to choose options that have less or more sustainable packaging and think about the materials used in the product you are buying (for example, could you buy a wooden toothbrush rather than a plastic one)
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Recycle: use the Recycling Locator Tool to find out what and where to recycle
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Reuse: the 'Reuse Area' at re3 household waste recycling centres in Reading and Bracknell accepts unwanted reusable items. Donated items are collected by Sue Ryder for sale in their shops, if they meet the minimum criteria set out by the charity
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Repair: the Repair Cafe in Spencers Wood may help. Check the dates on Spencers Wood Village Hall community Facebook page
 New political map for Wokingham Borough
Views are wanted from you on a new political map for Wokingham Borough.
The Local Government Boundary Commission want local people and organisations to comment on our draft recommendations for new ward boundaries.
Full details on the proposed changes can be found via the link below. It outlines we’d have 54 councillors, like we do now, but these would be broken down into 18 three councillors wards.
Currently we have 22 wards with different numbers of councillors. This stage of the consultation closes on 10 April.
 Cost of living booklet
We’ve recently posted out cost of living help booklets to residents.
All the advice can be found online on our cost of living help hub. But if you’d like to see the document you can download the PDF from our website using the button below.
 Photo ID required to vote in this year's local elections
In case you didn’t know, there is a new requirement to show photo ID when you vote, which will be enforced for the first time at the local elections on Thursday 4 May.
If you want to vote, you must make sure you have an accepted form of ID and remember to bring it with you on polling day. Bringing a poll card by itself will not entitle you to vote.
If you don’t have suitable ID, you can apply for a free Voter Authority Certificate and the deadline to apply for one of these is 5pm on Tuesday 25 April.
You must also be registered to vote, which is easy and takes five minutes to do. For the local elections, the deadline to register to vote is 11.59pm on Monday 17 April.
If you need any help, you can email our electoral services team or call (0118) 974 6000. They can also provide you with a paper copy of the Voter Authority Certificate application form.
What you might have missed
- Donate now to the borough’s cost of living crowdfunder to help fund charities who are providing cost of living support to hundreds across the borough
- Free toiletries and sanitary products are available at our libraries thanks to our partnership with The Cowshed and The Hygiene Bank Reading. If you would like to access these just ask a member of library staff and they'll be able to provide a bag with the items you need
- In case you missed it, our walking map of Wokingham Borough has proved incredible popular since we published it last month, check out the details and map covering 140 miles of footpaths, bridleways and byways
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