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This month's Infrastructure News comes as we strive to highlight the very real financial challenges we face, and to show how we're making savings while investing money wisely. We'd like to remind you that a significant amount of infrastructure funding comes from external sources, including Government grants and statutory contributions from housing developers.
 Head office move could save public purse
We've agreed to review our office accommodation, including opportunities to move our Shute End headquarters to smaller and more energy-efficient premises.
Like many organisations, we've changed how we work after the pandemic with more people working flexibly and remotely. Our offices cost more than £1 million a year to run and won't meet future energy standards so we must rethink our position.
This is especially important given the unprecedented financial challenges we face, and we want to use your money responsibly by saving sensibly where we can.
Our preferred option is the former Marks & Spencer unit at 28 to 38 Peach Street and we're now looking into this further, though no final decisions are made and we wouldn't expect to move until early 2027.
We're also looking at community hubs, with greater flexibility and the opportunity to work more closely our with partners and the wider community.
 Maths adds up for school's expansion
The Bohunt Wokingham School at Arborfield Green is set to expand with a new 300-place sixth form and 150 additional places for younger pupils.
We've agreed to increase our financial contribution up to £5.25million and will be providing it in partnership with Bohunt Education Trust, who are joint funding this £10.5million project.
The new sixth form would serve the rural south of our borough, which currently lacks one, allowing more pupils to progress to further education nearer home.
The scheme will also meet increasing demand for new secondary places and includes a commitment to improve facilities for students with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
Bohunt was the borough's first new secondary in over 50 years when it opened in 2016 and we're pleased to see it going from strength to strength.
 First steps for new active travel route
We want your views on the first stage of a planned new cycling and walking route from Wokingham town centre to the outskirts of Winnersh.
You’ve got until Sunday, 22 October to comment on the scheme, which we’d like to build along both sides of the A329 Reading Road as part of our mission to improve active travel links.
It covers a 1.6-mile (2.5km) route from Sadler’s Lane at Winnersh, near the M4, to the western end of Broad Street in Wokingham.
It includes a safer cycle track separated from both the road and the pavement, plus new toucan crossings and a speed limit reduction from 40mph to 30mph. The photo above shows a similar scheme that was installed elsewhere in the country.
For now we’re consulting on the first stage from Sadler’s Lane to Emmbrook Road, with further consultation to follow in the coming months.
Design work has been entirely funded by the Government’s Active Travel Fund, and all construction work would also be funded through external grants.
 Sun shines again on solar farm work
Work to create our first solar farm in Barkham is set to start following verbal confirmation that it can be connected to the power network.
Scottish & Southern Electrical Networks (SSEN) and the National Grid have said the scheme will be able to link up earlier than expected.
This news comes after months of positive discussions following concerns that the scheme would be unable to connect until 2037 at the earliest.
We and our contractor Bouygues Energies and Services will now restart work on pre-construction surveys and design work for the site.
The completed solar farm could generate up to 29 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy, enough to power 8,500 homes.
The site will also be planted with thousands of new trees and will host a new walking and cycling route connecting nearby villages with existing paths.
 Living roof shelters take root in schools
As part of our work to improve air quality around schools, which is funded by DEFRA, we've installed green-roofed bike shelters at:
- The Forest School, Winnersh
- The Piggott Senior School, Wargrave
- St Crispin's School, Wokingham
- The Emmbrook School, Wokingham
- The Holt School, Wokingham
- St Paul's C of E Junior School, Wokingham.
They're covered with a succulent plant that absorbs rainwater and soaks up pollutants from the atmosphere, adding further benefit to the environment.
 Helping everyone travel more actively - and save money
We're pleased to have been awarded £46,600 by South Western Railway to improve the active travel connections at four of our borough's stations, which will help you to travel more healthily and affordably.
The money, which we applied for and will match with a £10,000 contribution, will pay for new upright signs and posters at Wokingham, Winnersh, Winnersh Triangle and Earley displaying the walking and cycling times to other destinations.
It will also pay for one new bicycle repair station with a tyre pump at each station, to complement those already set up around the borough, and a marketing campaign encouraging passengers to walk and cycle more.
 Play a part in shaping your community's future
Partners across Wokingham Borough are uniting to create a vision for the area’s future, and everyone's encouraged to get involved.
The vision will set out what sort of place we want the borough to be in years to come, including what we want to improve in that time.
It covers all aspects of day-to-life - and this could include the infrastructure and amenities available to you, among many other things.
You can get involved just by taking a short survey, but there are lots of other opportunities including a longer survey if you have more free time.
Find out more on our Engage Wokingham Borough platform.
In case you missed it...
Here are some other infrastructure-related updates from recent weeks:
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