 Update on flooding across the borough
Emergency response teams and our partners have been working round the clock to keep us all safe during extreme flooding in recent days. The rain has stopped, but the flooding hasn’t.
The UK Health Security Agency and the Met Office have also issued an amber cold weather warning, in place until Friday (12 January).
Advice for staying safe in the days ahead is:
- Don’t drive through flood water
- Don’t walk through flood water – it may contain debris and sewage
- Temperatures are expected to stay low, especially overnight - read the stay safe in cold weather advice
- Our gritters are going to be out when the temperatures drop – be careful on the roads. Look out for ice and black ice on roads and footpaths
- Some roads are closed due to flooding – check one.network map before you go out. As of Monday evening there are road closures due to flooding on:
- If you see a road/footpath closed sign, do not move it and try to go through
- If you have elderly or vulnerable neighbours or family, check in on them
We have activated our Severe Weather Emergency Protocol (SWEP) due to the prolonged, cold weather. This means we can provide emergency accommodation for people who need help.
Contact our homelessness team if you spot anyone rough sleeping who may need support.
Flood warnings and advice near you
Flood warnings and alerts remain in place around rivers in the borough due to recent rainfall. Check the Environment Agency map for the latest flooding information:
The Environment Agency guidance sets out what to do if you may be impacted by flooding. You can sign up for flood warnings for your area if your home or business may be at risk.
Check for flooding updates
For regular updates on flooding and other weather-related incidents:
Photo credit: Rob Lodge, flooding of the River Thames at Sonning
 Getting you ready for a greener future
We’re changing how we collect waste from most households in the summer and want to help you prepare. Visit our waste changes webpage to find out what’s changing, and why.
If you're getting a black wheeled rubbish bin, you'll need to store it on your property and leave it at the boundary, not in the street, for collection.
We'll only empty one full bin, with a closed lid, per fortnight. Your collection day might change, but we'll let you know and you'll be able to look it up online.
You can put out as many green recycling bags as you like, but four should be enough. You can create more space by squashing recyclable items like drinks tins, card and plastic bottles.
We’ll soon be issuing a roll of 20 blue bags to keep you going until these changes take effect.
These changes won’t affect flats with communal collections, properties with no front or side storage space and no outside access to the back garden, and streets with limited access.
 Changes to electoral wards and constituencies
Important changes to the parliamentary constituencies and ward boundaries in Wokingham Borough have been made following independent reviews.
Following a review by the Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE), changes have been made to the electoral ward boundaries in the borough. There will be all-out borough elections in May 2024, with all 54 seats up for contention.
The review was conducted to ensure councillors represent roughly the same number of electors and that ward arrangements will help the council work effectively. The number of councillors will remain at 54 but there will now be 18 wards. These will be represented by three members each.
In addition to the ward boundary changes, there are also new parliamentary constituency boundaries to elect Members of Parliament. There are now two constituencies in Wokingham Borough which are:
- Wokingham
- Earley and Woodley
The Wokingham and the new Earley and Woodley constituency are administered by Wokingham Borough Council.
What to do to be ready to vote in elections
 Roads among best in the country according to DfT
Roads across Wokingham Borough were among the best maintained in the country in the last year, according to new data published last month by the Department for Transport (DfT).
The annual road conditions statistics provide a range of data such as how much of the road network has had maintenance work and how much of it should be considered for maintenance work.
The statistics show that we carried out maintenance on around nine per cent of our A roads, compared to an average of around five per cent nationally – that's almost double the national average.
For non-A roads, we did maintenance work on 4.5 per cent of our roads, compared to an average of around 2.5 per cent nationally, which is again almost double the national average.
Data is available for 119 local authorities for A roads and 118 local authorities for non-A roads, putting the borough well into the top 20 for maintenance work carried out on the road network.
If you have a child starting infant or primary school in September 2024, time is running out to apply for a place.
Applications close on Monday (15 January) and all information you’ll need to apply can be found on our school admissions hub.
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