 Community Vision 2035 adopted
The ambitious Community Vision 2035 produced by partners from across the borough was adopted by councillors last night.
The long-term vision has been produced by representatives from local businesses, community organisations, the Youth Council, educational institutions and healthcare. They have worked together to ensure its informed by community views and aspirations.
It aims to improve residents' quality of life through six ambitions that partners will commit to working towards:
- Protecting and improving our places
- Making it easy for people to access the things they want and need
- Building and maintaining great communities
- Providing fair opportunities for everybody
- Economic success that everyone if part of
- Living happy, healthy and independent lives and helping others do the same
 Experts rank us in top five for value for money
We’ve been named one of the five most productive English councils, meaning we provide among the best value for residents for every pound we spend.
Public services experts IMPOWER scored us and other councils based on outcomes per pound across eight areas - housing, homelessness, waste and recycling, high needs, children’s social care, working age adults, older adults and our links to health services.
The results for each of these areas were then combined into a single overall score. This is adjusted for spending on each service, so a good rank in children’s social care is worth more than a good rank in waste and recycling due to spending being higher.
Wokingham Borough features in the top five alongside councils for York, Redbridge, Essex and Lincolnshire.
The top-rated councils have the best combined productivity across the board and have outperformed other like them by the biggest margin.
Shape our future spending
You can have your say on our future spending in our 2025/26 budget engagement.
We are seeking views on a few key questions that will help us plan for a secure financial future.
 Care Minister hears our residents' experiences
We were delighted to welcome Care Minister Stephen Kinnock (pictured, above left) to Wokingham Borough.
On his visit, he met with people who draw on care and support and their families to hear first-hand about their experiences.
The visit was organised by the National Care Forum (NCF) and started at Ross’ home. Ross talked about the importance of his family and their involvement in his care and support.
His support worker Diane Clementson, who has worked for Dimensions for more than 20 years, shared her love for her job and talked about the cost of living challenges faced by many of her colleagues; most of whom cannot afford to live in the area.
The Minister travelled on to Loddon Court, a short breaks service run by our partners Optalis. During the tour he learned more about the service from people who access it and their family members.
 Weekend of Halloween fun at Dinton Pastures
Halloween is just around the corner and we’ve got events for you and your family at Dinton Pastures.
Come along to have some spooktacular fun at Dinton Pastures tomorrow (Saturday 26 October) and Sunday (27 October):
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Halloween Pumpkin Hunt - get a map and activity sheet for £2.50 per child, find all the hidden pumpkins with your little ones and win a treat after completing the mission
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Pumpkin Fair by JL Events - free entertainments for all ages and chargeable activities such as rides, trampolines, game stalls, food and drinks and more. A cash donation of £1 per person is suggested upon entry.
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Halloween Night Paddle - take on fun challenges under the moonlight, led by our experienced instructors from Dinton Activity Centre, on Sunday 27 October only
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Seasonal delights at Dinton Pastures cafes - savour spooky cupcakes, delicious gingerbread, pumpkin spiced latte and more, available for a limited time
You’ve got a few days left to respond to our consultation on our Electric Vehicle Charging Strategy for the borough, which closes on Sunday (27 October). It sets out how we’ll support the transition to electric vehicles across the borough. Your feedback ensures we’ll work in a way which supports our communities
 Spooktacle unfolds at new community cinema
A new £300,000 community cinema has opened thanks to a joint venture between Shinfield Parish Council and Shinfield Studios.
It held its launch event earlier this month with a red-carpet reception attended by more than 100 guests.
They were greeted by a magician and entertainers dressed as the Ghostbusters, along with their car ECTO-1 and ghosts from the franchise including Slimer and Stay-Puft the Marshmallow Man.
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire was filmed at the studios on Thames Valley Science Park last year, along with other high-profile productions.
The new cinema is based at the School Green community centre, which opened in partnership with the University of Reading in 2021 as part of the new development taking place at Shinfield Parish.
Its Ryeish Green room has been equipped with retractable rows of seating and a reinforced floor plus a new screen and projector. You can watch a drone fly-through of the finished cinema by Reading Drones and see the listings of its planned showings for the months ahead.
 Wokingham and Winnersh link road closed next week
Reading Road in Wokingham will be closed to traffic next Monday and Tuesday.
The closure will be in place between Station Approach and Holt Lane on 28 and 29 October from 7am and 6pm on each day. Diversion routes are available on one.network.
There will be no vehicle access during this time and pedestrians will only be able to use the pavement on the Holt Lane side of the road. The closure is to allow St Pauls Church to carry out work on a diseased tree in the churchyard.
What you might have missed
Here’s all our email newsletter updates from the last week:
If you want to know more about what’s going on in the borough, you can sign up for these newsletters on our website.
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