Newbury Area Weekly News Archive (January to June 2022)

Please note that this section is presented as an archive of past columns and is not updated. Some web links may no longer be active (usually indicated by a score-through), for instance when a consultation has closed. For reasons of space, the Events, Community Notices and News from Your Local Councils sections have been deleted from the archive posts.

To see the current Newbury Area Weekly News section, please click here.

Other archives

Please click here to see the other archived columns for this (and all the other) weekly news sections.

Thursday 30 June 2022

This week we look at plans to re-open a local pub (no, not The Bell at Boxford, whose future is still unclear), welcome a deputy mayor and a new footpath and look at a couple of familiar planning issues, on this occasion in Speen. We also have our usual round-up of local news, local events and activities (including jubilee-related ones) and news from your local councils.

This week’s news

• Celebrate this Saturday at West Berkshire’s first Pride march starting at Victoria Park in Newbury at 1pm. Visit the Newbury Pride website or FaceBook page for more information about the event or read more in our article here. A new exhibit ‘Hope and Pride’ is also launching at West Berkshire Museum on Saturday and running for the rest of 2022, looking at the history of Pride in the UK, as well as contributions from our local LGBTQIA+ community. See here for museum opening times.

• Newbury Town Council invites you to join them in beating the bounds on the town’s north route this Saturday 2 July to celebrate its 25th anniversary. The walk is about 6 miles and suitable for all ages and walking abilities. The event is based on the traditional way councils used to mark out the town’s boundaries, by walking the perimeters and checking that the neighbours hadn’t done any encroaching. There will also be also be a bike ride around the whole 23-kilometre trail on Sunday 24 July. All events start at 2pm outside Newbury Town Hall and will have refreshments at the end. For more information please see here.

• This weekend will also see the return of the Newbury Waterway Festival, following a three-year absence due to the pandemic. On Sunday 3 July, come along to Victoria Park to enjoy a whole host of activities put on by the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust, including a flotilla of narrowboats, stalls, live music and entertainment, boat trips, food and drink, there’s something for all ages. Click here for more information.

• This is your last chance to contribute your input to the West Berkshire Bus Improvement Plan. If you would like your views heard regarding Berkshires bus routes, then take the survey issued by West Berkshire Council before midnight on Sunday 3 July.

• Last weekend, crowds gathered in Newbury town centre to witness an epic dominoes display, on Saturday 25 June. The event arrange by Outdoor Arts 101, saw local volunteers spending the whole morning setting up a staggering 4,500 large domino bricks. The trails wound its way zig-zagging through the town centre, even through the Kennet Centre and into St Nicholas’s church, before the final brick fell from a tall platform at Victoria Park, into the pond. The event was in aid of celebrating the Greenham Trust’s 25th Anniversary and the money raised will go towards supporting young people in the area.

• This week Newbury Town Council invested Cllr Nigel Foot as Deputy Mayor of Newbury. Cllr Foot was originally elected as Deputy Mayor of Newbury at the Annual Meeting of Newbury Town Council in May, however he was unable to attend due to testing positive for Coronavirus. At the meeting of Full Council on Monday 27 June The Mayor of Newbury, Councillor Gary Norman, invested Cllr Foot with the Deputy Mayor’s badge of office, and the Council received the Deputy Mayor’s Declaration of Office for the post at the Full Council meeting. See more details on Newbury Town Council’s website here.

• Newbury local, Rob Coster, will be cycling the first leg of the Tour De France to raise money for prostate cancer research. The Grand Départ Classic is a 100 mile charity ride organised by Prostate Cancer UK that follows the first road stage of the iconic race, the day before the professionals. Rob’s father-in-law died after a long battle with the disease six years ago, and other family members have also been affected by cancer. Rob and the other cyclists will be setting off on Friday 1 July, from this year’s starting point, the Danish city of Roskilde (around 40km west of Copenhagen) and will finish in the the town of Korsør. We wish Rob the best of luck on his ride, and if you would like to donate to the fundraiser and help him meet his target, then donate to the JustGiving page here.

• The first Newbury Town Heritage Walk is at 10:30am this Tuesday 5 July and will focus on the First Battle of Newbury. These ‘Explore Newbury‘ walking tours are suitable for all ages, with the aim of teaching the rich and colourful history of our town and its inhabitants, with proceeds from ticket sales going towards the Council’s heritage work. Click here for information regarding future dates and times.

• The Lockdown Woods project, run by Newbury Friends of the Earth, is currently seeking more land locally for their fifth and final Lockdown Wood for 100 to 200 home-grown saplings looking for a new home. Any parish land, or any sympathetic landowners happy to host a community commemorative wood on an area up to two acres. If you can help please click here for more details.

• Are you a fan of soul music? Then why not go along to Soul Reason, Newbury’s Soul & Groove Choir’s first ‘proper’ concert ‘Summer of Soul Reason’. The group started on zoom in early 2021, while feeling the effects of isolation and met online once a fortnight. The concert will feature music by Stevie Wonder, Curtis Mayfield, Carole King and many more groovy tunes. The performance will take place on Saturday 23 July, at The Phoenix Centre, Newtown Road, from 7:30. Be sure to book your ticket here.

• Do you know about the Fair Close Centre Social Hub? They’re a social group for those over 65, offering ‘fun food & friendship’. They run weekly activities, live entertainment events, do hairdressing and foot health, as well as offer transport and welfare support. The Hub was set up as a way to prevent social isolation and create a network of support of Newbury’s senior residents. If you or someone you know might be interested in the services provided, see here for more information.

• More local hosts are needed for people escaping the war in Ukraine. According to the Newbury Today, there currently around 170 hosts in West Berkshire, but a total of 390 Ukrainians have applied for visas to stay in the area – with 228 refugees having already arrived. With more still to arrive, there is a real struggle to find enough hosts to meet the demand. If you could consider hosting a Ukrainian refugee or family, please get in contact with the local support group or visit westberks.gov.uk/homesforukraine.

• I understand that work on the government-funded footpath along the B4000 between Speen and Stockcross is progressing well, a site meeting having recently taken place and the project (which should also include a cycle lane) now entering the design phase. I don’t know how long will elapse before work starts and the Speed PC councillor I spoke didn’t want to commit themselves either. Matters seem to be progressing as quickly as these things ever do and with no problems encountered (yet).

• The latest (June 2022) edition of the Hamstead Hornet, which covers life in the village of Hamstead Marshall, can be seen here.

The sun also rises

The trend is for pubs to close: about one in four that were open in 2000 have since shut. One that seemed set to join it was the Rising Sun in Stockcross which seemed to have pulled its last pint several years ago. The expected re-development did not, however, happen and a local campaign group managed to have the pub declared an asset of community value (ACV). This effectively place a six-month pause on any development and gives any local group that wishes to own and run it the chance to get a bid together.

It seems that in this case, this has so far proved successful. “Our offer to buy the freehold at a price significantly less than the price sought for it as a development site has been accepted,” a spokesperson for save The Rising Sun told Penny Post on 30 June. “Our offer is necessarily conditional upon community support and we believe we should be eligible to apply for a match-funded grant from the government’s Community Ownership Fund for half the full amount of the purchase price as well as refurbishment and other costs, including start-up costs.”

A public meeting will take place at 7.30pm on Monday 4 July at The Sutton Hall in Stockcross at which more information will be provided. The group expects to have received confirmation (or otherwise) of its eligibility to apply by the time of the meeting which will then enable it “to present the specific requirements which we, together with the community, need to fulfil to make all this happen.”

If you are unable to attend the meeting, we’ll hope to have more information in this column next week. You can also email info@savetherisingsun.org to find out more.

A consultee at work

Parish councils don’t get to decide planning applications but they do need to be asked what they think of them (whether the planning authority agrees is its call). In the case of contentious applications and/or where the parish council is energetic and informed, the responses can be long and detailed. This is how things ought to be: a development might change the character of the parish for ever and so this is a once-only opportunity to make sure it’s done in a way which benefits the community or, at least, where any negative features are minimised.

One such discussion is currently taking place between Speen Parish Council and David Wilson Homes concerning the proposed construction of 100-odd homes to the north of the A4 near the Hare and Hounds, the development being known as the covered reservoir. I have been given to understand that Speen PC is supportive of the scheme in general and welcomes the need for more housing in the parish. This has not, however, stopped it from doing what it should be doing and going toe-to-toe with the developers on a number of points. You can see all the documents on WBC’s planning portal here. So far the PC has made two responses, one on 24 February and one on 15 June and a third is expected to be added soon as a result of a recent PC meeting. The amendment schedule (17 May) shows that some of these points have been addressed.

Some, but not all. One concerns the sustainable aspects of the development. SPC’s February comments included the observation that “sustainability, with particular regard to use of power and power sources appears not to have been specifically addressed as part of the permitted proposal and is certainly noticeable by its absence from this variation.” The reply from the developers says that “there is very limited scope to address this issue but it is worth noting that the proposed homes are designed to enable working from home – with ground floor studies or flexible use of the third bedroom. This will help reduce the need to travel.”

I’m not sure how the response addresses the concerns; which were, let us remember, about power sources. The reference to people being able to work from home seems completely vacuous to me and could mean nothing more that using it as an excuse to make the homes even bigger (which all developers want as they’re more profitable). Developers are only obliged to provide features which are demanded by local or national policy, both of which currently fall some way short of what many believe should apply. We shall have to see what is eventually agreed and (not quite the same thing), actually built. None the less, the PC has made its point and can do no more.

Another question, which was raised in its 15 June comments, was “who will be responsible for the management and upkeep of what appears to be communal areas (west and south elements of the site) and how will that be overseen to ensure that it is maintained to an acceptable standard?” Based on numerous other cases across the country, I think the answer to this is that, if it chooses to retain these rights, the developer will be responsible, at least until such time as it decides to sell these on to some third party which may have no particular connection with, knowledge of or interest in the area. The residents will have to pay any charges that fall due. You might imagine that the planning authority would check that these works were carried out properly but it seems that this doesn’t happen. If it turns out they’ve not been done or done badly or if the company involved goes bust and if problems which resulted that needed to be fixed then wither the residents or the planning authority would have to sort it out. This system is wrong on so many levels: far better for the planning authority to have the first refusal on managing these tasks. That, like robust environmental standards, is not however how things are currently arranged so we – and the parish council – have to put up with it until it can be changed.

Thursday 23 June 2022

This week we have the latest news from the proposed solar farm in Enborne, get some assurances about the “goodies” being offered at Watermill Bridge, pay our latest visit to the Bell in Boxford and welcome the resolution of a rotten borough. We also have our usual round-up of local news, local events and activities (including jubilee-related ones) and news from your local councils.

This week’s news

• To celebrate its 25th anniversary, Newbury Town Council will be ‘Beating the Bounds’ on the south route this Sunday 26 June and the north route on Saturday 2 July. Everyone is invited to join these walks that are both about 6 miles and suitable for all ages and walking abilities. The event is based on the traditional way councils used to mark out the town’s boundaries, by walking the perimeters and checking that the neighbours hadn’t done any encroaching. There will also be also be a bike ride around the whole 23-kilometre trail on Sunday 24 July. All events start at 2pm outside Newbury Town Hall and will have refreshments at the end. For more information please see here.

• We’ve recently received this request from Newbury Friends of the Earth (via the Hamstead Marshall Wildlife Group): “Our Lockdown Woods project, run by Newbury Friends of the Earth, see here and here, is currently seeking more land locally for our fifth and final Lockdown Wood. We anticipate having between 100 and 200 home-grown saplings looking for a new home! On the off chance, I wondered if you know of any parish land, or any sympathetic landowners in your area who might be happy to host a community commemorative wood on their land. I anticipate we will need one to two acres, although smaller areas might be OK if necessary. I am throwing the net wide as West Berkshire Council cannot offer us any land this side of Theale, which is too far away for ongoing management and care.” Please click on the links about for contact details if you can help.

• This weekend, Newbury town centre will be host to an epic Dominoes display, on Saturday 25 June. The event arrange by Outdoor Arts 101 will see an amazing 4,500 Dominoes wind their way through the town centre before the spectacular Domino fall at 3pm. There are no tickets or bookings, just come along to take to look. More info, plus a map of the route can be found here. Its also not too late to volunteer to lay out and look after the route, sign-up today by emailing: hello@101outdoorarts.com.

• The wonderful North Wessex Downs Walking Festival finishes this Sunday 26 June so click here if you want to book place on one of the last remaining walks.

• West Berkshire Council’s June Business news includes recruitment support for employers, low carbon workspace grants to save on energy bills, online networking and an appeal to eco-conscious independent cafes, restaurants and pubs to be part of a sustainable eateries campaign. Click here to read more.

• You may be aware already of the railway strikes that are taking place this weekend, which will impact a lot of travel routes across Berkshire. A full list of details and affected routes can be found here. Berkshire Live also have a survey on how the strikes will be affecting you, which can be completed via the same link. It is also worth noting that any fares affected will be refunded in full. A full timetable of the strikes is also available here on the GWR site.

• There is a new reason to celebrate this summer, as this July will see West Berkshire’s first Pride march. Originally planned for 2020 but postponed due to the pandemic, Newbury Pride will be West Berkshire’s very first Pride celebration of its kind. It will take place on Saturday 2 July, starting at Victoria Park at 1pm. The march will be a celebration of LGBTQIA+ identify, individuality and community and everyone from all identities are welcome to join in and support our friends and neighbours. Visit the Newbury Pride website or FaceBook page for more information about the event or read more in our article here.

• On the day of the Pride march, a new exhibit ‘Hope and Pride’ will open at West Berkshire Museum. Running for the rest of 2022, the exhibition will take a look at the history of Pride in the UK, as well as contributions from our local LGBTQIA+ community. Come along to learn something new about the incredible people in our diverse community. See here for museum opening times.

• Newbury Town Council and the Corn Exchange have teamed up to run Town Heritage Walks, led by local historians. These ‘Explore Newbury‘ walking tours are suitable for all ages, with the aim of teaching the rich and colourful history of our town and its inhabitants, with proceeds from ticket sales going towards the Council’s heritage work. Some tours focus on particular areas of history, such as local architecture or the town during wartime. The first one will be start at 10:30am on Tuesday 5 July and will focus on the First Battle of Newbury. Click here for information regarding future dates and times.

• The renown Watermill Theatre is currently looking for a part-time Box Office Assistant. The deadline is 5pm on Thursday 30 June, click here to find out more about the role and how to apply.

• Congratulations to members of the Hindu organisation Bharati Shakha Newbury who raised an incredible £1,670 for the Castle School and Children in Need at their coffee morning on 11 June, in Newbury Town Hall at which they sold homemade Indian food, both sweet and savoury. Read the full story in Newbury Today.

• City Arts Newbury have an exciting regular volunteering opportunity opening up at their lovely new café. If that sounds like it could be of interest to you, see here to find out more about the role and how to apply.

• The latest (June 2022) edition of the Hamstead Hornet, which covers life in the village of Hamstead Marshall, can be seen here. Items covered include news of jubilee celebrations, the Craven Keep quarry, break-ins, parish council matters, the Wildlife Group, the village hall, Good Hope Farm, the new-style quiz at the White Hart, Plumb’s Farm Home-from-Home scheme, a stile campaign, planning applications and what’s on.

Sheep, flowers and panels

As mentioned previously (see the archive of this column and scroll down to 10 March 2022) plans have been lodged to build a 2MW solar farm in Enborne. This has been met with opposition, mainly on the grounds of increasing flooding risk. However, this seems to be a pre-existing problem and one the work on the solar far should help solve. The problems that currently exit seem to be down to shortcomings in the maintenance work over the last 20-odd years since the homes at Spring Gardens were built. However, due to the insane system which permits developers, rather than the planning authority, to manage the common parts of developments such as drainage schemes, it’s proving hard to establish what maintenance work should have been done, by whom, how often and indeed whether it was in fact done at all. The fact there are flooding issues suggest some deficiencies. WBC (ie us, as council tax payers) will be probably be picking up the bill.

The decision will need to be made by the Western Area Planning Committee (the application was called in by the three ward members way back on 16 February) but as some reports are still awaited from WBC it’s likely to be months rather than weeks before the matter is determined. By the time it gets decided there should be further news from Calleva Community Energy, which is running the project in association with the Parish Council, about whether battery storage on-site is likely to be viable. If so, this is likely to strengthen the case for approval as it will increase the likelihood that the energy generated can be used for local needs. Calleva has also been investigating the flood-mitigation options and believes it now has a clearer understanding of the issues and options.

Also as mentioned, the presence of solar panels does not preclude the site being shared by grazing sheep and insect-friendly plants. This would seem to make for a visually pleasing and environmentally beneficial combination of uses and a lot better than some of the alternatives. The verdict of Western Area, when the matter eventually gets onto its agenda, is awaited with interest.

An assurance at Watermill Bridge

Late last year, Bewley Homes submitted a planning application for 350 homes in Wash Water. The Enborne River Valley Protection Society (ERVPS, formerly Keep Wash Water Rural) has a website dedicated to opposing this scheme. The planning application 21/03394/OUT can be viewed here (on Basingstoke and Deane’s website, note, as the site is just the other wide of the border, even though most of the impact will be felt in West Berkshire).

One point of note in the application was the number and extent of sustainable features. “I’ve never seen so many goodies being offered by the developer,” WBC Councillor Tony Vickers said. “It would all be wonderful if it ends up delivering everything.” The implication here is that it’s one thing to promise and another to deliver. Applications can take years just to pass through the approvals process, never mind get built (look at Sandleford) and it’s not unknown for eye-catching features to be dropped along the way if these threaten the profitability of the scheme. I therefore contacted Bewley earlier this month to see how set in stone these assurances were.

“Over the last few years, Bewley has been investigating how it can respond to the climate emergency challenge and amend our house types and new proposals accordingly,” the company’s Strategic Land Director Andy Morris told me on 13 June. Heat-exchange systems rather than gas boilers have, for instance, been identified “as the most effective solution” and that a “fabric-first approach” would be taken to reduce heat loss. Solar panels are also mentioned: Bewley admits that – as residents of Hungerford will recall – it has in the past “described solar panels as not being particularly effective” but admits that the technology has improved in recent years. The plans also include community buildings and “a significant package of sustainable transport measures.”

To return to Councillor Vickers’ question as to whether all these aspects will in fact materialise, Bewley assets that “each property will be constructed in accordance with the higher efficiency we are proposing for insulation etc and will all have the air-source heating system. Most will also have the solar array on the roofs to provide additional power source but this will be an individual design reflective of the roof area and the orientation to maximise benefit. All the plots will have electric vehicle charging points; or, if a flat, will have access to common charging in parking areas private to the flats. There will also be provision of the public transport contribution agreed with the bus company on day one to fund the route. We will be funding the cycle and pedestrian link towards Newbury up front too.” The statement goes on to say that “it is prudent to ensure that the remaining community benefits will come on stream as the scheme progresses and the number of residents on site increases and there is an income from unit sales to support these.”

Increasingly, developers will need to provide such features to propitiate local opposition and to accord with national and local policies. The day will also come (though it hasn’t come yet) when purchasers of new builds will shirk at paying top dollar for homes which lack these features as they might have difficulty in selling them on. Even if all the features aren’t included, the ability easily to retro-fit them might be sufficient. This is perhaps what is referred to by Andy Morris when he said that “now is the time to take on the much-needed initiatives to begin helping our customers to further exercise their own climate challenge response.”

The next step is to “set up meetings and engage with councillors on our proposal so we can hear what they would like to be delivered. We would be happy to commit those agreed community benefits within a binding legal agreement to ensure their delivery.” This would seem to offer the assurances that Councillor Vickers and others require. If any of the promised features so seem to be disappearing from the plans in the meantime, councillors and residents are invited to send this article to Bewley Homes and remind them…

The statement concludes with what seems to be a more general observation: “We genuinely believe that we can no longer offer a standard product. Part of the solution is we all need to change our expectations and way of living to secure a sustainable future for generations to come.” These are fine sentiments which, rightly I think, encourage everyone to make adjustments – the residents to different energy sources, some of which (like solar panels) may be visible; the developers to different construction methods and, in the short-term at least, perhaps slightly lower or slower profits; and the planning authorities to ensuring that policies about sustainability are unambiguous and consistent and that legal agreements are enforced. Government regulation would not go amiss, either, though if death came from Whitehall we should all live to a very old age.

As mentioned above, the market has a role to play as well. Developers make their profits from building homes that people want to buy and the more sustainable features are seen as the expected standard, the more homes will be built that include these. Whether all this will happen fast enough is another question.

Boxford’s Bell

Still no firm news on this issue, which we’ve covered several times over the last few months (see previous columns in the archive post – see link at the foot of this post). The problem here arises from the refusal in April of a planning application to rebuild the derelict pub on the grounds that it offended the new nutrient neutrality regulations which were introduced by DeFRA in conjunction with Natural England (NE) in mid March. Many have argued, however, that it did not in fact infringe these regulations, passing the very first test on NE’s flowchart by dint of the fact that the development would not increase the number of overnight stays (the reverse, indeed, as the current pub technically has six guest rooms whereas the proposed one would have none).

It seems clear to pretty much everyone that the new regulations were not sufficiently well understood by WBC’s planners when the decision was taken two months ago. Indeed, it appears that this uncertainty persists. A statement from WBC on 16 June concerning the delay to the local plan says that the extra time will allow “a number of technical issues to be resolved” which includes “the implications of the recent nutrient neutrality designation in the Lambourn Catchment Area.” As the new timetable for the local plan involves this being submitted to Full Council in December 2022, five months later than planned, it’s possible that these nutrient issues will not have been fully considered until then. What will happen to planning applications in the catchment area which might have an impact on nutrient neutrality? Indeed, until the regulations are understood, how will it be known which applications do involve nutrient neutrality and which do not? What will happen to this application, and that at the Wheelwright’s Arms in Lambourn which was refused for the same reason with, it would appear, as little cause? Will they be given a revised application at no cost?

I understand that there have recently been meetings between WBC’s officers and the applicant’s agents though I’m not sure with what result. I’m told that the applicant has plenty of other projects on the go and so may lose interest if it seems like an uphill struggle. Having been refused first for housing (under the previous owner) and, more recently, for re-conversion back to a pub, the site is effectively un-developable. This doesn’t seem suit anyone’s interests.

Fixing a rotten borough

As mentioned in previous columns, Greenham parish has the dubious distinction of having voting arrangements which bear no relation to demographic realities. A Sandleford ward was created in 2018 in the mistakenly optimistic expectation that the housing development of that name would start producing more residents, and this more voters. This was never going to happen by the election the following year, which therefore resulted in six electors voting for a possible five councillors. Nothing has been built in Sandleford since then either, so (slightly belatedly) a consultation has been launched with four proposals to address this. You can read more about this issue in our separate post on the subject.

You can click here to see details of the options and to have your say (which you need to have done by 4 July). This also sets out the timetable for the matter to be decided and implemented in time for the May 2023 council elections, the aim being for Greenham’s electoral processes to be in line with modern realities rather than reflecting the situation that often prevailed in the early 19th century.

This slightly surreal story also inspired a short story I wrote called, logically enough, A Rotten Borough.

Thursday 16 June 2022

This week we take a closer look at the new vision for the London Road Industrial Estate and have information on the forthcoming ceremony of beating bounds to celebrate the Town Council’s 25th anniversary. We also have our usual round-up of local news, local events and activities (including jubilee-related ones) and news from your local councils.

This week’s news

• The Coxedd & Pearce & Kimber’s Almshouses Charity have an accomodation vacancy and invite applications from residents who have lived within the Newbury parishes for at least two years and who meet the charity’s criteria regarding income and assets. Located in Kennet Road, Newbury, the two-storey accommodation includes a double bedroom, shower room, large sitting/dining room, kitchen and larder. There are also communal south-facing gardens. Click here for how to apply by 19 June.

• This Saturday 18 June is the Speen Fete run by the Lions Club of Newbury who offer support to members of the community. There will be all sorts of exciting activities including an assault course, a bouncy castle, a giant slide, classic fairground games, competitions, crafts, a BBQ, cakes. The fete will take place on the Speen Recreation Ground, from 12:30pm to 4:30pm. For more information, or if you would like to get involved yourself, check out their website.

• The North Wessex Downs Walking Festival is going really well with something for everyone, from family friendly and wheelchair accessible guided walks to 9 mile hikes. See here for how to book your walks including Big Skies over Ladle Hill and Sydmonton Court Estate this Saturday 18 June.

• If you need some last minute Father’s Day gift ideas for Sunday, see our quick guide here to some simple, eco-friendly options.

• A new art exhibition at the Greenham Common Control Tower, to check out an art exhibition by artist Jane Oldfield. ‘To the Heavens” asks you to look up and consider your relationship with our skies. The exhibit will be running until Saturday 25 June. For more about the artist and her inspirations, check out our article here.

• As mentioned last week, former Newbury Mayor Margo Payne and the Ukrainian refugees currently living with her have set up a Recharge Chernhiv appeal for generators and windows to send back to their hometown, which has been devastated by the Russian invasion. They want to thank everyone for the multiple donations. Due to unforeseen circumstances, they now need a vehicle and driver to transport these much needed supplies to the northern Ukraine border. If you think you could help, or know anyone who can, please read more here.

• Students at Newbury College have been having a very busy summer term, with departments putting on special events to make learning exciting. The catering course hosted an exquisite wine tasting fine dining event with help from one of the nation’s top sommeliers, which you can read more about here. Meanwhile students from the Engineering and Uniformed Public Services courses had a visit from the Army Air Corps, learning about what kind of career opportunities the Armed Services can offer. More about what they got up to here. If you would like to know more about the different courses and opportunities offered by Newbury college, take a look at their website.

• Speaking of Newbury Town Council, we have a lovely summary, complete with pictures, of the recent Family Fun Day, which they hosted in Victoria Park last weekend. With tennis tournaments, Punch and Judy shows, climbing walls and golf, and so much more – it sounds like great fun was had by all. Read our article here for more details. For more news from the council see their June newsletter here.

• Another fun volunteering opportunity is with 101 Outdoors Arts to help with the epic Dominoes display, coming to Newbury on Saturday 25 June. The event will see 4500 Dominoes will wind their way through the town centre before the spectacular Domino fall at 3pm. If you would like to volunteer, sign-up today by emailing: hello@101outdoorarts.com

• The Greenham Trust ’25k in a day’ event raised over £30,000 each for Age Concern Newbury & District and Newbury Riding for the Disabled. Both charities are still fundraising and the scheme is still open for other charitable organisations to apply to for fundraising events this autumn. If you are interested in donating, or want to find out more about Greenham Trust’s 25k in a day events, visit their website. The deadline for applications is Friday 15 July.

• Did you know the Corn Exchange is running Newbury Town Walks, throughout July and August? These walking tours are suitable for all ages, with the aim of teaching the rich and colourful history of our town and its inhabitants. Some tours focus on particular areas of history, such as local architecture or the town during wartime. Click here for information regarding dates and times.

All change at London Road

As mentioned a couple of weeks ago, on 30 May WBC announced that it had re-booted its plans for the London Road Industrial Estate and “gone right back to basics.” In fairness this was not hard as, aside from the creation of the access road (which should have been paid for by a developer) nothing has really happened there: that is, if you don’t count a ground closure, arson attacks, fall-outs with developers, court cases and disputes about drainage. The new plan is to do away with any housing (at least in the part that WBC owns) and concentrate on its redevelopment for commercial property. In other words, after 20-odd years, the vision is to turn the industrial estate into an industrial estate.

This dropping of the housing component seems odd as, for many years, it was an article of faith at WBC that the Faraday Road ground would be built with houses, the profits from which would help fund the rest of the development: indeed, this was the central justification for the closure of the ground back in 2018. Whether because of the increased awareness of the flood risk or for some other reason, this now won’t be happening. That’s not to say that the LRIE won’t have housing: Ressance’s long-delayed Gateway Plaza scheme (which, if preceded with when it was agreed would now be completed, probably with Beyer installed as the main tenant) has housing as part of its mix. This commercial-only policy only seems to apply to the part of the site that WBC owns. Exceptions, with suitable mitigation, can be made for third-party developers.

This change of tack might perhaps be be due to increased nervousness about the refresh of the local plan which has been beset by delays and may now not be ready for its regulation 19 (pre-inspection) consultation in July. The main hold-up has been caused by the need for a 30-year vision for the proposed NE Thatcham housing site. As such work has not been done before by WBC and as there seem to be serious doubts as to whether the consultants appointed to look at this were requested to look at all the possible options in Thatcham, there might now be concern as to what the inspector’s reaction will be. Perhaps it was felt that allocating housing on a flood-risk area in the LRIE might provoke a question too many and an unnecessary risk as the district already has an adequate housing-land supply. Maybe this housing-free vision was an attempt to keep the local plan simple: or as simple as such elephantine documents ever can be.

Of course, there may yet be more housing on the LRIE. Commercial developments can, under permitted development rights, be converted into accommodation with no planning permission or CIL payment required after only two years of commercial use followed by three months of not being occupied. Opponents claim that it encourages sub-standard housing in inappropriate locations and does nothing much to help address the housing crisis and the need for more family homes. It could be worse, though: at least under new PDR regulations introduced last year all such conversions have to have windows, which tells you all you need to know about some of the conversions that were done. Although the new rules now mandate more floorspace (a Local Government Lawyer report in 2020 released that only 22% of PRD conversions met national requirements in this regard), the problem of location still remains: after all, if there is officially to be no housing in the area it’s unlikely that there’ll be much ion the way of facilities or amenities. The same LGL report said that many such conversions suffered from “extremely poor residential amenity.” If more commercial space is put up than the town actually needs, this could yet be what the new LRIE vision actually provides: and, of course, for anyone who does live there, there won’t even be a football pitch to have a kick-around on…

Beating the bounds

To celebrate its 25th anniversary, Newbury Town Council will be ‘Beating the Bounds’ and is inviting everyone to join. The event is based on the traditional way councils used to mark out the town’s boundaries, by walking the perimeters and checking that the neighbours hadn’t done any encroaching. NTC will be holding two walking events, suitable for all ages and walking abilities. The first is on Sunday 26 June to walk the south route; the next is Saturday 2 July, to walk the north one. There will also be also be a bike ride around the whole 23-kilometre trail on Sunday 24 July. All events start at 2pm outside Newbury Town Hall and will have refreshments at the end. For more information please see here.

Thursday 9 June 2022

This week we take a look at a 350-home plan just across the border, a clear planning breach, a re-booted scheme and two local gravel options. We also have a look back at local jubilee celebrations, our usual round-up of local news, local events and activities (including jubilee-related ones) and news from your local councils.

This week’s news

• Many congratulations to everyone involved in organising the numerous jubilee events across the district. All the ones that we attended or have heard about were hugely successful. A particular vote of thanks goes to whoever was in charge of the weather: the forecast for much of the weekend was depressingly dire but generally seems to have relented at the last moment. You can click here to see our look back at some of the celebrations across the area. If there are any you would like to see included, please email penny@pennypost.org.uk and include a link to the relevant website or FB page.

• Quick reminder that Newbury in Bloom competition submission deadline is this Friday 10 June. The campaign aims to improve the appearance of our town and environment, as well as making Newbury a greener, cleaner and more pleasant place to live. There are several different categories you can submit under and the judging, will take place on the 18 July. Check out the website for more details.

• Free Singing for Recovery classes start at the Learning Centre at The Corn Exchange on Friday 10 June as part of the Corn Exchange’s Link to Thrive programme for mental health and you can drop in on a weekly basis. There are also Art for Wellbeing classes continuing on Mondays until 4 July. See details here for how to self-refer or be referred to either class by your GP or Social Prescriber.

• The North Wessex Downs Walking Festival kicks off this Saturday 11 June offering 28 walks across the length and breadth of the stunning North Wessex Downs. There is something for everyone, from family friendly and wheelchair accessible guided walks to 9 mile hikes. See here for how to book your walks.

• This Sunday 12 June sees Newbury’s Family Fun Day at Victoria Park. Come along for a guaranteed day of fun activities for all ages, including live music, singing and dancing, a Punch and Judy show, sessions run by the Rugby Tots, Tennis and Bowls club, and so much more. Check out our article for more details what to expect from the event.

• Newbury Town Council has just published its latest newsletter for June. This issue features features more information regarding the new mayor, the ongoing issue of playground vandals, upcoming events like Family Fun and the schedule for upcoming council meetings.

• Congratulations to St Bartholomew’s girls badminton club, which has been hailed ‘a champion of inclusion’. Badminton England launched their Inclusion Champions programme to encourage more women to get involved with badminton, at all levels from professional to hobbyist. The school club currently has 21 regular members, as well as regularly attended by newcomers to the sport who want to give the sport a go. The club has been recognised to to its welcoming and fun approach to teaching and encouraging environment. You can read more about this story in Newbury Todays full article.

• Join Friends of Stroud Green for some tree tending this Sunday, 12 June from 10am, in Goldwell Park. Please note there is very little parking nearby, but there is two hours’ free at the Halfords parking area. Otherwise please park considerately in the surrounding streets, come by bike or get dropped off at the entrance to the Racecourse. Please bring gloves and if you have them shears, trowel, watering can and kneeler.

• September may feel a little far to be looking ahead, but GreenFest ’22 in Hampstead Norreys on Saturday 10 September is already looking for volunteers. There will talks, workshops, stalls, food and entertainment to promote values of nature, sustainability and helping the environment. But to make it happen, they need a few volunteers to work with them behind the scenes. For more information and how to get involved, please visit the website, or email: ourgreenfest@gmail.com

• Later this month we have the Speen Fete to look forward to, run by the Lions Club of Newbury who offer support to members of the community. There will be all sorts of exciting activities including an assault course, a bouncy castle, a giant slide, classic fairground games, competitions, crafts, a BBQ, cakes. The fete will take place on the Speen Recreation Ground, from 12:30pm to 4:30pm, on Saturday 18 June. For more information, or if you would like to get involved yourself, check out their website or contact: speenfete@newburylions.org.uk.

• A proposal to develop a new grass playing pitch at Manor Park Recreation Ground, Stoney Lane, Newbury is out for public consultation. The deadline to have your say is Sunday 12 June.

• The renowned Watermill Theatre is currently recruiting a Development Officer, who will be involved in event management, fundraising and acquiring sponsorships, commercial ventured and more. The deadline for application is 5pm on 14 June. For more information about the role and how to apply, read here.

• 101 Outdoors Arts are looking for volunteers to help with the epic Dominoes display, coming to Newbury, Saturday 25 June. The event will see 4500 Dominoes will wind their way through the town centre before the spectacular Domino fall at 3pm. If you would like to volunteer, sign-up today by emailing: hello@101outdoorarts.com

• As mentionned last week, former Newbury Mayor Margo Payne and the Ukrainian refugees currently living with her have set up a Recharge Chernhiv appeal for generators and windows to send back to their hometown, which has been devastated by the Russian invasion. They also need replacement doors, windows, sleeping bags and tents, but generators are a priority. If you think you could help, or would like further details, read here to find out how you can donate.

• The latest edition of the Hamstead Hornet, which covers life in the village of Hamstead Marshall, can be seen here.

• At its recent meeting on 19 May, Hamstead Marshall Parish Council discussed the matter of the licences for gravel extraction in the village (see earlier columns before, via the link the archives at the foot of the post). An officer from WBC was present to answer questions. A further announcement will be made by HMPC when there’s some definite news.

The issue appears to be that there are two possible licences which the applicant could use when extracting the gravel but it appears that the earlier of these (1996) is unlawful. A letter from WBC’s Minerals and Waste Team on 17 May adds that “Several pre-commencement conditions are attached to both decisions and any pre-commencement conditions will need to be discharged before working can commence on the site. The operator has confirmed that works will not commence until the pre-commencement conditions are approved. Recent activity noted on site has been stated as in connection with obtaining information necessary to accompany the pre-commencement submissions. Any applications for the discharge of these conditions will be consulted upon with the relevant parties, including the Parish Council.”

Watermill Bridge

As local residents will be aware, there are plans to create a 350-home development in Wash Water, just south of the river Enborne. Two opposing views of this can be seen on the developer’s website and on that set up by the Enborne River Valley Preservation Society (ERVPS). Anyone wanting to keep up to date with this might wish to keep an eye on both off these. The application details can be viewed here (search for 21/03394/OUT).

A newsletter for the ERVPS was sent out on 9 June which refers to some possible delays in the determination process due to various requests for further information from some consultees. It also adds that the application now includes a diversion of “the public footpath away from Common Farm completely so that from Bridge House on Enborne Row the footpath would run just south of the river, all the way along the riverbank to Andover Road.” I’m not sure how serious this issue is but regular users of it will doubtless have a view.

Although this will effectively form a suburb of Newbury, the site is just over the border in Basingstoke and Deane (B&D). This adds to the complexity of the decision-making. In such cases, the two authorities are obliged to co-operate and there will doubtless be some horse-trading as to where the CIL money goes: WBC will doubtless argue that the entire burden of these extra homes in terms of infrastructure requirements will fall on its shoulders. There’s a long way to go before we get to that stage, however. The fact that B&D cannot currently demonstrate a five-year housing-land supply makes the application more likely to succeed, on appeal if necessary.

The various documents throw up a number of issues, one of which are the various aspects of the scheme which the developers have proposed to make it more acceptable. These include, as well as a shop and a community building, a number of sustainable features to the homes. These struck me when I saw the details of the application, as stressing the environmental aspects of a development is a pretty new thing (only a few years ago, the same developers when discussing their 100-home development in Hungerford dismissed solar panels as “toys”.) WBC Councillor Tony Vickers was similarly struck by this aspect, commenting in December 2021 that “The applicant has offered more “goodies” in the proposal than I’ve ever seen in a housing application. However,” he continues, “when one looks closely at the wording most of them are no more than offers, subject to funding or agreement with other parties…and fear that viability will trump good intentions.” I have asked Bewley if they’re able to be more categoric about which of these aspects they regard as ring-fenced and have been promised a response, hopefully for next week.

Another matter concerns at what stage any community buildings would be built. Developers tend to leave these until quite late (so, the cynic might argue, giving more time to negotiate away the need for them at all). WBC in its response in January 2022 has urged that these facilities, together with the provision of bus services and highway works, “are adequately secured to be delivered as part of the first phase of the development, so that they are available to the first occupants of the site.” In mentioning this, however, WBC is asking for something it doesn’t always insist on itself. The school at the North Newbury development was not handled in this way; while the proposed 2,500-home plan in NE Thatcham will not see the school there built until the majority of the homes are occupied. In any rational planning system, such things should always be built as phase one. In many respects, though, the system is not rational. As the ERVPS newsletter suggests “logic, common sense, reasoning, and sensible decision-making” are less likely to influence planning matters than are “targets, quotas, policies, procedures and appeals.” I’m sure the professional planners would argue that their policies take all these factors into account. How well these policies are applied is another matter and your view of this will largely depend on what side of the debate you stand.

Rules are rules

Still in Enborne, there has recently been controversy about a site in Enborne which received planning permission for a barn but was then developed in a way which bore no relation whatsoever to the permission, large concrete bases being built to accommodate two mobile homes which are now occupied. The front-page article in this week’s Newbury Weekly News refers to the applicant’s wish to make a home for his family and ensure that his children receive a good education at the local school.

These are perfectly sound sentiments and have never met the man in question, nor his family. However, all this has absolutely nothing to do with the real issue which an obvious breach of planning regulations. There are, for better or worse, rules that govern many aspects of our life. We can’t kill people, or drive on the right, or take tigers into supermarkets. If we don’t like the rules, the answer is to try to change them, not ignore them. WBC, having granted the application, needs to act to assert its rights (it has already issued a Stop notice). Not to do so would be bring the whole system over which is presides into disrepute, from which all manner of worse evils could flow.

There also seem to be questions as to how the site has been connected to the electricity (SSE) and water (Thames Water) mains. If, which has been suggested to me, this hasn’t been done safely or legally I’m utterly baffled how these two giant utility companies can allow this to happen and, moreover, appear not to be very concerned about it.

The London Road Industrial Estate re-boot

As mentioned last week, this, along with Sandleford, is The Big One in Newbury, certainly in terms of area and ambition. Neither, however, has made much progress considering all the talk, documents, court cases and money which have been lavished on them. That’s actually not quite true for the LRIE: the football ground has been closed, if that can be regarded as progress, some re-development is starting to get under way and an access road has been built of the A339 (which should perhaps have been paid for by developers). On 30 May, however, WBC pressed the re-set button and unveiled a new strategy under which the site will be used entirely for commercial use, rather than the commercial/residential mix which had previously been envisaged. You can read WBC’s summary of this here. Such a “back to basics” approach was only possible because so little had been accomplished hitherto. However, a change of mind, for the right reason, is always to be welcomed.

Is it for the right reason? Several letters in this week’s NWN, and others that have been sent to me, suggest otherwise. One correspondent describes it as “a monumental mess from start to finish” while another suggest that housing here would be better than in Sandleford and certainly closer to the town centre. Building homes on the Faraday Road football ground to help fund the development as a whole was an article of faith at WBC for many years but that has now changed. Will the new certainties, so confidently expressed in the recent document, prove any more enduring?

Thursday 2 June 2022

This week we take a look back at some of the main stories in this area that we’ve covered in the last six months or so, many of which are still live and will be returned to in due course. We also have our usual round-up of local news, local events and activities (including jubilee-related ones) and news from your local councils.

This week’s news

• Hooray- the eagerly anticipated Jubilee Weekend is finally here. Click here for our guide to events across the area including St George’s, Jubilee ‘street party’ (in the car park) on Sunday 5 June, 12pm noon in Wash Common.

• The Old London Apprentice, on Hambridge Road, will be holding a charity beer and cider festival over Friday 3 and Saturday 4 June. On Friday from 2pm, there will be a hold host of fun pub games to take part in, while on Saturday there will be a mini fete with all kinds of stalls, as well as a fashion show at 4pm and a disco. The money raised will go towards the Crimson Heat Academy, a local cheerleading club, as well as the Meningitis Trust.

• Fantastic news for bus-users, as over the Jubilee weekend most bus journeys in the West Berkshire area will be completely free. Take a look at West Berkshire Councils website for further details.

• Of course, with so many street parties happening this weekend, there will be some road closures. Luckily Newbury Today have made a comprehensive list on all the approved street closures, along with their date and times. If you are planning on travelling this bank holiday weekend, check this list to make sure it doesn’t affect your journey.

• If you need a break from the Jubilee activities, join Friends of Stroud Green for some tree tending this Sunday, 5 June from 10am. Please note there is very little parking nearby, but there is two hours’ free at the Halfords parking area. Otherwise please park considerately in the surrounding streets, come by bike or get dropped off at the entrance to the Racecourse. Please bring gloves and if you have them shears, trowel, watering can and kneeler. The next session will be on Sunday, 12 June, in Goldwell Park, starting at 10am.

• Free Singing for Recovery classes start at the Learning Centre at The Corn Exchange on Friday 10 June as part of the Corn Exchange’s Link to Thrive programme for mental health. You can drop in on a weekly basis to learn vocal warm ups and singing techniques to promote relaxation as well as an opportunity to sing along to songs of all kinds. This class is suitable for anyone wanting to sing in a relaxed and friendly environment. There are also Art for Wellbeing classes continuing on Mondays until 4 July. See details here for how to self-refer or be referred to either class by your GP or Social Prescriber.

• Quick reminder that there’s less than three weeks left to submit your entry for the Newbury in Bloom competition. The deadline for initial submissions is 10 June. The judging, will take place on the 18 July. The campaign aims to improve the appearance of our town and environment, as well as making Newbury a greener, cleaner and more pleasant place to live. There are several different categories you can submit under. Check out the website for more details.

• Ex-Newbury Mayor Margo Payne and the Ukrainian refugees currently living with her have set up a Recharge Chernhiv appeal for generators and windows to send back to their hometown, which has been devastated by the Russian invasion. They also need replacement doors, windows, sleeping bags and tents, but generators are a priority. If you think you could help, or would like further details, read here to find out how you can donate.

• Newbury Town Council needs your help to protect the town’s local playgrounds and children. They are asking the public to stay vigilant and keep an eye out for any antisocial activity happening in our parks. Some vandals are maliciously damaging play equipment, making it extremely dangerous for children to use. You can read more details about the situation here. If you have any information to assist the case, please make a report to the Council or to local law enforcement.

• A proposal to develop a new grass playing pitch at Manor Park Recreation Ground, Stoney Lane, Newbury is out for public consultation. The deadline to have your say is Sunday 12 June.

• The latest edition of the Hamstead Hornet, which covers life in the village of Hamstead Marshall, can be seen here.

• At its recent meeting, Hamstead Marshall Parish Council discussed the matter of the licences for gravel extraction in the village (see earlier columns before, via the link the archives at the foot of the post). An officer from WBC was present to answer questions. A further announcement will be made by HMPC when there’s some definite news.

A look back…

See below for a brief summary of some of the recurring issues we’ve covered, often more than once, in the last six months or so. Many of these are still live and so will be returned to in the future. In all cases, you can see more by clicking on link to the archive section at the foot of this post (there’s also a further link at the foot of that to earlier columns) and then then searching for the relevant key word/s.

If there are any other matters that you think should be covered, or if you have any views or comments and the ones we’ve covered to date, please email brian@pennypost.org.uk.

Sandleford. This controversial and long-running development proposal crossed a major hurdle in early May when, after an appeal and a protracted enquiry, the Secretary of State found in favour of one of the two applications which had had its plans refused by WBC in 2020. A large book could be written on this subject (and may yet be) but it will need to wait a while for there are a large number of issues to be resolved before the first brick is laid. You can click here to read a post in which we’ve gathered together the views of local politicians and the main anti-Sandleford pressure group.

The “rotten borough” in Greenham. One of the side-effects of the long delay was the creation of a new ward in Greenham parish which – as nothing had by then been built – had only a handful of electors in the 2019 municipal elections (the next ones happen in May 2023). Plans are now in motion to resolve this anomaly which is more commonly found in history books covering the Great Reform Act of 1832 which did away with these on a parliamentary level. You can read more on this issue by clicking here. (If you fancy a short story I wrote inspired by this, click here.)

Eagle Quarter. Smaller in area than Sandleford, though not in heighs, is the proposed plan to completely re-develop the fading and un-loved Kennet Centre. Although the plans espouse a number of sustainable features, there is much opposition in the town. This has mainly focussed on its scale and the extent to which this would overshadow the other town-centre buildings and on the lack of affordable homes. We’ve been in regular touch with both the developers and Town Council to get a balanced view of the debate and this will continue.

The Bell at Boxford. New regulations concerning nutrient neutrality were introduced without warning by DeFRA in conjunction with Natural England in March 2022. These demand additional mitigation and protection in specified areas, including the Lambourn Valley catchment. The aim is to reduce the amount of phosphates and nitrates in the aquifer and the river which flows from it. It appears that the implications of these regulations have yet to be fully understood by WBC and has already led to the recent surprising refusal of an application to re-build the derelict Bell pub in Boxford. Questions have been asked of WBC’s planners by the ward members, the parish council, the applicant and residents. We’ve been covering this closely and will continue to do so. Further news is expected in the next week or so.

The Faraday Road football ground and the new Sports Hub at Monks Lane. The former problem dates back to the closure of the ground in June 2018 and the latter to the rather belated attempts by WBC to provide a replacement facility (opinions are divided as to whether it really is a replacement, a dispute which has legalistic implications). The Sports Hub will be expensive but at least the current portfolio holder has actually done something: whether or not it’s what’s needed remains to be seen. The new facility is expected to open next year. The old ground, meanwhile, now more closely resembles the building site that it was always WBC’s intention that it should become. The original vision was to use this to build housing, the sale of which would fund the redevelopment of the London Road Industrial Estate. This week, however, a new vision has emerged…

The London Road Industrial Estate. This, along with Sandleford, is The Big One in Newbury, certainly in terms of area and ambition. Neither, however, has made much progress considering all the talk, documents, court cases and money which have been lavished on them. That’s actually not quite true for the LRIE: the football ground has been closed, if that can be regarded as progress, some re-development is starting to get under way and an access road has been built of the A339 (which should perhaps have been paid for by developers). On 30 May, however, WBC pressed the re-set button and unveiled a new strategy under which the site will be used entirely for commercial use, rather than the commercial/residential mix which had previously been envisaged. You can read WBC’s summary of this here. Such a “back to basics” approach was only possible because so little had been accomplished hitherto. However, a change of mind, for the right reason, is always to be welcomed.

Readibus. Quite why WBC appeared to have turned on this long-standing community transport provider in 2018 remains a bit of a mystery. It’s certainly not because, despite WBC’s assertions to the contrary, like-for-like replacement services exist. Nor is it because the so-called gagging clause that the council insists upon is widely regarded by charities as an acceptable condition. It certainly isn’t because demand for the service has declined – I’ve spoken to several of the users – or that, in an ageing society it’s likely to in the future. Hopefully common sense will prevail in time: if it does we’ll be letting you know. Fingers crossed.

The Newbury Showground. Last year the owners, the Newbury and District Agricultural Society, decided that the only solution to the society’s parlous finances was to sell the site. Its proximity to the M4 and A34 made it unsuitable for housing but, for exactly this reason, very attractive as something like a distribution centre. A number of NADAS members did not agree with this diagnosis and launched what could be described as a takeover of the society. In this they were, late last year, successful and have since being trying to revive NADAS’s finances and decide what to do about future Newbury Shows: these were one of the causes of the money problems as, despite or because of their increased size, they were losing money. The current trustees have no plans to sell the Showground, despite a recent suggestion from a WBC councillor that it would make an ideal home for the Royal Berkshire Hospital, which might need to relocate from its current site (many disagree, saying it needs to be closer to Reading).

The Enborne solar farm. This seems to me an imaginative contribution to the urgent need for renewable and locally produced energy although it has attracted opposition, mainly on the grounds of flood risk. I’ve argued that the proposals will in fact reduce this; and have also suggested that this problem is in any event of long standing and probably due to inadequate maintenance on the flood defences for the nearby homes since they were built 20 years ago. This has, in turn, opened the question of whether such common areas of a development should be owned and managed by the planning authority rather than a remote organisation (the original developer or a company to which these chargeable duties have been sold) which may or may not perform the tasks adequately. The second issue may require a major legal precedent (which might have been provided by Sandleford) or a change in national legislation or at least local planning policy, none of which will happen overnight. It’s hoped that the future of the solar farm will be decided rather more quickly.

Thursday 26 May 2022

Scroll down for these stories and other local news local events and activities and news from your local councils.

This week’s news

• This Saturday 29 May sees the welcome return of the popular French style Antiques & Brocante Market at Shaw House in Newbury, offering antiques, vintage, retro, bric-a-brac and decorative arts items plus vinyl records on the Great Lawn. Entry is free and refreshments are available. See more details here.

• You may be aware that there will be some celebrations taking place between 2 and 5 June. Click here for our guide to jubilee events across the area.

• A massive congratulations to Dee Gunning and Trudy Churcher, two carers from Newbury who work for Care Partners, who organised a sponsored walk to raise money for the Motor Neuron Disease Association (MNDA). On Sunday 22 May, over 30 people took part in the 20 kilometre walk from Hungerford to Thatcham, along the Kennet and Avon Canal towpath. Dee and Trudy were inspired to set up the walk in support of their client Colin Wilkes, who has Motor Neuron Disease. According to them, MNDA West Berkshire Branch has been incredibly supportive and helpful to Colin. The walk has manage to raise an incredible £7,000 for the charity, and will go to support those with MND and their families.

• Women from all walks of life are invited to join West Berkshire Council’s Women in Politics webinar on Wednesday 1 June to find out how to get involved in local decision-making panels or becoming a Councillor. WBC also would like to invite any and all local residents interested in what happens behind the scenes at the Council or how decisions are made, to join them for this event. Details can be found on the council website.

• A massive well done to local Newbury artist Amanda Bates, who has just won the Friend’s Choice Award at the Red House Museum exhibition in Dorset. Her winning drawing titled Palisade is a beautiful black and white drawing of a treeroots and sticks. Another drawing of hers is on display at ‘Insight’ at The Base, Greenham.

• The Church of St George the Martyr, on Wash Common, is holding a Jubilee ‘street party’ (in the car park) on Sunday 5 June, 12pm noon. There will be children’s games, a sing-a-long, cake and drinks and you are encouraged to bring your own picnic and wear red, white and blue or something regal. All are welcome and there will be a prize for the best crown!

• The wildflower meadow at the Recreation Ground, near Victoria Park, will be restored, says Newbury Town Council. The announcement comes following contractors accidentally mowing it. More details about this story here.

• ACE SPACE performance venue in Newbury has decided to cancel its June open mic night on Friday 3 June as there is so much going on over the Jubilee weekend. They look forward to seeing everyone at their next open mic night on Friday 1 July. In the meantime their next gig with with Benji Kirkpatrick and The Excess on Saturday 18 June should be a humdinger.

• Newbury Town Council needs your help to protect the town’s playgrounds and children’s safety. They are asking the public to stay vigilant and keep an eye out for any antisocial activity happening in our local parks. Some vandals are maliciously damaging play equipment, making it extremely dangerous for children to use. You can read more details about the situation here. If you have any information to assist the case, please make a report to the Council or to local law enforcement.

• As mentionned last week, Newbury has a new Mayor – congratulations to Billy Drummond for his year in office and hats off and chain on for Gary Norman who now takes over. He’s a Spurs fan but you’d never know from talking to him that he wasn’t completely normal. Nigel Foot is his Deputy. Good luck to them both. You can read more about the Newbury Mayor Making ceremony in our article here.

• Keep your eyes on the skies on Thursday 2 June for the spectacular military flyby in celebration of the Jubilee. Over 70 aircraft will be participating, including the Red Arrows, Spitfires and Hurricanes, taking off in the east of the country, flying over Buckingham Palace, London and then heading the South and West. If all goes according to plan, we should see the aircraft overhead roughly between 12:50pm and 1:30pm – so keep your eyes peeled. More information can be found here.

• A proposal to develop a new grass playing pitch at Manor Park Recreation Ground, Stoney Lane, Newbury is out for public consultation. The deadline to have your say is Sunday 12 June.

• The latest edition of the Hamstead Hornet, which covers life in the village of Hamstead Marshall, can be seen here.

The common parts

As mentioned previously (see 10 March section below) there’s an application pending for a solar farm in Enborne. As with all applications of any size, there are people who are objecting, as they have every right to do. I suggested on 10 March (and have had no reason to change my views since) that some of these objections are based on a false premise: indeed, that building the solar farm should make this problem go away.

“One of the main concerns” I wrote, “which is picked up in the article [in NWN] and supported my own random glance of some of the objections, concerns flooding. The area of the field and the houses to the south certainly does have a problem with this and probably always has had. The houses in Spring Gardens – note the name – were built between 2003 and 2005 and it’s possible that the flood mitigation measures provided here proved to be inadequate. It also seems likely that these have not been properly maintained. This long-standing issue has become conflated with the solar application. Contrary to what some residents fear, the solar farm is likely to make the situation better, not worse. A planned attenuation pond and other drainage works proposed by WBC should improve matters. In any case, if WBC feels that this won’t happen then the application won’t get passed.”

If the problem is with the maintenance of the flood alleviation measures then the obvious thing to do is to find out what measures were regarded as necessary; who agreed (for a fee to the residents) to do them; whether these have indeed been done; whether WBC checked that that they had been; and whether any different approach needs to be taken as the problem persists.

Unfortunately, this information is proving rather hard to track down. Diligent research by an officer and one of the ward members has produced a slew of documents from around 20 years ago. As they’re scans – and sometimes of indifferent quality – one can’t search for key words. Some of them seem to have nothing directly to do with this issue. More such documents may yet appear.

The reason this is important is that most developments of any size have common features such as open spaces, paths, fences – and flood defences – which need to be managed (as do hallways and stairwells in buildings divided into flats). As I understand it, the current system is that the developer tends to hang on to these as the charges to the residents are a source of profit. These obligations, and the right to raise revenue, are often sub-contracted or sold to other companies, perhaps more than once. The result is a service which is increasingly distant to people to whom it’s provided. They may or may not be value for money either: estate management charges can rise as well and are legally enforceable. Many residents, particularly after a house has changed hands a few times, may not be aware of what work is meant to be done nor the significance of what will happen if it isn’t. I’m not sure what happens if these companies go bust.

You would imagine that the local planning authority (WBC in this case), having insisted on the conditions, would ensure that the work was carried out. It seems this doesn’t happen. As recent matters in Enborne have proved, it may not even be able, particularly after a long interval, to say for sure what these obligations actually are. If there’s a problem that needs to be fixed, however, it’s the planning authority that will have to do it. Unless, as might happen in this case, it can work with a new developer on the site (and it’s obviously very rare that, a site having been developed, a further application is then put in) then this will be done at its expense: or, at yours and mine, as we pay the council tax.

This seems like a bonkers way of arranging matters. The logical thing would be for the local planning authority (or perhaps the parish) to take these common parts over, for four reasons: (1) it’s not not going anywhere; (2) it’s not going to go bust; (3) it’s more answerable to residents than a company, even one based in the district; and (4) it has an interest in doing the job properly as otherwise it will have to deal with the consequences. The charges could appear as a separate item on the council tax bill with a summary of the work and contact details for an officer. If these were above £x a year, an officer might be obliged to pitch up to a parish council meeting within two months of the bills going out to explain the work and answer any questions. Some of these tasks could be delegated to the parish council or a residents’ group. The more of these common parts there were, the more economies of scale would kick in. The exercise might not be cash-neutral on a purely revenue v cost basis but probably would be if one factored in the hours of time spend haggling with developers about what they had to do and the costs that the planning authority would bear if they didn’t do it.

Newbury Town Council certainly feels the same way. In its 11 May meeting (see also below) the Mayor said in answer to a question that “having public open spaces run by private companies is not only inequitable but it also lacks democratic accountability. Having management companies maintain and own public lands would require the residents of the relevant developments to pay for the maintenance of a public space over which they have no ownership or control and which should normally be covered by council tax, or if taken in charge by a parish council, by precept.”

What would be needed to make this work would be, ideally, a change in the law to give local planning authorities first refusal on adopting the common parts of any development. Failing that, I don’t see why a planning authority should not unilaterally write this into its policy. Developers are pretty good at building four- and five-bedroom houses and at turning office blocks into studio or one-bedroom flats (though less so at providing the properties in-between, but that’s a separate issue) but clearly not so good at maintaining paths, fences and flood defences. Planning authorities have departments full of experts on these matters and could buy in services they didn’t have in-house. It would also help to keep local matters local rather than outsourced to an organisation often with no connection with the area. WBC is a “local” planning authority – the clue’s in the name. If it permits development, it should have the authority to deal with and manage all the consequences of this. The result is also likely to be a better and more transparent service for the residents concerned.

The Nutrient Arms

We’ve written several times over the last month of so (see below, via the link to the archives at the foot of the post) about the surprising refusal of the application to rebuild the derelict Bell at Boxford and re-open it as a pub. This has, to put it mildly, caused disgruntlement in the local community and several questions have been asked of the planners. Officers even took the fairly rare step of sending one of the ward members a statement, in the full knowledge that this would be read out at Boxford Parish Council meeting on 18 May. Neither the original decision notice nor any subsequent explanations have calmed the storm. A letter sent by BPC to WBC shortly after the meeting said the WBC had “failed to understand or properly implement a policy on nutrient neutrality.”

These regulations were introduced by DeFRA, on the advice of Natural England, without any warning on 16 March 2022. For WBC, which is one the affected authorities as a result of the River Lambourn catchment, this couldn’t have happened at a worse time. The already short-staffed team was grappling with the refresh of the local plan (which had been delayed by another unrelated government directive last summer); there were several large developments going through the system, which seemed to have resulted in officers being rapidly moved from project to project; and at any moment the Sandleford appeal might be decided. The nutrient regulations are technical and complex and expertise in environmental science is more important to understanding them than a knowledge of planning policy. DeFRA recognised this and awarded each affected authority up to £100,000 to recruit a specialist officer. As of two weeks ago this appointment had not taken place – indeed the application hadn’t been approved by DeFRA – though I believe this is now being expedited.

Fortunately, steps are now being taken to address this understandable lack of knowledge. A meeting took place at WBC on 25 May involving senior WBC planners and representatives from Natural England, the Environment Agency and local environmental groups and I understand that there was a lot more understanding of the regulations as a result. A full appreciation won’t happen overnight and the matter will also have to be written into WBC’s policies as regards both residential and commercial development. I imagine that all pending applications in the area will be paused while this happens. One option would be for WBC to contact all the applicants and say that the new rules are proving challenging: please bear with us for a couple of months as we don’t want to rush into a decision that might prove to be wrong. Indeed, uch a letter should probably have been sent out shortly after 16 March and no subsequent applications validated until clarity had emerged: but we are where we are. In retrospect, it must surely be admitted that to have determined the application for The Bell (and possibly others, like the pergola at the Wheelwright Arms in Lambourn) without understanding the issues was a mistake.

As this post on Lambourn.org shows, there are currently 35 live planning applications in the parish of Lambourn alone: for the whole catchment area one could thus multiply this several times.

As for the long-term solution, it isn’t just a matter of approving some applications and refusing others. There is an obligation on planning authorities to implement or to facilitate mitigation measures. Several approaches might be taken. One, which three Solent councils have implemented and which is being considered by Wiltshire, is setting up a nutrient trading market for phosphates and nitrates, similar to that used for carbon. Under this, a development which might increase these pollutants pays an agreed sum into a central pot which is then used to fund projects to mitigate them in the same catchment. Another is for an authority to buy suitable tracts of land which it can then use for this same purpose, the costs of which are met by contributions from potentially polluting applications. Such projects need to be carefully thought out, not least because DeFRA is insisting that they be in place for 125 years.

It’s worth pointing out again that the regulations are really only necessary because we can’t rely on our sewerage system. The stratospheric costs involved (more than HS2, if such a sum is possible to imagine) are often cited as a reason why this isn’t going to happen. However, as the complex and expensive implications of the mitigation measures become clearer, a complete re-build, starting in areas where the pipes run through aquifers, doesn’t seem quite so crazy. A good deal of nutrient pollution – which these measures do nothing to address – is also caused by agriculture, by horses and by septic tanks. There are a lot of the latter in the Valley. As residents of Weston and Elton will be aware, these are an attractive option for developers in rural areas where the sewer main is some distance away. The Lambourn catchment area suffers from all of these issues and they all need to be fixed if the problem is to be solved.

None of this really helps The Bell. Once an application has been determined nothing short of a court order can overturn it. The right thing to do is surely to give the applicant, and any others so affected, a free application and some free pre-application advice after the regulations have been understood, with the determination then being made as soon as possible thereafter.

The owner may also feel that this would be a good time to change thepub’s name, the previous one being now a bit tainted (the new landlord of what was then The Swan a few miles upstream in Great Shefford took the same view three years ago). As it will be selling food, I’d suggest The Nutrient Arms as a new name for The Bell: not a normal one, perhaps, but no odder than The Cat and Custard Pot or The Bull and Spectacles, both of which exist elsewhere. It would also be a permanent reminder of the tangled circumstances that attended its re-birth and which probably shouldn’t be forgotten about.

No sale at NADAS

There’s been much discussion recently about the possible location for the Royal Berkshire Hospital (if indeed it doesn’t stay where it is), a building which many agree is in need of some serious TLC. In an article in this week’s NWN, WBC Deputy Leader Graham Bridgman is quoted as saying that somewhere near M4 J11 would be the best place but adds that “unless the Treasury comes up with some money it’s just a pipe dream.”

Another suggestion, made by Councillor Jeff Beck, also favoured a location near a motorway junction but his proposal was two stops down the line at M4 J13. This is, of course, the Newbury Showground, a site whose possible sale we covered in some detail last year (see below, via the link to the archives at the foot of the post). In summary, the then board of trustees of the Newbury and District Agricultural Society (NADAS) felt in early 2021 that a sale of the site was the only way to restore the society’s ailing finances. A group of members felt otherwise and after several months of argument, debate and meetings (some of which the then trustees did not regard as valid) an AGM resulted in a new board of trustees being elected. As its platform had been not to sell the Showground, I was interested to know what the Chairman of the Trustees, Steve Ackrill, though about this suggestion.

“You’re far from being the first person who’s asked me about this,” he told me on 26 May. “The Showground is not for sale. Indeed, we haven’t even been approached about this.”

One never says never, of course. The new trustees are only a few months into their term of office and the true nature of the society’s finances, and the success of any new initiatives, can’t be judged that quickly. Although the Newbury Show won’t be happening this year (for a reason that seems very sensible to me as, following all the uncertainty and the change of management, there wasn’t time to plan it properly), NADAS has held some popular and successful events recently. The most recent was the Young Farmers’ County Fair, to which this week’s NWN devotes pp12-13 to covering. The site is, however, worth an estimated £30m so the day may come, as it so nearly did last year, when the temptation to cash in becomes too great. The best way that can be prevented from happening is for NADAS to succeed. We wish them every success and we’re sure that all who don’t want to see the site developed will do as well. At present, though, selling it off to provide the site for the Royal Berkshire Hospital forms no part of its plans. Closer to Reading seems a better bet, so I’m on Team Bridgman on this one.

Thursday 19 May 2022

Scroll down for the latest on Boxford’s pub, forthcoming Sandleford comments, Hamstead Marshall’s gravel, local events and activities and news from your local councils.

This week’s news

• Newbury has a new Mayor – congratulations to Billy Drummond for his year in office and hats off and chain on for Gary Norman who now takes over. He’s a Spurs fan but you’d never know from talking to him that he wasn’t completely normal. Nigel Foot is his Deputy. Good luck to them both.

• There’s still a few more days to enjoy the magnificent music of the Newbury Spring Festival 2022. The festival has brought us everything from classical choirs and orchestras, to Bollywood brass, Gahanna drums, Irish folk, jazz, poetry, musicals, ballet, opera, quartets, duos, soloists, as well as interviews, workshops, community projects and so much more. The festival will draw to a close on Saturday 21 May. See more details here.

• West Berkshire Council has released a statement which starts “Our aspirations for the economic regeneration of the London Road Industrial Estate (LRIE) in Newbury continues to move forward with an aim to respond to current and future economic drivers that supports the local economy.” The aspirations may have moved forward since the project was first conceived but, apart from an access road and the closure of the football ground, very little else has.

• Newbury Town Council have released exciting new details regarding the upcoming Family Day, on 12 June. The have lots of fun activities planned for little ones and big ones alike to enjoy. The full list of activities and more information about the event can be seen here.

• The new Phoenix Lacrosse Club at St Bart’s in Newbury has kicked off its outreach programme to overwhelming interest. Over the next 10 weeks, they will run 24 sessions at eight primary schools across West Berkshire and North Hampshire. With support from The Lacrosse Foundation, they have secured the coach and helpers, so all they need now are the sticks. Can you help? Each lacrosse stick it receives will give another child the chance to experience this fantastic sport. If you have one please email garry@vcwb.org.uk

• Congratulations to The Hartley Arms in Donnington, which has been named Berkshire’s winner of the National Pub and Bar Awards 2022 in recognition of high quality service, great food and welcoming interior. Honesty Group, the owners, pride themselves on their commitment to running a sustainable business and supporting local producers. All the ingredients and drinks at The Hartley Arms are locally sourced and all of the pub’s food waste is recycled into biofuel via a Newbury-based waste management company Environmental Solutions. We wish The Hartley Arms the best of luck as the they now go on to represent Berkshire at the National Pub & Bar South East Regional Awards in June.

• West Berkshire Council would like to hear from local independent businesses with strong environmental values who are offering green activities or events throughout summer (July- Sept) for residents to enjoy. Please click here to apply to be included in the digital Summer Magazine. The deadline for applications is 5pm on 27 May 2022.

• Women from all walks of life across the county are invited to join West Berkshire Council’s Women in Politics webinar on Wednesday 1 June to find out how to get involved in local decision-making panels or becoming a Councillor. WBC also would like to invite any and all local residents interested in what happens behind the scenes at the Council or how decisions are made, to join them for this event. Details can be found on the council website.

• A proposal to develop a new grass playing pitch at Manor Park Recreation Ground, Stoney Lane, Newbury is out for public consultation. The deadline to have your say is Sunday 12 June.

• A brand new book-a-ride Handybus is fully-accessible and provides an opportunity to those who are unable to use public transport to access local town centres for shopping, attend appointments and meet friends. If you want to use this service or volunteer as a driver, please contact Newbury and Thatcham Handybus directly on: 01635 37111 between the hours of 9am to 1pm, Monday to Friday, or email: handybus@vcwb.org.uk. You can also read more about it on the council’s website.

• If you would like to host Ukrainian refugees, please contact 01635 503579 or ukraine@westberks.gov.uk or visit this page to find out more information. Another way you can help is by making a donation here. Please also join the Newbury Ukraine Support facebook group.

• Chieveley Parish Council held its annual meeting on 12 April and you can click here to read the opening statement from CPC’s Chair Mike Belcher. One item was the making Nicky Ager, Sarah Hutchison and Helen Singleton forewomen of the parish in recognition of their work in supporting the community during the pandemic.

• The latest edition of the Hamstead Hornet, which covers life in the village of Hamstead Marshall, can be seen here.

All not well at The Bell

We’ve written several times in the last few weeks (see below) about the application to rebuild The Bell at Boxford which was rejected by WBC’s planners last month. The existing pub is still standing but empty and derelict. Pubs are closing all over the country but here we have someone prepared to sink quite a lot of money into re-opening one. The reasons for the rejection have not convinced the parish council, many residents nor the ward members and questions are being asked about how the decision was arrived at.

As mentioned before, there were two grounds for the refusal: the risk of nutrient pollution into the SSSI- and SAC-protected river Lambourn; and the risk of surface-water flooding. A member of WBC’s planning team provided some responses to questions raised on these points and these were read out at the recent meeting of Boxford Parish Council.

Regarding the surface-water issues, four matters were raised, all of which amounted to a request for more detailed and worst-case modelling. How reasonable these are I’m not qualified to judge, nor whether they were sufficient grounds for refusal. There were also suggestions as to how some of the matters could be dealt with, which seems to anticipate a second application. An issue which wasn’t covered in this, however, but which Boxford PC has claimed, is that the surface-water flooding in the area is largely a result of defective highway drainage arrangements, for which WBC is responsible.

Regarding the nutrient neutrality, new government regulations were introduced in March 2022 but have yet to be enshrined as part of WBC’s planning policy. Nor has the dedicated officer been appointed (funds are available from DeFRA for this) to help understand and interpret the new regulations. I have seen a draft letter from Boxford PC to WBC which asserts that “there is [no] policy consistent with planning powers” so the decision needs to made following “advice given by Natural England as no other policy exists.”

This advice included a flowchart which asks, as its very first question, whether the development would increase overnight stays: if the answer is “no” then the regulations (in the absence of anything to the contrary in the local plan in question) do not apply. As by no contortion of arithmetics can a property with six guest rooms being converted to a property with none constitute an increase in overnight stays, the application should surely not have failed on those grounds.

Here we run into two even more surprising comments. Firstly, the officer’s interpretation of the application was that it would retain the two guest bedrooms – there are in fact currently six, as the application clearly states, but it makes no mention that I’ve seen of two being kept (or, rather, added to the new design). Even so, two is still less than six.

Secondly, the officer infers that the application is “intended to increase patronage and make the place more popular…which suggests to me that there will be more people and hence more trips to the restroom.” This seems not only irrelevant given the overnight stays test but also slightly meaningless. Any such development is hardly designed to make a place less popular. In any case, more popular than when? Than at present? That would not be hard, for the pub is closed. Or more popular than at some time in the past, when it was open? If so, which date period is this being compared to? The document demanded several proofs based on worst-case events for the groundwater flooding but doesn’t seem to think this is relevant for this particular comparison.

The pub could technically be re-opened tomorrow with guests flushing toilets every five minutes if they were so moved. This would hardly satisfy the spirit of the new regulations. As mentioned previously, consideration of the application was delayed at WBC by the pressure of other work. These regulations were introduced during this hiatus. More time and more expert advice – and incorporation into planning policy – should have enabled the details of the new regulations to have been fully understood. The conclusion of the applicant and of Boxford PC is that they haven’t been: indeed, they could be forgiven for thinking that whoever made the decision hadn’t even understood the application. I’ve been told that WBC will be having a meeting in the very near future involving local environmental experts in order to better to understand the new directives which, if true, shows that they don’t understand them now. Fair enough – this was unexpected and the issues are complex and technical. It seems a pity that decisions are being made before these have all been fully appreciated.

The nutrient problem – by which phosphates and nitrates caused by excrement can leach into the river – is, of course, only really an issue because of the deficiencies in the sewerage system (and because of the number of properties served only by septic tanks which do not remove phosphates). If this worked as it should then the sewage wouldn’t end up anywhere near the aquifer and the river which it feeds. True, there would still be run-off from agriculture but that’s a separate issue and not one the applicant, or perhaps even WBC, can control. DeFRA has allocated £100,000 for affected authorities to spend on a dedicated officer. At the very least, this cost should be borne by the water companies as it is because of the weaknesses of their networks that regulations affecting planning needed to be introduced at all. As it is, the taxpayer is picking up the bill.

Meanwhile, the upshot is that Boxford won’t have a new pub – nor the associated societal benefits and employment opportunities – any time soon. This would seem to be contrary to various WBC policies that are in actually in place. As matters stand, the site is un-developable, having failed as both a conversion to housing and as renovation to a pub. The applicant may well be considering what options are open to them to redress this.

Gravel hassle

Hamstead Marshall Parish Council held a meeting on 19 May, one of the main items being further discussion about the proposed re-opening of Craven Quarry. We covered this issue in the 14 April 2022 column (see below). Elsie Kinderman, WBC’s Team Leader for Minerals and Waste Development and Regulation Service, was at the meeting to answer questions.

The statement from HMPC in the agenda reads as follows: “Hamstead Marshall Parish Council strongly objects to the extraction of gravel operations at Craven Keep Quarry; formal request to West Berkshire Council for the permanent de-listing of the licence from the Minerals and Waste Development Local Plan on the grounds that any extraction operations and transportation of gravel is injurious to the well-being of lives for the people of Hamstead Marshall; further, such operations undermines local wildlife habitats, biodiversity, and the community’s rural environment.”

As reported on 12 April (see below), West Berkshire Council’s Minerals Evidence Paper in November 2020 notes that Craven Keep has “reserves of 55,000 tonnes, with two years remaining for extraction.” We estimated that the move all of this in 20-tonne trucks would require about 2,750 journeys, about five or six a day over two years. I understand that a further issue has since emerged, for it appears that a licence for a different kind of extraction in addition to this may also be available to the applicant. We’ll know more after the meeting and will aim to provide more information next week.

A handle on Sandleford

We’ve written quite a bit about this (see below) since the `Secretary of State’s decision on the Sandleford appeal was announced a couple of weeks ago. There’s also been a lot of comment in other media outlets, including the letters pages (five pages this week) of the NWN.

I’m not going to add anything to this for now except to say that everyone probably agrees that something will now happen there: the question is what, exactly where and when. Over the next week or so we shall be asking all those who contributed comments before to do so again: it may be that some of those will, now everyone’s had a chance to reflect, differ slightly from what was said in some cases within hours of the decision. We’ll gather these into a separate post and publish the link when done.

We also invite comments from anyone else. You can contact me on brian@pennypost.org.uk as soon as you want: alternatively, you can wait and see what others have said and respond to that.

Thursday 12 May 2022

This week’s news

• The Newbury Spring Festival 2022 is in full swing until Saturday 21 May with everything from classical choirs and orchestras, to Bollywood brass, Gahanna drums, Irish folk, jazz, poetry, musicals, ballet, opera, quartets, duos, soloists, as well as interviews, workshops, community projects and so much more: truly something for everyone. See more details and our personal top picks here.

• Have you seen the lovely new music-inspired mural at the cinema entrance to the Kennet Centre? It was created last weekend in tribute to Newbury Spring Festival by City Arts Newbury team of Isabel Carmona and Maria Lewis plus several volunteers who picked up a paint brush to help bring this art piece to life. Watch this charming video montage of the mural’s creation.

• West Berkshire Council and Newbury Town Council have pledged their support to efforts aiming to help victims of the crisis in Ukraine. They are offering grant funding and free use of council rooms to for support organisations. For more details see here. You can also contact Sarah Slack, Deputy Leader of the Council sarah.slack@newbury.gov.uk.

• Newbury Council has just released its May newsletter which includes Newbury’s new blue plaque, new adventure golf park, some of the upcoming Jubilee celebration events, as well as many more events to look forward to.

• Congratulations to local teacher, Lucy Davey from Newbury College, who stunned ITV audiences this weekend with her incredible singing performances on the new talent show Romeo & Duet. You can read more about Lucy’s amazing experience here.

• Meet the dementia friendly team and find out what you can do to support others in the community on Wednesday 18 May outside the Corn Exchange in Newbury town centre as part of Age UK’s Dementia Action Week. The team will be there from 10am to 4pm. For more information email victoria.rowland@ageukberkshire.org.uk

• West Berkshire Council is hosting a Women in Politics webinar on Wednesday 1 June for women from all walks of life across the county, to encourage more women to get involved in local decision-making panels or becoming a Councillor. WBC also would like to invite any and all local residents interested in what happens behind the scenes at the Council or how decisions are made, to join them for this event. Details can be found on the council website.

• Did you know the first Educafé Wellbeing Festival is currently on? Throughout May and June, the Educafé is organising free or low-cost yoga, nature walk, bellydancing, pilates and gardening in Thatcham, Newbury, Highclere and Bucklebury. Click here for the full schedule.

• A proposal to develop a new grass playing pitch at Manor Park Recreation Ground, Stoney Lane, Newbury is out for public consultation. The deadline to have your say is Sunday 12 June.

• The latest edition of the Hamstead Hornet, which covers life in the village of Hamstead Marshall, can be seen here.

Sandleford’s green light

• On 6 May, the Secretary of State announced that the appeal by the one of the two developers against WBC’s refusal of permission for the controversial 1,000-home Sandleford development would be allowed: so, unless there’s a further appeal within six weeks, the development will go ahead though subject to up to 58 recommended conditions. This could be seen as something of a snub to WBC, which offered a detailed 14-point refusal in September 2020 after many years of disputes with, and between, the two developers. Click here to visit this separate post which includes a link to the refusal notice and the reactions of some of the interested parties at the time. The Secretary of State’s decision also without doubt adds to the workload of WBC’s already over-stretched planning team which will need to assimilate the 174-page report and decide on its response (whilst also finalising its revised local plan including the 30-year vision that Sandleford and the proposed 2,500-home plan for north east Thatcham require; and getting to grips with the recent nutrient neutrality regulations for the Lambourn Valley. There’s more on both these issues in the separate sections below).

I spoke to Peter Norman from the Say No to Sandleford (SNtS) campaign shortly after the decisions was announced. He said that he would be studying the document in detail soon but his immediate reactions was that “the decision makes a complete nonsense of the environmental protection afforded by the National Planning Policy Framework.” He also agreed that many of the problems which have bedevilled the scheme for the last 12 years still remain, despite this judgement. WBC’s options in the matter are in any case limited by the 2015 Supplementary Planning Document, to which the developers substantially agreed. He said that SNtS would be considering its next move. An appeal by this organisation, and/or others, cannot be ruled out.

“During our decade long campaign resisting this desecration of the English countryside, I was fortunate enough to meet the late Richard Adams, Author of Watership, who was appalled at this act of environmental vandalism,” Dr David Cooper of the same campaign group told Penny Post on 12 May. “The site is the home of ancient woodlands which have stood unchanged since at least the 16th century. The government’s inspector has deemed that only the minimum statutory protection should be given to these, ignoring the recommendations of Natural England – a government agency – for greater protection from large-scale developments. When he was Prime Minister, David Cameron spoke of “green crap.” At heart nothing has changed with the current administration. This development is driven by a major Conservative party donor and the government has trampled over its own environmental pledges to suit the bottom line of its paymasters.”

“This decision makes a mockery of the government’s claims to care about the environment,” WBC and NTC Green councillor David Marsh told Penny Post on 10 May. “It will mean years of misery and disruption for local residents, whose views have been completely ignored. It contravenes West Berkshire Council’s environment strategy and will seriously damage biodiversity, including five areas of ancient woodland. There is still a long way to go and the Green Party will continue to oppose this development and any further applications to build on Sandleford every inch of the way. We will also strongly oppose any proposals for vehicle access to Sandleford via Warren Road, which would be devastating for Wash Common.”

West Berkshire Council’s official responsecan be read here. This includes the comment from the portfolio holder Richard Somner that WBC is “disappointed with the outcome of the appeal Inquiry for Sandleford Park, which is an allocated strategic development site. However, in order to provide a sustainable urban extension to the south of Newbury, the Council is actively seeking and will continue to engage positively with the landowners/developers and interested parties on moving the site forward. This will ensure the delivery of a high quality residential-led development at Sandleford Park, along with the necessary infrastructure, within the context of this appeal decision.”

Tony Vickers, Lib Dem Planning Spokesman on West Berkshire Council, said: “This comes as no surprise. The die was cast over 12 years ago when the Conservative-run Local Planning Authority allocated the site for 2,000 homes. This is just the end of the beginning of the process.” He added that his party has “not given up on being able to stop the worst happening. All that has been decided is that ‘up to a thousand’ homes can be built on the main part of the site, which has direct access to A339 and Monks Lane in the north. There is no vehicle access to Andover Road in the west, which is where the main opposition to Sandleford comes from in Wash Common. There are numerous planning conditions to be dealt with by the applicants which must satisfy our planners before any work can start. We fight on.”

There is also extensive coverage given to the issue in this week’s Newbury Weekly News.

The appeal was on behalf of only one of the two developers, Bloor Homes, whose interest is in the eastern part of the site. The hearing therefore skated over the issue of the access from Warren Road on the west, which two of the comments above allude to, concern about which led to a considerable number of objections from local residents. The Secretary of State appears to have judged that the two sites can be developed independently. This asks the question as to why WBC spent so much time and energy on trying, and failing, to get an over-arching masterplan for the entire site. If the eastern part goes ahead first then the Warren Road issue will be parked for a while but won’t go away.

Another issue – and this is admittedly looking some way ahead – is the matter of the community spaces in the development. Someone needs to own and manage these. The default position is that the developer takes this on, the duties then often being sold on to a land management company which can charge what it likes and which may or may not do the work properly and which may or may not be easily contactable. The best solution would seem to be to ensure that the parish or town council is given first right of refusal to adopt these areas. In the case of Sandleford, however, this would lead to the question “which parish council?” That brings us to another matter…

The rotten borough

As we mentioned last month – see this separate post – plans are afoot to try to redress the bizarre situation in Greenham Parish where four electors are able to elect five parish councillors. This is not some 19th-century hangover of a rotten borough but a result of the optimism that existed back in 2010 when it was felt that the then 1,500-home Sandleford development would be mainly completed within the decade. As the development would span two parishes (Newbury and Greenham), one possibility would have been to have re-drawn the ward boundaries so that the new development was wholly within one parish. This would, however, have led to costs for WBC which it was unwilling to incur. The solution adopted was to create a new Sandleford ward in Greenham ready for the 2019 council elections.

In fact, as we all know, the Sandleford development has yet to create a single home but the matter of redressing this electoral muddle is far from simple. As Councillor Tony Vickers said in a speech to WBC’s Full Council on 10 May, the matter has already occupied time at Full Council and will eventually require a decision from central government. The clock is meanwhile ticking, with the next elections taking place in little under a year’s time. A year is not a long time when it comes to sorting out things like this. I’m not quite clear why this wasn’t dealt with after the 2019 election when the “rotten” nature of the Sandleford ward would have been fresh in everyone’s mind. Perhaps this is yet another delay that can be blamed on the pandemic.

Two other issues have complicated this. The first is that one development which has happened is at the Racecourse, most of which is in Greenham Parish. By next May, this might be home to about 2,000 voters, about a third of Greenham’s total, so there’s the possibility of creating a new ward for that. The other is that on 6 May the Secretary of State finally allowed the appeal by one of the Sandleford developers (see above), stirring the uneasily slumbering monster back into life. This will not change the situation for 2023, of course; nor probably for the election of that in 2027 as out will be a long time before any homes appear there. Indeed, Mayfield Court (between Newbury College and the A339) may, if approved, start work before Sandleford. In what ward will these homes be put?

In the circumstances, and given all the uncertainties, it would seem to be easier for Greenham not to have any wards at all. Very few parishes do. In Greenham’s case, the reason is that it spans two separate WBC wards. This also seems worth adjusting but would require WBC to do this, in conjunction with the Boundary Commission’s regulations and timetables, and at its own expense. Any re-drawing of ward or parish boundaries would, if done by WBC, inevitably become politicised. Parish boundaries are important because the parish receives 15% of CIL payments (25% if there’s a neighbourhood development plan in place) from developers. Greenham may thus become disproportionately wealthy, whereas it’s in Newbury that any mitigating infrastructure needs to be built. A

ll in all, it’s a muddle on several levels and one that may take some time to sort out. Getting housing projects of the scale of Sandleford agreed at all is, as events continue to prove, a colossal feat in itself. Trying to get administrative boundaries to match these seems a bit much to expect. Certainly few issues do more dis-service to the effectiveness of local democracy than does a rotten borough.

Boxford’s pub

Please see below for the previous chapters in this story. Not a huge amount has visibly happened since but I mention it again in case anyone might think silence suggests that the matter has been resolved. It hasn’t.

I said nothing had “visibly” happened: but a number of questions have been asked, including by ward members and parish councillors, as to why the application was refused. I’ve mentioned in the sections below the two grounds for this and why both seem to be spurious. I also mentioned that such decision notices can’t be set aside, the only options being an appeal or a revised application. I would imagine that neither will happen until it’s clear exactly what national and WBC policy is and that, in the latter case, that this has been enshrined in the plan. Given the fact that it related to a new plank of national policy, it’s a shame that the officer didn’t not choose to call the application in to the Western Area Planning Committee, as there had the right to do. As well as allowing more time for the regulations to be understood – perhaps with the help of a dedicated officer for which DeFRA has made funding available but who has yet to be appointed – it would enabled the issues to be more carefully explored; and a decision reached which would not have fallen on one person’s shoulders.

If a new application is lodged, which seems the more likely of the two options, then it would be a handsome gesture for WBC to do this one at no cost. Of course, the possibility exists that the applicant (whom I understand has other interests elsewhere) may decide that dealing with WBC on this matter is too much trouble. The risk is that the building – which is in a pretty poor state – could start collapsing. As well as being dangerous, this could perhaps lead to some of the environmental damage which the officer was so keen to avoid.

Thursday 5 May 2022

This week’s news

• This weekend marks the beginning of the Newbury Spring Festival 2022, a full two weeks of world-class musical events, from 7 to 21 May. The annual festival has been on hiatus for three years due to the pandemic and will be returning with an incredible array of talent from around the world. There will be everything from classical choirs and orchestras, to Bollywood brass, Gahanna drums, Irish folk, jazz, poetry, musicals, ballet, opera, quartets, duos, soloists and so much more: truly something for everyone. There will also be community projects, workshops, interviews and several free events for people of all ages. Check out the festivals full broacher of events here and check out their website for more information and to buy tickets. You can also check out some of our personal top picks here.

• This is your last chance to take part in the Mayor of Newbury’s online charity raffle, in aid of raising funds for The Mayor’s Benevolent Fund and Newbury Speakability. There are 15 exciting prizes up for grabs, including a day at the races for two and a £150 voucher for Waitrose. Tickets are £10 for 10 entries and will be available until the Sunday 8 May. The winners will be drawn on Monday 9 May. If you would like further information see here, or contact the Mayor’s Office mayor@newbury.gov.uk. Click here if you would like to enter the raffle.

• Did you know the first Educafé Wellbeing Festival is currently on? Through May and June, the Educafé are organising free or low-cost yoga, nature walk, bellydancing, pilates and gardening in Thatcham, Newbury, Highclere and Bucklebury. Click here for the full schedule.

• Newbury Town Council has announced details regarding one of the first events of the Jubilee weekend: the ceremonial lighting of the beacon. This is a long-standing tradition regarding royal events, and over 2,000 beacons around the country are estimated to be lit around the same time to mark the historic occasion. The event will take place in Victoria Park on the evening of Thursday 2 June. In addition to the beacon lighting, there will also be live music and entertainment. You can read more about this event here.

• Last week, Paralympian, Louise Sugden, officially opened the brand new Keevill Unit at Speenhamland School for children with physical disabilities. Facilities include two new classrooms, a dedicated Special Educational Needs therapy room, an accessible hygiene room, a designated outdoor learning zone, accessible toilet and hoist for and extra indoor and outdoor space, for all pupils to enjoy. Sugden herself was a former pupil at Speenhamland, and has since gone on to become a wheelchair basketball player, representing Team GB in the both the Beijing and London Paralympics. In addition to that, she is now also a professional powerlifter ranking highly in several other international competitions, such as a silver medallist at the Commonwealth Games and Manchester World Cup. You can read more about the Keevil Unit here.

• As mentioned last week, Newbury celebrates getting a new blue plaque in honour of local writer and disability campaigner Doris Page (1925-1991). The plaque has now been officially unveilled, as of the 5 May, by the Deputy Mayor, Gary Norman. You can read more here about the plaque and Doris’ fascinating story, as someone who contracted polio in 1955 when she was 30 years old and was confined to an iron lung for the rest of her life.

• A proposal to develop a new grass playing pitch at Manor Park Recreation Ground, Stoney Lane, Newbury is out for public consultation. The deadline to have your say is Sunday 12 June.

• A brand new Handybus has now been funded by West Berkshire Council, through the Council’s Capital Grant Fund. The new book-a-ride service, run by the Volunteer Centre West Berkshire (VCWB), will begin operating in the next couple of weeks. The bus is fully-accessible and provides an opportunity to those who are unable to use public transport to access local town centres for shopping, attend appointments and meet friends. If you want to use this service or volunteer as a driver, please contact Newbury and Thatcham Handybus directly on: 01635 37111 between the hours of 9am to 1pm, Monday to Friday, or email: handybus@vcwb.org.uk. You can also read more about it on the council’s website.

• West Berks Council is currently recruiting several roles for their Adult Social Care Team. They are particularly looking for Dementia Care Practitioners, Reablement Practitioners, Occupational Therapists and Social Workers. For more information and how to apply see here.

• Newbury Town Council‘s April newsletter includes news about the bandstand, civic award winners, Newbury in Bloom and upcoming meetings.

• Ukrainian refugees are starting to arrive in our area. If you would be interested in offering your home, contact 01635 503579 or ukraine@westberks.gov.uk or visit this page to find out more information. Another way you can help is by making a donation here. Please also join the Newbury Ukraine Support facebook group.

• The latest edition of the Hamstead Hornet, which covers life in the village of Hamstead Marshall, can be seen here.

Sandleford’s green light

• On 6 May, the Secretary of State announced that the appeal by the one of the two developers against WBC’s refusal of permission for the controversial 1,000-home Sandleford development would be allowed: so, unless there’s an appeal within six weeks, the development will go ahead though subject to up to 58 recommended conditions. This could be seen as something of a snub to WBC, which offered a detailed 14-point refusal in September 2020 after many years of disputes with, and between, the two developers. Click here to visit this separate post which includes a link to the judgment and the reactions of some of the interested parties. The Secretary of State’s decision also without doubt adds to the workload of WBC’s already over-stretched planning team which will need to assimilate the 174-page report and decide on its response (whilst also finalising its revised local plan including the 30-year vision that Sandleford and the proposed 2,500-home plan for north east Thatcham require; and getting to grips with the recent nutrient neutrality regulations for the Lambourn Valley. There’s more on both these issues in the separate sections below).

West Berkshire Council’s official response can be read here. This includes the comment from the portfolio holder Richard Somner that WBC is “disappointed with the outcome of the appeal Inquiry for Sandleford Park, which is an allocated strategic development site. However, in order to provide a sustainable urban extension to the south of Newbury, the Council is actively seeking and will continue to engage positively with the landowners/developers and interested parties on moving the site forward. This will ensure the delivery of a high quality residential-led development at Sandleford Park, along with the necessary infrastructure, within the context of this appeal decision.”

Tony Vickers, Lib Dem Planning Spokesman on West Berkshire Council, said: “This comes as no surprise. The die was cast over 12 years ago when the Conservative-run Local Planning Authority allocated the site for 2,000 homes. This is just the end of the beginning of the process.” The added that his party has “not given up on being able to stop the worst happening. All that has been decided is that ‘up to 1000’ homes can be built on the main part of the site, which has direct access to A339 and Monks Lane in the north. There is no vehicle access to Andover Road in the west, which is where the main opposition to Sandleford comes from in Wash Common. There are numerous planning conditions to be dealt with by the applicants which must satisfy our planners before any work can start. We fight on.”

We’ll be making a few calls about the whole business and will cover the subject in more detail next week.

Boxford’s nutrient neutrality

We reported last week about this issue which is very much ongoing.

The basic issue is that the new owner of The Bell at Boxford has had application refused to turn the existing derelict pub into a new one. The two reasons for refusal were problems with dealing with groundwater flooding and possible phosphate contamination of the nearby SSSI- and SAC-protected River Lambourn. I stand by the points I made last week: the first issue seems to be the result of a problem caused by West Berkshire Council, not The Bell; while the second doesn’t apply because the key test applied by Natural England (one of the partners to the new regulations) is whether or not the application is likely to lead to an increase in the number of overnight stays. I leave it to you to decide whether an application to convert a pub with six guest rooms to a pub with none is likely to trigger this condition or not.

The new DeFRA regulations, introduced on 16 March 2022, provided for authorities affected by this (of which West Berkshire was one) to receive £100,000 “to support cross-Local Authority work to meet Natural England requirements and enable development to continue. This money is funding dedicated catchment officers…” It seemed important to understand if the decision on The Bell was taken as a result of WBC having obtained such expert advice, the assumption of the generous grant being that WBC and other councils lacked it in-house. It appears that it wasn’t. Far from having accessed this expertise, it appears that the council has yet to hear from DeFRA on the progress of the application. Another question, which hasn’t been answered, is whether it would have therefore been wiser to have waited until the specialist advice that WBC would seem to lack were available.

Another way of looking at the the matter is that it’s a shame it wasn’t decided earlier. The application was validated on 8 November 2021 but wasn’t refused until 25 April, five and half months later. It’s been suggested this was because of planning officers being taken off the case to work on larger developments. Were the application to have been determined before 16 March 2022, as it should have been, the nutrient neutrality issue would not have figured (for the reasons suggested above, it shouldn’t have done in any case).

One of WBC’s reasons for refusal cited the applicant’s inability to provide information about the levels of phosphates which might result from the development, as a consequence of a government directive – issued, as WBC correctly admits “with no warning” – which came into force several months after the application was validated and after it should have been determined. It’s worth repeating again that the key test here (phosphates being largely a result of sewage, as well as other factors like faming run-off which have no relevance to the application) is whether the number of overnight stays – and thus toilet flushes – are likely to increase as a result. Manifestly, they are not.

I get it that WBC’s planners wish to be correct. This takes two forms. The first is to decide any application promptly and not leave it at the mercy of other, larger, issues. The second is, if new regulations are issued and paid-for help offered, to wait until proper advice can be received on what, on WBC’s own admission, was an unexpected announcement before arriving at a decision. Neither course seems to have been followed here and the decision seems perverse.

The refusal notice having been issued, nothing short of a successful appeal can alter that. Assuming there is not an appetite for this, the logical and equitable thing would be for the applicant to make a further application having obtained pre-planning advice from WBC at no cost. It would seem likely that the ward members would call in any new application to committee if the officers were minded to reject it. All the issues, including the advice (or lack of it) taken on the original application, would then be given a thorough airing. Let us remind ourselves again that the application is for replacing a pub with six rooms with a pub which has none. The owner could re-open the derelict pub tomorrow with all six rooms (and their toilets) active if they wished. The application makes sense on every logical, legal, economic and environmental level and is supported by the local community. Does it really have to be this hard?

An extension for Eagle Quarter

The proposed re-development of the Kennet Centre, which we’ve covered before, is still to be decided by West Berkshire’s planners and its Western Area Planning Committee (WAPC). I understand that a deadline of the end of April was provided to the developers for the supply of some additional documents. It seems that all bar one of these has been provided, so WBC has agreed a further extortion until the end of May. I imagine that if the document is not produced, or if it isn’t felt to be satisfactory, then the planners will recommend that the application be refused, something WAPC may choose to endorse. If it’s felt that this does address the issues, the planners would presumably consider this in conjunction with everything else and make whatever recommendation they decide. This would then be put before WAPC, probably some time in the summer.

You can see the developer’s website here and you can click here to visit WBC’s planning portal (then search for the references 21/00379/FULMAJ and 21/00380/FULMAJ). As I’ve mentioned before, the proposals seem to have several points of merit (though, as I don’t live in Newbury, perhaps my views aren’t so important). One of the problems with considering any new development is that virtually anything short of a coal-fired power station would be preferable to what’s there at the moment. The two main areas of objection have been the lack of affordable housing and, principally, the scale of the project and the permanent effect that this would have on the town centre. As with so many planning decisions, much will turn on whether the committee decides that the economic benefits trump concerns about environmental damage or conservation. I understand that this is the matter with which the missing document principally deals.

A community bus

This section is taken from last week’s Weekly News with Brian. In retrospect it would have been better to have run it here (and in the Thatcham News column) so I have now done so.

West Berkshire Council has recently announced that it has funded a new community bus for the Newbury and Thatcham Handybus service: you can read more here. The vehicle “has been adapted to be fully accessible and was successfully funded through the Council’s Capital Grant Fund, which is available for all local community transport operators to bid for. The new service will provide an opportunity for those who are unable to use public transport to access local town centres.”

From the Handybus’ inception in 1986 up until a few years ago, WBC provided all the vehicles so this could be seen as no more than a partial return to what had gone before. The statement also implies a commitment to supporting those unable to use conventional public transport. Until about four years ago, this was exactly the service being provided by Readibus. Since then, WBC has cut the community transport provider’s grant, thereby decimating the service. Last year, Penny Post was contacted by many Readibus customers who were upset and bemused by why this had happened, Readibus having previously been provided transport for about thirty years without any problems. The relationship has since sunk into legal wrangles over WBC’s insistence on a gagging clause (the council doesn’t like the term but that’s effectively what it is), a practice which has been exposed as wrong in many ways by many charitable groups as part of a nationwide campaign.

Well done to VCWB and Handybus for securing this grant. Hopefully the new vehicle will do something to redress the gap in this aspect of the council’s community-transport provision for its residents with mobility problems over the last few years.

Thursday 28 April 2022

This week’s news

• There are just a few seats left for South Wales Male Choir this Saturday 30 April at St Nicolas’s Church in aid of Newbury Rotary. Their last perfomance before lockdown was a total success so this sounds like a great night out. Book your tickets here.

• A proposal to develop a new grass playing pitch at Manor Park Recreation Ground, Stoney Lane, Newbury is out for public consultation and will remain so until Sunday 12 June.

• This Saturday 30 April, The Castle Pub in Cold Ash is holding a real ale and live music festival on in aid of Newbury Cancer Care. Musical performances will start around 2pm and go on throughout the afternoon and evening. You can see the musician line-up here.

• Newbury’s latest blue plaque celebrates local writer and disability campaigner Doris Page (1925-1991). You can read more here about the plaque and Doris who contracted polio in 1955 when she was 30 years old and was confined to an iron lung for the rest of her life.

• Congratulations to the performers Newbury Corn Exchange’s 2021 pantomime, who received notable recognition at the UK Pantomime Awards last week. The theatre’s Christmas show ‘Cinderella’ by Plested & Brown was nominated for best Digital Panto and won a Special Recognition award for actors Justin Brett, Susan Harrison and Ali James. The trio, who played the Dame-stepmother and stepsisters, won the award for their “skilled execution of fully improvised ‘front cloth’ sequences including songs created from audience participation, promoting innovation in content”. Penny loves going to the last perfomance of the Newbury panto each year and is already looking forward to the next one.

• The Mayor of Newbury is currently hosting an online charity raffle to help raise funds for The Mayor’s Benevolent Fund and Newbury Speakability. There are 15 exciting prizes up for grabs, including a day at the races for two and a £150 voucher for Waitrose. Tickets are £10 for 10 entries and will be available until the Sunday 8 May. The winners will be drawn on Monday 9 May. If you would like further information see here, or contact the Mayor’s Office mayor@newbury.gov.uk. Click here if you would like to enter the raffle.

• Educafé’s first Wellbeing Festival through April, May and June offers free or low-cost yoga, nature walk, bellydancing, pilates and gardening in Thatcham, Newbury, Highclere and Bucklebury. Click here for the full schedule.

• The Fair Close Centre on Newtown Road in Newbury provides a vital social hub and meals on wheels for over 65s, many of whom live on their own. The centre is re-launching after COVID at time when a vibrant connection for seniors has never been more important. They want to extend their reach in West Berkshire and North Hampshire and also support those living with early stages of dementia and their carers. They have a Good Exchange grant application to ensure that theirr service remains accessible and affordable for those who would most benefit. Please support them here. Goodness knows we might all need their services in years to come. See this short video Penny made recently at Fair Close.

• Having seen the terrible state of dog waste bins – especially on Greenham Common – Greenham Parish Council have been left with little choice but to fund extra dog bins and collections to try and mitigate the situation. They will be installing 5 additional extra-large dog bins and arranging for weekly extra collections at a cost of £2,000 in this fiscal year. When the dog bins become full, please take your waste away to put in your black bin at home as adding more to the overflowing bin on the common causes a health hazard for humans and animals.

• Not long now until Newbury Spring Festival 2022‘s full two weeks of world-class musical events from 7 to 21 May. The annual festival has been on hiatus for three years due to the pandemic and will be returning with an incredible array of talent from around the world. There will be everything from classical choirs and orchestras, to Bollywood brass, Gahanna drums, Irish folk, jazz, poetry, musicals, ballet, opera, quartets, duos, soloists and so much more: truly something for everyone. There will also be community projects, workshops, interviews and several free events for people of all ages. Check out the festivals full broacher of events here and check out their website for more information and to buy tickets.

• Kings Road in Newbury is currently closed and will remain so until 3 May, due to a nearby connected construction site. There is a diversion in place for all vehicles and more information can be found here.

• Having seen the terrible state of dog waste bins – especially on Greenham Common – Greenham Parish Council have been left with little choice but to fund extra dog bins and collections to try and mitigate the situation. They will be installing 5 additional extra-large dog bins and arranging for weekly extra collections at a cost of £2000 in this fiscal year. It will be reviewed on an ongoing basis.

When the dog bins become full, please take your waste away to put in your black bin at home as adding more to the overflowing bin on the common causes a health hazard for humans and animals.

• Newbury Town Council‘s April newsletter includes news about the bandstand, civic award winners, Newbury in Bloom and upcoming meetings.

• The latest edition of the Hamstead Hornet, which covers life in the village of Hamstead Marshall, can be seen here.

The bell tolls at Boxford

Normally when a planning application involves a pub there’s a change of use involved, the intention generally being to turn it into accommodation. How refreshing it therefore was to see an application for The Bell at Boxford (see the details here on WBC’s website) for the demolition of the existing and empty two-storey pub of no particular merit and in a parlous condition, with six bedrooms, to be replaced with a single-storey thatched pub, with no bedrooms. (The significance of the reference to the bedrooms will be clearer in a moment.) With a couple of exceptions on specific matters, one of which at least has been addressed, the reaction of the local community was positive. WBC has recently re-affirmed its desire to help communities recover from the pandemic and has recently launched a website promoting the district as a destination friendly to businesses. The design was sympathetic, environmentally aware and socially beneficial. What could possibly go wrong?

What went wrong was that on 25 April the decision was refused. This was on two grounds: “insufficient information has been submitted to demonstrate the proposed development can adequately manage surface water”; and that “the proposed development, either alone or in combination with other plans or projects, is likely to have a significant effect on the River Lambourn SAC.” Both seem specious and I understand that one of the ward members has immediately asked questions about how and why and on what grounds this decision was reached. Boxford Parish Council will be meeting in May to formulate its official response and to ask the executive and political powers at West Berkshire to explain this perplexing decision. More on this will doubtless follow.

While we’re waiting for those to play out, let’s have a quick look at the reasons given in the decision notice.

The surface-water matter is, I have been told, a long running issue which has nothing to do with the pub but a lot more to do with problems with the highway, which is WBC’s responsibility and one about which Boxford PC has long complained, though with little result.

The second issue touches on the question of nutrient neutrality which was, on 16 March 2022, announced to the affected planning authorities by DeFRA as being a specific matter which they needed to consider. (The problem is that phosphates, which come from a variety of sources including human faeces, create imbalances in the SAC and SSSI river Lambourn which flows through Boxford. Any development which is likely to make this problem worse will need to mitigate this (perhaps directly or through a S106 agreement) or will be refused.) Natural England, one of the parties involved in this agreement, helpfully provided a flow-chart which could be used by planning authorities as a template for constructing a policy – WBC is on record as being a “policy-led authority” with regard to planning – to accommodate these new regulations. I’m not aware that any such revision has yet been incorporated into WBC’s policy.

Even if it had been, the very first question in the Natural England flow chart is “does the development generate wastewater from overnight use?” If the answer to this is “no”, it continues, the methodology “does not apply.” By no stretch of logic can a pub with no rooms, as is proposed, generate overnight wastewater. It thus seems inexplicable why the matter of nutrient neutrality was referred to in the refusal notice at all. As regards WBC’s policy CS17 also cited in the refusal notice, it’s impossible to see any features of the application which affect this in an way differently from that which would apply were the pub to re-open tomorrow, as it would (subject to licensing approval) be able to do.

That’s the real point – there is a pub there now, albeit un-tenented. The previous owners had sought a change of use to accommodation, which was refused. The new owner has sought to turn the pub back into a pub, which has also been refused. What’s next? What kind of application is likely to be successful? An industrial park? An abattoir? Is any guidance available as to what might succeed? The current refusal seems to rely on a ground-water problem which is the planning authority’s fault and a nutrient-neutrality problem which will be improved, rather than worsened, by the proposed application. Meanwhile, of course, Thames Water continues to pour untreated sewage into the SSSI and SAC river that’s at issue with comparative impunity (an issue which is, admittedly, down to the Environment Agency and not WBC to enforce). WBC is also keen to stress that it is a business-friendly council and that it wants to help communities recover from the pandemic.

I’m aware that the new DeFRA regulations in March demanded that planning authorities paused to consider the implications of the new new regulations on their policies and decisions. They were also given £100,000 to appoint specialist officers to help with the issues and decisions that emerged. Has WBC appointed such an officer? It was also suggested to me by a local councillor shortly after the DeFRA regulations were introduced that a pause would be needed in planning applications while the implications of the policy were examined. Has this happened in this case?

The refusal of this application for the reasons stated seems to suggest that WBC’s planning department has parted company with reality. The pub could re-open tomorrow, as a pub with rooms, and cause far more phosphate issues than would the new proposal. The system seems here to have let down not only someone who is prepared to sink a good deal of money in re-purposing a village asset but also the overwhelming number of local residents who supported the idea. The proposal by its nature reduces the main issue of phosphate pollution and proposes other environmental improvements including tree-planting.

The refusal seems to rely on one issue which is actually WBC’s own problem to solve and on another which doesn’t apply in this case and which, even if it did, WBC doesn’t have a policy in place to refer to. If this decision is unchallenged, the building will slowly decay and collapse, causing god-knows what other problems. In addition, a local economic investor will have been rebuffed, the local residents will have had their stated wishes thwarted, WBC will have had its stated economic objectives unfulfilled and there will have been no benefit to to the local environment which the current proposals promise and which could be ensured by discussion or S106 agreements.

In retrospect, it’s a shame that the matter wasn’t called in to committee: then again, the ward members probably had little expectation that it would be refused. It has been. From everything I’ve heard, however, this isn’t the end of the story. Watch this space…

Surveying Newbury’s (and Thatcham’s) needs

I’ve mentioned before about a survey which has been doing the rounds on social media: surprisingly, it does not appear on WBC’s own website and isn’t the subject of any official communication that I’ve seen. Its purpose is to provide the additional evidence of a 30-year vision that was in July 2021 demanded by the government regarding any substantial developments (including ones whose completion time might exceed the 15-year lifespan of the local plan). Compared to the Newbury masterplan document last year, this shows all the signs of being a box-ticking exercise; something which WBC sees as an obstacle to be overcome rather than an opportunity to be grasped. It certainly has been launched in a very peculiar way and communication has been, to put it mildly, patchy.

The consultants were commissioned by WBC at the end of December 2021 and their report needs to be finalised by June. It would seem both prudent and logical, not to say polite, to make contacting the town councils one of the first orders of business. True, the consultants are commissioned by WBC not by these two councils; true, WBC and Thatcham and Newbury Councils don’t agree on everything. However, there’s a big difference between contacting someone and accepting everything they tell you. It seems that Newbury Town Council was only officially contacted by the consultants on 26 April. Thatcham Town Council wasn’t contacted by them at all but had to make the calls itself. Both these have over the years done a good deal of work on establishing how the towns might develop in the future. Thatcham, for example, produced a 180pp document in 2016 helpfully called “Thatcham Vision” which, by dint of its title alone, might possibly be relevant to anyone working on a vision of the community now. It seems, however, that the consultants were not even aware of this until Thatcham TC brought it to their attention.

I’m not sure what Newbury Town Council’s next move will be. In Thatcham’s case, meetings have taken place and a detailed reply has been made to many of the points raised in the survey (and other matters that were not). TTC elected not to respond to the questionnaire as it was presented, mainly because only two choices of aspects of particular concern or interest could be selected, whereas the reality is that anyone responding in a thoughtful and measured way would probably have something to say on all of them. I understand that the response also refers to flooding issues and to the strategic gap between Thatcham and Newbury, which TTC regards as very important (presumably because a number of its residents do) although it appears that these are of less interest to those drafting the survey.

When completed, the document will form part of WBC’s official submission as part of its local plan refresh. The National Planning Policy framework demands that consultation take place before the council’s strategy is finalised. I trust that the external examiner will be convinced that the work done represents a suitably robust and inclusive assessment of the various views that exist. if they don’t, then I suppose there may be a further delay. I’m not sure if a consultation which seems mainly to involve clicking on pictures could be so regarded.

It could be argued that the best thing would be to scrap what’s happened so far and start again properly and then communicate the consultation in the normal ways. The survey as it stands promises engagement with “stakeholders” but this is a conveniently vague word that can include or exclude more or less anyone. Such exercises risk being expensive wastes of time if they don’t include all the groups that might have useful knowledge and who will have to bear the consequences of the decisions. (In the same way, if a council were to be having a discussion about how, say, its planning procedures were to be reformed it would be insane to do this without getting the views of developers, district councillors, members of the public and parish and town councils. Not to do so would risk the inference that the matter had been pre-determined.) What view the inspector will take of the document that emerges from this survey remains to be seen.

Thursday 21 April 2022

This week’s news

• Kings Road in Newbury is to be closed between April 25 and May 3, due to a nearby connected construction site. There will be a diversion in place for all vehicles and more information can be found here.

• Attention gin-lovers – City Arts Newbury and Berkshire Botanicals gin company are teaming up for an exciting fundraising event at the Globe pub. The event will include: gin tasting with Berkshire Botanicals, food from Fink Street Foods, a free drink from the bar, artist demonstrations and displays, as well as live sketching. The money raised will go towards improving the City Arts Newbury building and future art events. The event is being held on Wednesday 27 April, 7pm to 9pm. See here to find out more and book your tickets.

• The Mayor of Newbury is currently hosting an online charity raffle to help raise funds for The Mayor’s Benevolent Fund and Newbury Speakability. There are 15 exciting prizes up for grabs, including a day at the races for two at Newbury Racecourse and £150 voucher for Waitrose. Tickets are £10 for 10 entries and will be available until the Sunday 8 May. The winners will be drawn on Monday 9 May. If you would like further information see here, or contact the Mayor’s Office mayor@newbury.gov.uk. Click here if you would like to enter the raffle.

• Thank you to everyone who donated to Alzheimer’s at Newbury Tesco Extra, which thanks to your help has now raised an amazing £12,084. The money is going towards the charity, Alzheimer’s Research UK, which helps bring about life-changing treatments to those suffering from dementia.

• Next month we welcome back the Newbury Spring Festival 2022, for a full two weeks of world-class musical events from 7 to 21 May. The annual festival has been on hiatus for three years due to the pandemic and will be returning with an incredible array of talent from around the world. There will be everything from classical choirs and orchestras, to Bollywood brass, Gahanna drums, Irish folk, jazz, poetry, musicals, ballet, opera, quartets, duos, soloists and so much more: truly something for everyone. There will also be community projects, workshops, interviews and several free events for people of all ages. Check out the festivals full broacher of events here and check out their website for more information and to buy tickets.

• Newbury Town Council‘s April newsletter includes news about the bandstand, civic award winners, Newbury in Bloom and upcoming meetings.

• The latest edition of the Hamstead Hornet, which covers life in the village of Hamstead Marshall, can be seen here.

The survey, again

I made some comments in this column last week about a “survey” which had appeared on social media inviting “community members” in Newbury and Thatcham to “have their say on the future of West Berkshire.” My advice was then, and still is now, to have nothing to do with it until it’s been made clear on the survey itself who has initiated it and for what purpose the information is being gathered. I think this is an important point of principle for any survey, not just this one. Otherwise it’s like someone coming up to you in the street and saying “give me £20 for charity.” What charity? you ask. “I’m not going to tell you.” What will the money be used for? “None of your business.”

Whatever comparison one uses, it seems to be a pretty indifferent piece of work, a sentiment echoed by everyone to whom I’ve spoken. One person, who is experienced in such municipal matters, said they thought it looked a bit like one of theyr children’s school IT projects. Indeed, a survey done by 12-year-old Joely Rice concerning the possible uses for the old school in Shaw-cum-Donnington (see below) was in many ways better than this one. I see that the link has been provided in this week’s NWN (good luck with typing that lengthy url). I’m not going to link to is until the origin and purpose of this is specified and until I’ve had a couple of questions answered by West Berkshire Council (which are promised) including whether or not it’s happy with the inference that the residents of these two towns are on their own being asked to decide the future of the entire district. I’d also be more willing to promote it if Newbury and Thatcham Town Councils were happy with it. To date, it doesn’t appear that either is.

Joely’s survey (conclusion)

I’ve mentioned twice before (on 23 and 31 March, see below) about a survey that 12-year-old Shaw-cum-Donnington resident Joely Rice created to find out what residents wanted to see happen to the old school building. The survey closed on 18 April and two days later there was a meeting of the parish council at which the findings were reported. There were 112 new responses made since some new questions were added a few weeks ago with an overwhelming (97%) feeling that the building should be retained for the community. The most popular proposed uses were as a café and/or a multi-purpose space for hire (several local organisations including the Corn Exchange has already expressed an interest in hiring it). Other suggested uses included a community shop, a quiet study space and fitness classes for pensioners. In addition, 85% felt that the history of the school should be recorded and celebrated. I understand that Joely Rice is gathering some of these records and her next project may well be top publish some of these on-line.

This is only the first step, albeit a very important one. The main issue is seeing whether the Diocese of Oxford is willing to sell the old school and on what terms. The matter is complicated by the terms of the contract under which it was originally gifted the building. These specify that it must be used for educational purposes, something that would probably be satisfied were the proceeds to be given to WBC as a contribution towards the costs of the new primary school in the parish. A number of grants and low-interest loans are available for such purposes so it won’t all need to come from the Shaw-cum-Donnington piggy bank. One of the pre-conditions for any grant is proof that the community is behind the project. Thanks to Joley’s survey, this seems to have been established. The work isn’t over yet and further public engagement may be needed. At least the parish council now knows to whom it can to turn for help with this when the need arises.

Thursday 14 April 2022

This week’s news

• One of the strangest administrative anomalies in the district – the “rotten borough” of Sandleford – seems set to be resolved soon. This was created in expectation of the housing development of that name being completed before the 2019 elections. Nothing remotely like that happened, however, but the war survived with a grand total of three electors. Click here for a separate post describing (from the point of view of one of its ward members) more on this and what might happen next, as well as a link to a short story I wrote inspired by this fiasco.

• Newbuy’s Victoria Park has a fantastic new attraction just in time for the Easter Holidays. The wildlife-themed Newbury Adventure Golf opened last weekend, with 18-holes, full of obstacles and exciting features. The course is just £4.95 per person for all 18 holes and the facility will be open on weekends as well as school and bank holidays. If all goes well, this will be extended to 7 days a week. To book your round, visit the website here.

• The Berkshire Youth Waterside Centre is celebrating their award of £400,000 in funding from The National Lottery Community Fund. The money will go towards supporting a wide range of activities for local young people, particularly those who are vulnerable or disadvantaged, as well as the wider community. Right now the Waterside Centre is putting on a whole range of fun, free sport activities to enjoy over the Easter holidays, in collaboration with MNR Coaching. To see the full roster of activities, check here.

• The Newbury EasterFest 2022 this weekend will be full of Alice in Wonderland-themed fun. The open event will take place on Northbrook and Bartholomew Street from the 15 to 17 April and you can find the activity schedule hereand more information about the event here.

• Over Easter weekend (15 to 18 April) many bus services will be completely free thanks to West Berkshire Council, Reading Buses and Thames Travel. Check out the West Berkshire Council website for more details and check here to see a detailed list of which services will be applicable.

• There is still time to take part in the local Easter Egg Hunt, which is on-going until the 24 April. All you have to do is make a donation to Swings & Smiles children’s charity, which will let you download the trail sheet. Alternatively you can make your donation and pick up a trail sheet in-person from The Ugly Duckling in Newbury town centre. Take a look at the Visit Newbury website for more information on these events.

• Massive congratulations to the St Bartholomew’s Senior Lacrosse team, who came out top of their division at the National Schools Lacrosse Championships. This was the first time in two years the usually annual competition took place, following a hiatus due to the pandemic. The tournament was held at the Aldershot Garrison Sports Centre, with more than 3,000 girls playing for nearly 200 teams in eight divisions. The St Bart’s girls played spectacularly well, beating some of the best school lacrosse teams in the country. Also a special well done to those in the team who were titled ‘players of the tournament’: Georgia Humphreys, Izzy Duly, Gemma Moon and Anna Colston. You can read more details on this story here.

• It’s time for the local youngsters to get their cameras out, now Newbury Weekly News have opened entries for this years’ Young Photographer of the Year competition. This year’s theme is Landscapes and the prize is a £50 Amazon gift voucher. The judging categories include: Junior (Years 3 to 6), Senior (Years 7-13) and judges choice (anyone from Years 3-13). To enter email your entry to phil.cannings@newburynews.co.uk along with the child’s name, school name, year group, and contact details. Those under 16 should also have the name and contact details of a parent/guardian included as well. The deadline for entry is the 27 May. Happy snapping!

• The Lion, Newbury, has been awarded the title of The Campaign for Real Ale’s West Berks Pub of the Year 2022. Pub owners, father and son Kevin and Sam Archibald, took over The Lion in 2019 and since then the pub has become renowned for its quality selection of beer and ales. Earlier this year, the establishment was also included in the Good Beer Guide (2022), so it’s clear their efforts are being recognised. Congratulations to the both the owners and the staff team for their great work. For more details, see here.

• There is a vacancy for Parish Clerk at Hamstead Marshall Parish Council. See here for how to apply by the application deadline of 22 April.

• Kings Road in Newbury is to be closed between April 25 and May 3 due to a nearby connected construction site. There will be a diversion in place for all vehicles and more informatiuon can be found here.

• Newbury Town Council‘s April newsletter includes news about the bandstand, civic award winners, Newbury in Bloom and upcoming meetings.

• Ukrainian refugees are starting to arrive in our area. If you would be interested in offering your home, contact 01635 503579 or ukraine@westberks.gov.uk or visit this page to find out more information. Another way you can help is by making a donation here. Please also join the Newbury Ukraine Support facebook group.

• Newbury Liberal Democrats are campaigning to pedestrianise parts of Newbury town centre, namely Northbrook Street and the Market Place. If you too would like to see parts of the town pedestrianised, then you can sign the petition here. If you would like to know more about the campaign, see here.

• The latest edition of the Hamstead Hornet, which covers life in the village of Hamstead Marshall, can be seen here.

Readibus emerges from the tunnel

It’s been quite some time since I last wrote about this. This isn’t because the problem has been solved or that I’ve got bored but because nothing much has happened (until this week). Like a train stuck in a tunnel it’s been more or less invisible, except to those directly involved in the issue (including the users of the service).

In brief summary, Readibus provides a specialist and, in West Berkshire at least, unique community transport service, mainly for those with mobility problems. After several decades of fruitful partnership with WBC, matters went badly off the rails a few years ago and haven’t been fixed yet. Until these issues are solved, funding from WBC has been cut and the many users of the service are thus finding it less useful and convenient than previously.

The main bone of contention has been a clause which would require Readibus to gain prior approval from WBC for any statements made. These “gagging clauses” – WBC dislikes the term though it’s hard to know what else to call them – are being opposed by charities across the country as representing a threat to charities’ independence and integrity and as a means by which the donors can effectively suppress criticism and purchase reputational advantage. The irony is that WBC has suffered reputational damage as a result of insisting on something that was in part designed to prevent this very thing.

Another point of friction was the omission from the Council’s 2019/20 budget proposals public consultation of the proposal for a 68% cut to ReadiBus’ funding, WBC deciding that a public consultation with service users on the proposals was “not appropriate” as “a significant number of them had learning difficulties.” Aside from any other considerations, this was simply not true. Shortly before Christmas 2021 the Local Government Ombudsman agreed with Readibus’ complaint on this point and found the council to be at fault. WBC was told to apologise, review its procedures and pay £300 in compensation (the maximum the LGO could impose). It was then hoped that discussions between the two parties would re-start with a view to trying to re-boot what had long been a popular and important service. With an ageing population, it’s likely to be more rather than less required in the future. I understand that, as of 14 April, no such meeting had taken place.

On that same date, I learned that a petition on the subject on the WB Lib Dem’s website recently received its 1,500th signature. The significance of this is that, under the WBC constitution, the matter must be debated (for up to 15 minutes) by WBC’s full council. This might be scheduled to happen during the summer. 15 minutes is not a long time but it at least gives the matter a public airing and prevents it sinking into the long grass where some at WBC might prefer it remained. It also shows that at least 1,500 people believe that the matter is of importance. As the clock ticks round to the next election in just over a year’s time, that consideration might carry increasing weight.

Hamstead Marshall’s gravel

It appears that the Craven Quarry in Hamstead Marshall, for many years inactive, will soon be re-opened. West Berkshire Council’s Minerals Evidence Paper in November 2020 notes that Craven Keep has “reserves of 55,000 tonnes, with two years remaining for extraction.” Questions the Parish Council has asked include: what has changed to make the previously inactive site now viable; where exactly the extraction will take place; if there are any risks that the works will destabilise nearby structures; what monitoring conditions regarding pollution will apply; and when the site was last inspected.

Then there’s the matter of the lorries. The route/s they will be permitted to use don’t seem certain but 55,000 tonnes would, assuming 20-tonne trucks, require about 2,750 journeys. There are about 500 working days in these two years, so that’s five to six journeys a day. Anyone who likes watching lorries may wish to check out house prices in Hamstead Marshall as there’ll be quite a few to see.

As the current permission appears to exclude adding any imported material to fill the 55,000-tonne gap, one assumes that the end result will be a pond or lake. This might prove to be an adornment to the village. Quite a bit of noise and dirt to get through first, though. If there’s any further news, HMPC has promised to keep us informed.

A strange survey

My attention was recently drawn to a very odd looking survey about the future of Newbury and Thatcham. There’s certainly plenty of debate about these matters at the moment. I’m not going to give you the link because, for the reasons I’m about to provide, I don’t think you should have anything to do with it, at least not until the many problems with it have been sorted out.

“Newbury and Thatcham community members! Shape the future of West Berkshire for 2050,” the heading reads, followed by the instruction to “answer this survey.” There are so many problems with just this bit that I hardly know where to start.

“Community members” is a wonderful example of the fatuous marketing-speak that now prevails (like the hideous phrase “having a conversation around” rather than “discussing”). The word the copywriters were groping for was “residents.” It also seems that residents of those two towns alone are being invited to “shape the future” of the district. What about the rest of us? Do we get a say in this? West Berkshire Council has long been accused, fairly or otherwise, of being less concerned with the areas away from its centre than it might be. It’s taken some steps to redress this. Comments like this risk putting matters back ten years.

And what does “shape the future” try to mean? What it really means is “contribute to a discussion about.” The residents, of these towns or of the whole district, aren’t going to shape anything on their own. Westminster and Whitehall will have a lot to say about that. They’re not mentioned either.

As for the photos, the less said about those the better. If the aim was to pick two that showed the towns in the most unattractive possible light then job done.

I’m not finished yet, not by a long chalk. What’s so special about 2050? If – as I suspect it might be – this has something to do with the new 30-year vision that’s demanded for large developments such as the 2,500-homes plans for Thatcham, then the date should be at least 2054 if we assume that the local plan refresh won’t be done before 2024 (even so, most of its decisions won’t last for more than 15 years). “2054” would require explanation, though. “2050” doesn’t. What this date is trying to convey is an aspirational future time about a generation hence, close enough to still be relevant to many yet living but far enough away to make it clear that momentous changes may be planned which you can help “shape.”

Then it says “answer the survey.” There’s no “please”, no “thanks in advance.” In any case, you can’t “answer” a survey. You can “respond to” or “participate in” it. You can “answer” a questionnaire, or questions in a survey: but a survey involves expressing opinions; and opinions aren’t answers. For anyone who thinks I’m being nit-picking, I’d say that we have different words to describe different things for a reason, just as there is all the difference in the world between the chords of A7 and A Maj7, between thirty-one and thirteen and between crimson and scarlet.

There are two other massive problems with the “survey” which are much more serious than these presentational issues. The first is that there’s no clue as to who is running it; the second is that there’s no information about to what use the findings will be put. These are fundamental. If you push on through the rather vacuous questions – the answers to which could be used to justify almost any conclusion – you come to a page where you have to enter your email address to proceed where you had to agree to T&C’s. The latter are only revealed when you click on the question about why the email address is needed, which seems less than straightforward (best practice should surely be that the T&Cs are clickable from the page on which you’re asked to agree to them, not hidden away somewhere else). I stopped at this point.

I put some of these points to the communications team at WBC on 13 April and received the biggest surprise of all: they said they knew nothing about it. Why anyone would want to run a “survey” about the “future” of the district, as “shaped” only by the “community members” of the two largest towns, without the knowledge of the district council is beyond me. Until these anonymities, ambiguities and solecisms are fixed (or, better still, the whole thing is re-done and launched properly), I’d advise you not to waste your time in completing it or passing it on to anyone else: should you come across it at all, of course. You won’t be getting any link to this from us.

Thursday 7 April 2022

This week’s news

• You won’t be short of eggciting things to do this Easter holiday. There will be a craft pop-up at Mint Velvet in Parkway, between 11 and 13 April and Easter Egg Hunts between 9 and 24 April . To take part in the Egg Hunt, all you have to do is make a donation to Swings & Smiles children’s charity, which will let you download the trail sheet. Alternatively you can make your donation and pick up a trail sheet in-person from The Ugly Duckling in Newbury town centre. Take a look at the Visit Newbury website for more information on these events.

• If that’s not enough Easter entertainment for you, then Newbury EasterFest 2022 will also be a weekend full of Alice in Wonderland-themed fun. The open event will take place on Northbrook and Bartholomew Street and activities will include: Easter eggs hunts, meet-and-greets with Alice and her Wonderland friends, live music, street food, artisan market stalls, various craft workshops and all sorts of games and activities. The free event will take place from the 15 to 17 April and you can find the activity schedule here and more information about the event here. There’s something there for all ages so you won’t want to miss out.

• Penny was pleased to be invited to visit The Fair Close Centre on Newtown Road this week to find out about this vibrant social hub for senior citizens that offers fun, food, friendship, hairdressing and a men’s shed carpentry workshop. They also run a weekly Dementia Cafe and deliver hundreds of meals of wheels every week. Everyone was so friendly and the food looked so tempting that she ended up staying for lunch. See their website here for more details about what Fair Close offers to independent residents over 65.

• Newbury Town Council‘s April newsletter includes news about the bandstand, civic award winners, Newbury in Bloom and upcoming meetings.

Newbury Town Council may have to close playground at Digby Road as vandals have caused considerable damage to the play equipment this week. Two children’s slides have been vandalised and sprayed with graffiti. The slides are most likely beyond repair, and it is in question as to whether they can be replaced due to the costs of such equipment. In the last week there has been a wave of graffiti and damage throughout Newbury, including some of the Town Council’s plays areas and in Victoria Park.

• As mentioned previously, the next Hamstead Marshall Wildlife Group’s April meeting is on How to Live Gently on Earth at the White Hart Inn in Hamsptead Marshall, on Thursday 14 April from 6.30pm til 9.25pm. Enborne Primary School will discuss how to help young people help the environment. BBOWT will give a presentation about its work at Snelsmore and Greenham Common, there will be a talk by West Berkshire Council Leader Lynne Doherty and an invitation to the audience to give opinions on priorities in the community. Finally there will be updates by Anne Budd from HMWG. Book your place with anne.budd1@btinternet.com.

• Good news that over the Easter weekend (15 to 18 April) many bus services will be completely free thanks to West Berkshire Council, Reading Buses and Thames Travel. Check out the West Berkshire Council website for more details and check here to see a detailed list of which services will be applicable.

• Looking for a new way to help the community? The Newbury Soup Kitchen is currently looking for volunteers – particularly those who can help collect and sort donations and stock vans. The job requires a lot of lifting and carrying up and down stairs, but hours are flexible and can be made to suit your schedule. If that sounds like it could be you then apply via their website.

• West Berkshire Council’s Household Waste Recycling Centre (HWRC) on Newtown Road, Newbury, is extending its Thursday opening hours over the summer period. The new opening hours will be Thursday 9am to 8pm. All other days will have the regular opening hours of 9am to 6pm. More info here.

• So far, over 50 households from West Berkshire have offered to share their homes with refugees fleeing Ukraine. The Ukrainians have not yet arrived in Berkshire, due to on-going administration issues and safeguarding checks, but they are hopefully due to arrive in the coming weeks. If you would be interested in offering your home, contact 01635 503579 or ukraine@westberks.gov.uk or visit this page to find out more information. Also if you want to help, but cannot offer you home, you can also make a donation here. Please also join the Newbury Ukraine Support facebook group.

• Newbury Liberal Democrats are campaigning to pedestrianise parts of Newbury town centre. The group is petitioning West Berkshire Council to “experiment” with pedestrianising Northbrook Street, between the hours of 10am to midnight, as well as Market Place for 24 hours a day. If you yourself would like to see parts of the town pedestrianised, then you can sign the petition here. If you would like to know more about the campaign, see here.

• In line with the changes outlined in the UK government’s Environmental Act 2021, West Berkshire Council will be introducing a free, weekly food waste collection across the region. This aims to massively reduce the waste going landfill and the food will instead be composted for use by local farmers. In order to prepare for the changes, aiming to come into place this autumn, the council has released a new survey regarding Food Waste Habits and would like as many locals as possible to contribute. Please click here to learn more about the Councils food waste collection plans and click here to take the survey for yourself. The survey will be available until the 3 May.

• As mentioned previously, The West Berkshire Muslim Centre is appealing for transport for asylum seekers and refugees in the local area. As the holy month of Ramadan continues over the course of April, volunteers are needed to drive those that observe Ramadan to and from the local mosques so they can break their fast with others. For more information on how to help, call 01635 725825 or email hello@communityunited.uk.

• And another thing that you perhaps didn’t know, that Shaw Cemetery holds the secret to Newbury’s connection with the Endurance? Click here for the story of Shackleton’s engineer Lewis Rickinson.

• Newbury’s Toby Carvery is asking for donations of Easter Eggs. The restaurant is working alongside local social services to get goodies to vulnerable children within their care, to ensure every child has a happy Easter. If you would like to help, just drop off your donation at the Toby Carvery on London Road.

• The March edition of the Hamstead Hornet, which covers life in the village of Hamstead Marshall, has recently been published. Items covered include an upcoming election (“possibly the parish’s first ever”), speeding, the forthcoming jubilee, the wildlife group, Good Hope farm, planning applications and Gary the Postie.

• There is a vacancy for Parish Clerk at Hamstead Marshall Parish Council. See here for how to apply by the application deadline of 22 April.

Educafé

There’s an article on p6 of this week’s NWN about this wonderful exercise in connectivity which was the brainchild of Colline Watts (of Colline’s Kitchen) and Clare Middleton (of the Berkshire School of English) and first opened its doors at The Globe in Newbury in the summer of 2021. Since then its grown, had a Christmas break and now found a new home in Newbury Library. Educafé runs from 11 am to 2pm every Wednesday and is free. Over 200 people now attend each week, participating in a wide range of activities from English conversation classes to knitting and from games of dominos to advice from local support groups.

Penny’s been involved in this pretty much from the outset, so most Wednesdays see her get on the bus to Newbury (this absence partly explains why Penny Post is published a bit later on Thursdays). The time she spends there is, however, very productive. She helps make blankets for the Newbury Soup Kitchen and always returns with stories of people she’s met, ideas that have been exchanged, projects discussed or concerns expressed, all of which helps inform what she writes in the newsletters, so reaching a still wider group of people.

Educafe’s expansion across the district is planned with taster sessions confirmed at three other WBC libraries: Thatcham Library, noon to 2.30pm on Friday 20 and 27 May; Hungerford Library, noon to 2.30pm on Friday 17 and 24 June; and Theale Library, noon to 2pm on Friday 1 and 8 July (I bet WBC is glad now that it was persuaded not to close these). If these prove as successful as Newbury’s, the plan is then to make these regular and permanent. The use of other venues is also being considered.

“This has really caught the imagination of the West Berkshire community,” Clare Middleton told Penny Post on 7 April. “Our aim is to create safe spaces for people to meet, learn and make new friends and to maintain health and wellbeing. Our community café is growing fast, reaching and benefitting hundreds of people each week. It has been described by some as a new social movement. Our priority is to protect and sustain what we’ve started and to continue to evolve and grow to reach a wider community.” Specific aims, many of which are already being realised, include supporting those with mental-health and loneliness issues, provide free English-language learning, helping to level-up health inequalities and sharing important news from WBC and other key local organisations in a range of languages and platforms.

If you haven’t been down yet but fancy a quick peek at some of the many things that go on, have a look at this videowhich Penny has recently made.

Although the idea was conceived by two local people who continue to run it as a community interest company, WBC has become an important partner. Not only does it provide the venues and equipment such as IT kit – and books, of course – which form part of the activities but it also has a pre-existing clientele (the library doesn’t cease its normal operation during the Educafés). To this is added the people whom Educafé itself has attracted, many of whom might not normally visit a library at all. I spoke to a member of staff at Newbury Library who told me that the venture was particularly welcome as it helped fulfil a number of objectives (including increasing footfall, improving social connectivity and providing education) of the Library Service’s policy. “Some of these things we were providing anyway,” I was told, “but Educafé has brought even more, and in a different way. All the staff here are very enthusiastic about it.” It seems that this is one of these happy situations where the interests of two different organisations are closely aligned but not competing. The result seems to be that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts: it’s certainly not possible to say that about every venture. Long may it continue to grow and spread. For my part, I shall continue to reconcile myself to the fact that Penny will be away from her desk for most of Wednesdays, but we’ll do our best to make sure the Penny Post newsletters aren’t too late as a result. If they are, though, this might be why…

Thursday 31 March 2022

This week’s news

• As mentioned last week, a campaign has been re-launched by the Newbury Liberal Democrats to pedestrianise parts of Newbury town centre. The group is petitioning West Berkshire Council to “experiment” with pedestrianising Northbrook Street, between the hours of 10am to midnight, as well as Market Place for 24 hours a day. They have proposed that this would make Newbury a safer and greener place to live. If you yourself would like to see parts of the town pedestrianised, then you can sign the petition here. If you would like to know more about the campaign, see here.

• The Action for the River Kennet’s Thames Eels project has identified over two hundred barriers that are preventing eels, and other fish, from migrating safely along the River Kennet and River Pang. They have identified priority sites for eel passage and are now planning projects to carry out the practical work to remove the barriers.

• Last week’s Ukraine Fundraiser at Englefield House raised over £30,000 thanks to a raffle hosted by local celebrity Chris Tarrant. The event was organised by Beenham resident, Melissa Jones who also owns the Pop-Up Kitchen. For the full report and list of special guests, have a look here on Newbury Today.

• The West Berkshire Muslim Centre is appealing for transport for asylum seekers and refugees in the local area. With the holy month of Ramadan starting on Saturday 2 April and with the help of Community United West Berkshire, volunteers are needed to drive those that observe the month of Ramadan to and from the local mosques so they can break their fast with others. For more information on how to help, call 01635 725825 or email hello@communityunited.uk.

• Kings Road in Newbury is to be closed between April 25 and May 3 due to a nearby connected construction site. There will be a diversion in place for all vehicles and more informatiuon can be found here.

• Healthwatch West Berkshire is appealing for local survey responses, regarding your thoughts on covid-19 testing and vaccination. The survey can be found here.

• The next Hamstead Marshall Wildlife Group‘s April meeting is on How to Live Gently on Earth at the White Hart Inn in Hamsptead Marshall, on Thursday 14 April from 6.30pm til 9.25pm. Enborne Primary School will discuss how to help young people help the environment. BBOWT will give a presentation about their work at Snelsmore and Greenham Common, there will be a talk by West Berkshire Council Leader Lynne Doherty and an invitation to the audience to give opinions on priorities in the community. Finally there will be updates by Anne Budd from HMWG. Book your place with anne.budd1@btinternet.com.

• Did you know that West Berkshire Libraries Newbury branch is now offering free IT support sessions? Whether you need help filling out online forms, figuring out how to Zoom, downloading e-magazines or sorting out pictures, Newbury Library is offering bookable 30 or 60 min sessions. To find out more or book a slot, email rav.gopal@westberks.gov.uk.

• And another thing that you perhaps didn’t know, that Shaw Cemetery holds the secret to Newbury’s connection with the Endurance? Click here for the story of Shackleton’s engineer Lewis Rickinson.

• Newbury’s Toby Carvery is launching its Easter appeal, asking for donations of Easter Eggs. The restaurant is working alongside local social services to get goodies to vulnerable children within their care, to ensure every child has a happy Easter. If you would like to help, just drop off your donation at the Toby Carvery on London Road.

• There is a vacancy for Parish Clerk at Hamstead Marshall Parish Council. See here for how to apply by the application deadline of 22 April.

Enborne’s solar farm

This matter, which has been mentioned before (see below) and doubtless will again was discussed at the meeting of Enborne PC on 14 March. The minutes of the meeting reported on the answers given to questions asked at the January meeting of the Poor’s Charity Trustees. One of these questions was: “What does the Parish Council intend to do about the ditches on the southern end of the Poor’s Allotment to alleviate the existing flooding in Spring Gardens?” As the answer to this seems to address many of the objections to the scheme, it seems worth quoting this in full:

“The Trustees [of the Poor’s Charity] have spent a good deal of their valuable, voluntary time on this question in trying to better understand all aspects of the “existing water” problem. We have written to West Berkshire Council as the Lead Local Flood Authority (LLFA) with our conclusions. We have copied the residents. The situation is complicated by:

“Multiple water sources related to the topography, geology and hydrology of the area; the ownership of the land within the Spring Gardens estate and the relationship between the various landowners and parties responsible for maintenance within the estate; the land drain installed within the estate, presumably with the intention to mitigate the existing water overflow and questions over whether this is being maintained as it may not be working as intended.

“There is no doubt that water flows from the Parish Field onto the adjacent part of the Spring Gardens estate. The water follows the contours downhill as it always has, probably since the last ice age and certainly from before Spring Gardens existed. This outflow could easily be directed into the land drain on the Spring Gardens estate, and we would suggest that the owners of the land drain look at building a more direct inflow than currently exists. Currently, the land drain relies on water dropping through a gravel layer on top of the drain and through perforations in the drain.

“The Trustees are more than willing to work with the various stakeholders in the Spring Gardens estate and will consider all reasonable, practical and achievable solutions.”

Joely’s survey (continued)

What do the Bishop of Oxford, the homebuilders Taylor Wimpey and David Wilson, two local councils and a 12-year-old girl in Shaw-cum-Donnington have in common? The answer, as mentioned last week, is that all are one way or another involved in the fate of the former school in the village. The land-ownership issue is a slightly complex one involving the original conditions of the gift of the building to the diocese of Oxford and, if it is now sold, what will happen to the proceeds and the building itself (a matter in which West Berkshire and ScD Parish Councils have an interest). This might be worth going into later: for now, I was more concerned with finding out more about what had prompted Joely Rice to decide that an online consultation needed to be set up and that she was the person to do this.

“Joely went to the school,” her mother Kelly told me this week. “When the news broke just before Christmas that the building was threatened she decided that she needed to do something. We were really keen to support her.” Joely is home-educated so the work ended up being a pretty comprehensive cross-curricular project. English, maths, IT, design, history and geography were all involved: so too was something school projects rarely provide, the knowledge that the work would be of immediate local relevance. 170 responses had been received by 28 March so it’s to be expected there have been more since. The consultation will run until 20 April, on which date the parish council will study the results and consider its next move.

What other things might Joely get involved with next? There’s certainly plenty that needs sorting and asking people what they think is a very important step. Organising an online consultation seems very easy until you start doing one yourself. You’re never too young (or, let it not be forgotten, too old) to learn skills like this. Knowing you can do one new thing also makes it easier to embark on other different ones with confidence. If I’d done something like this when I was 12 I’m sure I’d now be a better and more accomplished person.

Sandleford’s delay

The words “Sandleford” and “delay” are often seen adjacent to each other as this large project in south Newbury has seen plenty of delays. Indeed, it has been nothing but delays for nothing has yet been built despite the project having been conceived over a decade ago. The two developers have found it hard to agree on anything of substance and West Berkshire Council has tried, and failed, to get them to provide an over-arching masterplan for the project. Opposition to the scheme has continued throughout this period, spearheaded by the Say No to Sandleford group. This calls on West Berkshire Council “to develop smaller more sustainable mixed use brownfield sites and sustainable housing in the surrounding villages.” Very similar sentiments have been voiced in respect of the rather larger 2,500-homes plan for NE Thatcham (in which not two but four developers will be involved so, one might argue doubling – or perhaps quadrupling – the risk of similar friction).

In October 2020, WBC refused the applications which had been lodged in May of that year, citing 14 separate reasons which spanned just about every aspect of planning policy. The applicants appealed to the Planning Inspectorate and the Secretary of State then announced that he was calling the matter in for him to decide. The appeal hearing was something of a marathon, lasting for almost a month in May 2021. The report was sent to the new Secretary of State, Michael Gove, on 29 November 2021 and a decision promised “no later than 28 February 2022.” On 9 February this was changed to “no later than 28 March 2022.” On 24 March this was changed to “on or before 9 May 2022.” One wonders when all this will end.

Even if Michael Gove finds in favour of the applicants, WBC will still be faced with much the same problems as before. I don’t know if a compulsory purchase has been considered but that seems the only way out of the impasse. If WBC did own the land, it would provide a wonderful opportunity to build – perhaps on a smaller scale than envisaged – some homes of the kind that the district really needs and with exemplar environmental features. Many, including the Say No group, feel that it is in wrong place regardless of its composition and design. Mind you, that’s always the problem with planning – everyone agrees that homes need to be built as long as they’re put somewhere else.

Thursday 24 March 2022

This week’s news

• A campaign has been re-launched by the Newbury Liberal Democrats to pedestrianise parts of Newbury town centre. The group is petitioning West Berkshire council to “experiment” with pedestrianising Northbrook Street, between the hours of 10am to midnight, as well as the Market Place for 24 hours a day. They have proposed that this would make Newbury as safer and greener place to live. If you yourself would like to see parts of the town pedestrianised, then you can sign the petition here. If you would like to know more about the campaign, see here.

The Newbury Town Civic Awards recognise the town’s unsung heroes who go above and beyond to help make an exceptional contribution to the Newbury community on a voluntary basis. Congatulations to the 2022 winners: Sukey Russell-Hayward, Newbury Town Civic Award; Soorya Anbumurasoli, Young Person’s Civic Award; The Globe Pub, Business Civic Award; and Tony Hammond, Environmental Contribution Civic Award. For more details please visit Newbury Town Council webpage.

• On Sunday, the year 2 children of Francis Bailey School were out singing at Newbury’s Parkway shopping centre. The delightful sing-song event raised over £200 which will go toward the children’s trip to Wembley’s OVO Arena for the Voice in a Million concert. Francis Bailey, along with many other schools from across West Berkshire, will be joining other children from around the country in this spectacular choir which will consist of over 5,000+ pupils.

• Although news regarding Covid-19 has taken a backburner in the last few weeks, it is still very much among us. Since the lifting of restrictions, cases have begun to rise again in many areas, particularly in West Berkshire. Many local schools have started to feel the effects of pupil and staff absences. St Bartholomew’s school in Newbury has begun to ask its students to return to wearing masks in the classroom, and other schools may be due to join them. Some schools in the West Berkshire area have already had to return back to online learning due to staff shortages. More information can be found here.

• On that note, Healthwatch West Berkshire is appealing for local survey responses, regarding your thoughts on on covid-19 testing and vaccination. The survey can be found here.

• Congratulations to Newbury local, seven-year-old Sienna from The Willows School, Greenham, who has won a competition with the Public Protection Partnership. The competition is part of a campaign to help raise awareness for illegal money lending, so you’ll soon see Sienna’s loan shark design on posters across the area. You can see her winning deign and more of the story here.

• Newbury’s Toby Carvery is launching its Easter appeal, asking for donations of Easter Eggs. The restaurant is working along-side local social services to get goodies to vulnerable children within their care, to ensure every child has a happy Easter. If you would like to help, just drop off your donation at the Toby Carvery on London Road.

• See This Week with Brian for some thoughts on not only the demonstration outside the Council offices last week concerning sewage discharges into our waterways (see Newbury Today’s report here) but also what took place inside the Council office when two motions on the subject were debated. One of these was accused of being political but I think that the epithet could more accurately be ascribed to the other one.

• St Nicolas Church in central Newbury is open for prayer for people of Ukraine every weekday lunchtime 12.30pm till 1.30pm until Easter. At 1pm there will be 10 minutes of prayer led by a different church minister each day organised by Christians Together in the Newbury Area.

• A little heartwarming story here as Newbury Today writes about Charlie the 22-year-old donkey who visited Diamond Quality Care in Greenham. I, for one, never would have assumed that donkeys lived that long or could be a good therapy animal however, the smiles and feedback notes left from the carers say otherwise. See the photos and full story here.

• There is a vacancy for Parish Clerk at Hamstead Marshall Parish Council. See here for how to apply by the application deadline of 22 April.

Birchwood Care Home

We mentioned last week (see below) about the problems here and included some thoughts from portfolio holder Joanne Stewart about the nature of these and what measures were being taken to address them. I spoke to her again on 24 March to see how things were going.

She told me that a new Interim Registered Manager had recently been appointed who had already identified some immediate areas for improvement and started implementing them. As mentioned last week, the main issue concerns record-keeping, particularly with regard to the use of medicines. Joanne Stewart also confirmed that the first recovery plan meeting would be taking place on 31 March and that progress would be measured regularly thereafter.

As it happens, another (private) care home in the area, Alice Bye in Thatcham, recently received its latest CQC report, as reported on p23 of this week’s NWN. It was rated “good” but, as the article reports, very similar problems were identified with regard to errors or potential errors with medication. The report noted that these had improved since the last inspection. This is doubtless something that all care homes will want to take a look at before their turn in the CQC’s spotlight comes round.

Joanne Stewart also pointed out that, as with schools, it’s one thing to get a “good” (or better) ranking but another to maintain it. A change in management, an intake of pupils or residents with particular issues or new regulations which aren’t fully reflected in day-to-day practice can all help send the place back down the snakes-and-ladders board. For Birchwood, it’s perhaps good that there’s not only a new Interim Registered Manager at the home but also a new Service Manager at WBC. Both will be able to look at the issues with fresh eyes. Experience in a job can be good but it can also lead to complacency. New people at the helm are less likely to accept the “that’s how we’ve always done it” justification.

Joely’s survey

There’s a great story on p4 of this week’s NWN. There has been some discussion in Shaw-cum-Donnington about what uses might be found for the former Primary School which is, it appears, under threat of being bought and re-developed. 12-year-old Joely Rice decided that she wouldn’t wait for the grown ups to get their act together so decided to launch a survey herself. You can visit it here.

I called the parish’s Clerk Gillian Durrant to find out a bit more. “I’ve been involved in local councils at several levels for many years and I’ve never before seen something so well thought-out created by by someone so young, ” she told me. “This will also be really helpful for the Parish Council as it will provide solid evidence about what local residents would like to see happen.” Solid evidence, as well as being important to help reach the right decision, is also going to be the first thing that anyone approached for funding will ask to see. Shaw-cum-Donnington is also refreshing its parish plan and the information will doubtless also be useful for that.

The survey had produced over 70 results by 16 March when its findings so far were considered at the meeting of the Parish Council (see below for more on this). The minutes report that “The public overwhelmingly (84%) want the building to be used for the community, and the favourite use is as a café, with an estimated 3,500 visits per annum. Other popular uses are as additional space for Trinity School (perhaps for SEND pupils), a youth club, book exchange and movie club. Other ideas are pilates/yoga classes, adult education, knit and natter groups and eco education.”

Hats off to Joely for coming up with this. Anyone can have ideas but doing something about making them happen is more rare. She has clearly already absorbed an important fact of life, that if you want to get something done you often have to do it yourself. We’re perhaps looking at a future Chair of Donnington-cum-Shaw PC: and, after that, anything’s possible…

A green light for the Lido

A proposal to ensure the future of the Lido at Northcroft Leisure Centre in Newbury was given the go-ahead at a meeting of the Council’s Executive on 24 March.

A WBC statement said that the £5 million proposal was approved “following extensive consultation with local people on how they would like to see their Lido developed and updated. Without this investment, the Lido would have been at risk of closure as it needs important structural work. Residents favoured the creation of a new 50-metre Olympic-sized pool. This will now be developed alongside additional interactive water-play features for children and young people. There will also be improved and accessible changing facilities and more changing cubicles within the grounds.”

The new pool profile will enable “a greater range of water-based exercise to increase fitness and wellbeing. It will also allow competitive swimmers to train in an Olympic-sized pool.” The aim is to increase the duration of the outdoor swimming season from its current ten to twelve weeks per year to a period of six months, from Easter to September.

The investment is projected to increase usage from the current levels of 15 to 20,000 visits per annum to over 50,000 across the six month opening period. This will provide further opportunities for physical activity across West Berkshire.

“This is very exciting news,’ West Berkshire’s Executive Member for Leisure and Culture Howard Woollaston said. “We had a great response from local people and now we’re in a position to move forward with the improvement plan, making the best of this unique facility for future generations. Unfortunately, to achieve the plans, the pool will need to close for the 2022 summer period so that work can be completed and it can reopen, fully refurbished, for summer 2023.”

The Council’s Leisure Strategy for 2022-2032 was also approved at the meeting. The updated Strategy is also “the result of extensive consultation with local people.”

Thursday 17 March 2022

This week’s news

• This week, we would like to shine a light on the wonderful work being done by the Phoenix Lacrosse Club at St Bartholomew’s School. St Bart’s has a long and successful history competing in interschool lacrosse competitions. However, following a difficult decision by the school to discontinue competitive lacrosse, a group of passionate parents have since decided to form a new club, carrying on the tradition and allowing students to continue participating in this beloved sport.

The Phoenix Lacrosse Club was officially formed in late 2021 and began practice in January this year having so far gained 53 members, aged 11 to 18. Since then, the club has enjoyed much success, competing against several independent schools across the region. It has also received enormous support from students, parent, local dignitaries and even secured funding from several charitable bodies.

Lacrosse is typically practiced by and associated with independent schools, with St Bart’s having been one of the very few state schools in the country to participate in the sport competitively. While the Phoenix Club is still attended by St Bartholomew’s students, by separating from the school, now students from anywhere can join – the club now has members from all around West Berkshire. Alan Moon, club chair says “Lacrosse is a fantastic sport, and we want to ensure it is open to everyone in the local area. Ultimately, we hope to see one of our members go all the way to the 2028 Olympics.”

If you would like to learn more about this fabulous club, you can read our extended article about it here. If you would like to find out about how you can be involved, please contact Chris Winchester, Schools Liaison Officer, 07803 196998, chris@double-bass.org.

• The Corn Exchange Newbury’s Cinderella Pantomime has been nominated for Best Digital Pantomime in the UK award. Directed by Claire Plested and Adam Brown, Cinderella 2021/22 was the second pantomime by the Corn Exchange to be offered as a live broadcast, following Aladdin 2020/21 (also a Plested and Brown show). The pandemic forced theatres to find new innovative ways to reach audiences and the Corn Exchange has excelled in this transition. The winners of the award will be announced at a ceremony in April. We’ll keep our fingers crossed for them.

• A new Honesty Coffee Shop has opened this week in Newbury’s Parkway. The first 100 people who pop in and buy any hot drink will receive a yummy free Honesty brownie.

• A proposal has been submitted to West Berkshire Council for River View House, a vacant office building located at the Newbury Business Park, to be turned into a new school for children with special needs. The application was submitted by the Hillcrest Children’s Services and if approved, the school will have an intake of around 50 pupils, ages 11 to 18, with complex learning needs. The school could employ up to 37 people and the proposal includes plans redevelop the carpark into a playground.

• Massive congratulations to Mary Hare School boys’ football team which took home the first place trophy at The English Schools’ Football Association (ESFA) deaf schools’ finals in Derby.

• Good news that Newbury Building Society has installed sensory operated lights in the walkway by the Lock, Stock and Barrell pub. Hopefully the pathway will now feel safer, more friendly and less hazardous in dim conditions. If you have used the services of NBS please vote for them in the finals of the British Bank Awards.

• Newbury Town Council continues its appeal to save the bandstand that has been in Victoria Park since 1937. After some emergency repairs, it was decided that a new roof is needed to accommodate the new café and summer concerts. The aim is to have both the new café and bandstand roof repairs completed by summer 2023. You can find out how to help here.

• Congratulations to Shubham Tripartri and Aryan Argawala for becoming the undefeated winners of the Newbury & District Badminton Association’s Year 11 and under tournament at Elstree School.

• There is still plenty of time to plan your entry for Newbury in Bloom 2022 which will take place the week commencing 18 July. Competition guidelines can be seen here.

• A reminder that the TSB branch on Northbrook Street is to close from 7 June. Reportedly, if TSB customers cannot get the services they need via telephone or internet banking, the bank will help you switch to an alternative provider. You can pay in cash and cheques at other local branches in Wantage and Reading or at a Post Office.

• The latest Newbury TC newsletter can be found on its website here. Their March newsletter includes how to get your ticket for the Mayor’s black-tie Fundraising Banquet on Saturday 9 April.

• As the conflict in Ukraine unfortunately continues, here is our summary of local and national appeals as well as the Homes for Ukraine scheme to support.

Birchwood Care Home

There’s an article on p6 of this week’s NWN concerning West Berkshire Council’s (WBC) Birchwood Care Home in Newbury which has been graded as “requires improvement” by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in its report published on 10 March. As the article states, the home had previously enjoyed a “good” rating in June 2021 having been “inadequate” when WBC took it over from a private company a few years previously. It also included a statement from portfolio holder Joanne Stewart describing what action was now being taken.

The impression I got from the piece was that this report had come as something of a surprise to WBC. I therefore called Joanne Stewart on 17 March to see if this was the case. She assured me that, on the contrary, WBC had been aware of issues there for some months and had already shared these with the CQC. WBC has its own care quality team which has been working with the CQC and staff at the Birchwood Care Home to resolve the problems.

One of the key issues raised in the report concerns the lack of clear documentation of when medication has been given, although she stressed that there was “absolutely no evidence” of any harm having been caused – the issue seems rather to be a procedural and evidence-based problem involving poor record-keeping. Writing down what you do is boring and, if not insisted upon, tends to get dropped. The processes are there for a reason, however, as it’s clearly important to record what medicine or treatment is given and when. It’s also easy to see that any investigation into a problem involving poor record-keeping is, for that very reason, going to be problematic.

She also told me that the staff were aware that the inspection was happening and equally aware that serious change is needed there. The patients and their families had also been contacted about the matter. A new Service Manager has been appointed with responsibility for care homes and “shared lives”. Monthly briefing meetings focussing just on WBC’s three care homes have been set up. A care home strategy is being developed with WBC working in conjunction with various partners including private care providers. All these actions pre-date the official announcement from the CQC last week.

“I can only function as the portfolio holder if I see myself as part of the team,” Joanne Stewart told me. “I celebrate the highs and feel the lows. We’ve been working very hard to resolve this and also to ensure that our other two care homes (Notrees in Kintbury and Willows Edge in Newbury) retain their “good” CQC grade, as do our other two regulated services Reablement and Shared Lives. These are personal commitments from me.”

Thursday 10 March 2022

This week’s news

• There was a good turn out to the Candlelit Vigil for Ukraine in Newbury Marketplace last Friday. : “I offer my most sincere thoughts and sympathies to the people of Ukraine and Newbury’s Ukrainian community during this difficult time,” Newbury Mayor Billy Drummond said. “As a council, we would like to offer our solidarity with those who are struggling, and will work to do all that we can, as a local council, to support those affected.” Here is our summary of local and national appeals to support.

• Newbury Town Council has released an appeal to save the bandstand that has been situated in Victoria Park since 1937. After some emergency repairs, it was decided that to accommodate the new cafe and summer concerts, a new roof is needed. The aim is to have both the cafe and bandstand completed by summer 2023. You can find out how to help here.

• The Council has also revealed that Newbury in Bloom is back for 2022, and will take place the week commencing 18 July. After a couple missed years due to the pandemic, the rewards have been boosted also and all the competition guidelines can be seen here.

• Did you know that Newbury College offers a commerical printing and laminating service for the public and local businesses and charities at great prices during termtime? They are perfect for short runs of posters, leaftlets, booklets, photographs, architectural prints for builders, architects and estate agents. It also offers recycled paper and recycled toner cartridges and a laminating up to A1.

• The TSB branch on Northbrook Street is to close on 7 June. According to the letter we have received, if TSB customers cannot get the services they need via telephone or internet banking, the bank will help you switch to an alternative provider. You can pay in cash and cheques at other local branches in Wantage and Reading or at a Post Office. Regarding these, it’s worth remembering that these aren’t free from the threat of closure either. Hungerford, for example, came mighty close to losing its PO a few years back and the threat was only averted as a result of prompt and decisive action by the Town Council to maintain an outreach facility in the Library until a longer-term solution could be found. There is, or certainly was then, a widespread belief that a town the size of Hungerford somehow “had to have” a Post Office. This is not the case. The Post Office currently has an obligation to operate about 11,500 counters but there’s no stipulation as to where these need to be: so, if the PO wished it, they could all be in the Dartmoor or the Isle of Skye. So, if your local PO seems threatened with closure, follow Hungerford Town Council’s lead and take this very seriously. Once closed, these kind of services are very hard to get re-opened.

• The controversy surrounding the decision by West Berkshire Council to proceed with the new sports hub at Monks Lane refuses to go away. Certainly the Newbury Community Football Group has not given up the fight to see football return to Faraday Road. The matter is likely soon to move to the courts as it’s likely that a legal challenge will be mounted. This turns on whether Monks Lane is or is not a replacement facility for Faraday Road, the various WBC documents being unclear on these points. If it is a replacement then it needs to pass the “equal or better” test compared to the old facility; if it is not a replacement, then the situation remains unchanged regarding WBC needing to find one. It certainly seems impossible that something can both be a replacement and not a replacement and the accusation in being made by the NCFG that the planning system has been “deliberately manipulated.” As I’ve mentioned numerous times before, the real problem with this issue is that it started off badly in 2018 and more or less everything since has been done in the wrong order.

In the midst of this miasma of accusations, emails, call ins and legal action, it’s easy to lose sight of two things: first that the new sports hub may, despite its somewhat expensive price tag, prove to be a valuable facility; and second that years on, we are no further forward with the plans for re-developing Faraday Road, which was always the premise by which the whole messy exercise was justified. The entirety of this WBC administration has been spent grappling with this self-inflicted muddle. With the next elections just over a year away, it seems likely that it will prove to be a live issue in that campaign.

• Click here to read the latest newsletter from the Newbury and District Agricultural Society.

• Newbury Town Council holds Saturday Surgeries every week where two Town Councillors listen to residents’ concerns and answer questions every Saturday between 10 am and 12 noon at the steps of the Town Hall.

• The latest Newbury TC newsletter can be found on their website here. Their March newsletter includes how to get your ticket for the Mayor’s black-tie Fundraising Banquet on Saturday 9 April.

• Congratulations to Newbury Building Society for raising £40,000 for their charity partners including £11,660 for the Alzheimer’s Society. Thanks to employee quiz nights, office dress down days and bake sales, the Alzheimer’s Society can now bounce back after the pandemic.

• The Corn Exchange’s new fundraising campaign begins its journey towards the aim of carbon neutrality by 2050. Their ‘Green Shoots Appeal’ is looking to raise over £50,000 for electric vehicle charging points, digital poster signs, installing LED light bulbs and much more. They are relying on support from the local community in order to achieve this important step forward in sustainability and protecting the environment. To find out how you can help, please visit their website.

• Temporary three-way traffic lights are putting Andover Road and St John’s Road in a bit of a sticky situation as traffic is piling up. Expect delays if travelling along the A339.

• Newbury Macular Support Group supports residents with any kind of eyesight condition and is pleased to be re-starting their face-to-face meetings this Tuesday 15 March at 2 pm at Newbury Library. Family members and friends also very welcome to join. For more details please contact Wilma on wilmaandian@yahoo.co.uk or 07544 014533.

• Voting is now open for the 2022 British Bank Awards and Newbury Building Society has been shortlisted for Best Building Society, Best Savings Provider and Best Specialist Mortgage Provider. If you have experienced great service from them, vote for them to become a finalist and you’ll be eligible to enter a prize draw for £1,000. Voting closes on 13 March 2022.

• If you grew up and/or live in and around Newbury Berkshire as an LGBTQIA+ person, Newbury Pride would be grateful if you complete this anonymous survey by mid March in preparation for an exhibition they are planning at West Berkshire Museum.

Enborne’s solar farm

The planning application for the proposed solar farm in Enborne has been lodged and validated and you can see the details here. You can also see this separate section on Enborne PC’s website for more on the project, the origins of which date back to 2017.

Newbury Today and the Newbury Weekly News (on p9) both refer to this application and some of the reactions to it although you’ll get a very different idea of local feelings depending on which headline you read first. The online edition says that the “Solar farm planned for ‘Poors Field’ is condemned” whereas the print version says “Enborne divided on solar plans.” The article itself, which seems identical in both cases, gives roughly equal weight to the views of the opponents and the supporters. Currently there are about twice of many of the former as the latter but that’s quite normal for planning applications.

One of the main concerns, which is picked up in the article and supported my own random glance of some of the objections, concerns flooding. The area of the field and the houses to the south certainly does have a problem with this and probably always has had. The houses in Spring Gardens – note the name – were built between 2003 and 2005 and it’s possible that the flood mitigation measures provided here proved to be inadequate. It also seems likely that these have not been properly maintained. This long-standing issue has become conflated with the solar application. Contrary to what some residents fear, the solar farm is likely to make the situation better, not worse. A planned attenuation pond and other drainage works proposed by WBC should improve matters. In any case, if WBC feels that this won’t happen then the application won’t get passed.

Another concern is the “electromagnetic radiation” the panels will emit. I’ve spoken to several people who know about such things and have had a look online and can see absolutely nothing to substantiate this concern.

It’s also been suggested that the site is not suitable for solar panels. A spokesperson for Calleva Community Energy, on the other hand, said that the site was in many ways ideal as it was south-facing, had no footpaths or other rights of way and was not substantially overlooked. It is true that some houses will have their view changed (which isn’t a planning consideration) but Calleva has said that all possible measures will be taken to mitigate this with vegetation.

The accusation has been made that it would be environmentally destructive as trees and hedges would be removed. Again, Calleva refutes this, saying that this won’t happen and that in fact more hedges and trees would be planted.

One objection claims that the land was “never intended to be used as a solar farm” but was for “agricultural use for the parish.” Leaving aside that the charity was founded in the 19th century long before solar panels (or the climate emergency) existed, this is not what the Poor’s Allotment Charity’s aims and objectives on the Charity Commission’s website specify. These are “to promote any charitable purpose (charitable in English law) for the benefit of the residents of the parish of Enborne in West Berkshire; in particular but not exclusively by the provision of grants to local charities which provide advice and services calculated to relieve the charitable needs of those residents.” Given the low yield which the field currently realises from grazing, it’s hard to see how the charity’s aims are offended by this proposal.

In his letter of support, the Charity’s Chair John Leeson points to some other benefits of the scheme. It would kill of the possibility of the field being developed. The soil, which is too poor for any arable purpose could still be used for grazing post-panels and could also support a planned wildflower meadow. Much of his submission addresses the flooding issue, stressing that the proposed measures should alleviate this. He also refers to the loss of income for charitable causes which taking no action would lead to, which does not fulfil the charity’s aims. About 2.5MW would be generated, enough to power about 700 homes. The ambition also therefore contributes to the climate emergency which WBC has declared and the aspiration – which the Ukraine crisis has made very clear – that as well as being sustainable, new power sources should encourage self-sufficiency for countries, districts and communities.

The three ward members have called the matter in to be considered (probably some time after mid-May) by the Western Area Planning Committee. This will happen regardless of whether the officers are minded to approve the application or not. As this has some district-wide implications in terms of setting precedents and possibly a conflict with the current policy (which is in the process of being refreshed) it may go to the District Planning Committee. Either way, the matter will be given a thorough examination and all interested parties will be able to have their say.

The question of the maintenance of the existing drainage scheme mentioned above opens up a separate issue which I’ll cover in more detail in the future. It seems odd to me that such duties are left to the developers tol perform them, or not, and in any case charge the homeowners. These estate management charges have been criticised elsewhere. Any rational system would surely involve the planning authority setting up an arm’s-length maintenance company which would handle all such works at a standard charge; and that a condition of any planning application would be that the developer handed these obligations over. That way all this work would be done in an accountable way by a local organisation that wouldn’t go bust or otherwise vanish from the scene. It would also make the charges more transparent and accountable and make it easier to engage local involvement in any maintenance work. This last point may be called upon in any case: one of WBC’s officers recently pointed out that “a full solution [to the drainage issue] is likely to require the co-operation of a number of the residents and possibly the neighbouring landowner/s.” This would seem to apply regardless of whether or not the solar farm were built. Indeed, if it were, this would prove a catalyst for resolving the problem. All in all, it seems like a pretty good scheme to me.

ss the area and beyond: please see the most recent Weekly News with Brian column.

Thursday 3 March 2022

This week’s news

• Newbury Town Council is flying the Ukrainian flag from the Town Hall. Please join the Candlelit Vigil in support of Ukraine at 6.30pm this Friday 4 March in the marketplace.

• Click here to read the latest newsletter from the Newbury and District Agricultural Society.

• Click here for the latest (February 2022) newsletter from Newbury Town Council.

• The vaccination centre in the Kennet Centre will be open again this weekend, Sunday 6 March, for boosters for those over 16 years old.

• There has been a considerable outpouring of support for Ukraine. Here is our summary of local and national appeals to support.

• A reminder that this year will mark the 10th anniversary of Grow Newbury Green‘s first Community Orchard at Barn Crescent. On Sunday 13 March there will be a Community Planting Event starting at 10am and volunteers are very welcome. The event is in partnership with Newbury Town Council and is supported by Newbury in Bloom. The event will also be followed by a short ceremony to thank all of the hard workers who have kept the orchard prim and proper over the years.

• As part of his final charity event of being mayor, Town Mayor Billy Drummond will be holding what sounds like an event fit for a king – a black-tie fundraising banquet in aid of Newbury Speakability and the Mayor’s Benevolent Fund. The banquet will take place on Saturday 9 April at the Chequers Hotel.

• Newbury Pride is collaborating with West Berkshire museum and creating an exhibit showcasing what it has been like to grow up and/or live in and around Newbury Berkshire as an LGBTQIA+ person. If this applies to you, please complete this survey.

• Newbury Rotary has invited the wonderful South Wales Male Choir back to Newbury to perform a fund-raising concert at St Nicolas’s Church on Saturday 30 April. Last time their performance sold out so we recommend you get your tickets now.

• City Arts Newbury in the former Wesleyan Chapel on Hampton Road (off Pound Street) has a free retrospective exhibition this week until Saturday from 10am to 4pm that showcases 15 artists ranging from ceramics to textiles. They are also raising funds to launch a Community Art Cafe with art/craft teachers on hand to offer support to those suffering from isolation, loneliness and the mental health fallout of Covid-19.

• The Antiques & Brocante market will be back at Shaw House this summer and will host up to 40 traders. The markets will be running on 29 May and 14 August between 10am and 4pm. For further information click here or you can email jackieedwardsmarketing@gmail.com regarding stall information.

• As part of good ol’ Shrove Tuesday celebrations, Beenham Primary School had, as Newbury Today reports, a “flipping” good time as the pupils took part in bushcraft sessions as part of St David’s day. Two sessions were held for year 1 and year 2 pupils and you can see some heartwarming photos of pancake fun here.

• Good news that Newbury BID (Business Improvement District) is to continue for another five years. But what does it do? The BID provides the local business community with a collective voice for lobbying and organises free events to increase footfall to the town centre. It also runs the Visit Newbury website and manage the town centre CCTV and town centre BusinessWatch schemes.

• Newbury BID’s next event is a free three day EasterFest, starting with an Alice in Wonderland themed festival on Good Friday 15 April which will feature street actors, activities for children and live music.

• Click here to keep up to date with what’s happening at Newbury Racecourse.

Newbury’s Sports Hub

This long-running and tangled affair came before the District Planning Committee (DPC) on 2 March. The application was passed, the voting unsurprisingly following party lines. You can see a recording of the event here.

One of the issues which has clouded the debate throughout is whether or not this is a replacement facility for the one that was so unwisely closed in June 2018. WBC didn’t admit at the time, but since has, that it is responsibility for finding a replacement. Sport England does not regard it as a like-for-like replacement although it has long long presented as being just that by WBC and was still being so in the officer’s report for the December meeting of the Western Area Planning Committee. It now seems that is, according to the portfolio holder Howard Woollaston, in fact “a partial replacement.” He said that WBC also needs to produce a new grass pitch which has been “identified in WBC’s ownership and a planning application will be submitted shortly.”

The uncertainty appeared to extend into the meeting itself. “I could not vote for the planning application,” DPC member Carolyne Culver (Green Party) told Penny Post, ” because of the confusing advice regarding whether or not it was a replacement for Faraday Road. We were told it was a ‘Step 4’ application. The FA’s ‘National Ground Grading – Category D’ document says ‘To maintain its position at Step 4 a club must achieve Grade D by 31 March in its second season after promotion’. Grade D is 1,300 spectators with the potential for 1,950. The agent at the meeting said the facility could not accommodate 1,950. A ‘competent person’ has to assess facilities using the FA’s Green Guide. I was going to ask for this to be an explicit planning condition but the agent said it had already been carried out. When I asked the officer why the resulting report was not in the agenda pack for councillors to scrutinise, I was told there was no report. Again, inconsistency of information. I could not vote for a planning application for a Step 4 that cannot achieve Step 4 according to the FA’s rules.”

The Newbury Community Football Group produced its own application for re-developing Faraday Road, which has been listed as an Asset of Community Value. This was, seemingly paradoxically, approved by WBC but this was simply because there was no planning reason to refuse it. As matters stand, this will not be preceded with as the current administration has long had the re-development of the pitch as a central (and cash-generating) part of its wider plans to re-vamp the whole London Road Industrial Estate (LRIE). However, no application has been submitted for this and it’s now less certain than previously that such a development will be profitable, or even possible. One problem is that the LRIE is prone the flooding: although the ground itself is less so as it’s been raised, it seems that more work needs to be done to establish what lies beneath and the effect that development would have on the flood risks elsewhere. All of this might require expensive mitigation measures. There is no planning-policy imperative to built anything there and the view of the Council may change after the elections next year. It seems unlikely that any irrevocable development will happen before then so the site may yet have a different destiny. Much would seem to depend on what and where this extra grass pitch is and whether, combined with the hub, this is seen by Sport England (and others) as a full replacement. They might; or they might not.

There was also some confusion as to how big the new pitch would be compared to Faraday Road. A planning document appears to confirm that, touchline to touchline, Monks Lane is 100m x 64m, with actual pitch area (allowing for the linesmen, the nets and so on) 106.1m x 70.1m. Data provided by the NCFG put these dimensions slightly higher (110m x 73m) and stated that the Faraday Road ground length was 123m x 95m (there are currently no pitch markings to measure). I’m still not sure if these are exactly comparable dimensions but will seek clarification. In any event, as a WBC officer acknowledged on 28 February in response to complaint about the matter, “the grass pitch at Faraday stadium is a larger pitch than the proposed 3G pitch at Newbury Rugby club and the overall ground is larger than the ground of the Newbury sports hub.” By exactly how much, though, I’m still not sure. However, if I look at another drawing of a football pitch this week I think my brain is going to explode. others involved in this may fee the same way.

This isn’t the last we’ve heard of this application: a member of the public has said that in the light of the Committee’s decision to approve they will launch a judicial review. The issues to be considered include, according to the barrister’s letter, clearing up whether or not it is a replacement facility and also “an appraisal of the high level of public investment in the Monks Lane site and whether it can be justified by the purely public advantages which are predicted to accrue from the site in its developed state.” It’s uncertain how long all this will take to resolve but it’s likely to be some months. A recent statement from WBC hailed the decision as being “a step forward.” Time will tell. The original timescale for the project (which I don’t think anyone seriously believed) was that it would be open for business by the end of this month.

So, in conclusion, a facility which may or may not be be a full, or perhaps a partial, replacement for an existing one may or may not get built. This may need to be viewed in conjunction with another proposed facility (location and nature currently not publicly available) which Sport England and other bodies may or may not regard as collectively suitable. The old pitch may or may not be redeveloped for homes (which may or may not be profitable to the extent hoped for), or may be returned to football use pursuant to a planning application which has been approved but which the landowner currently has no desire to proceed with. A judicial review, which may or not actually take place at some unspecified date, may or may not resolve these and other points to everyone’s satisfaction, or it may raise other problems which no one has yet considered. All or some of these things may or may not be resolved before the election in May 2023. This may or may not result in a change of administration, which may or may not decide to do all or any of the above, or possibly something quite different. I hope that’s cleared matters up.

All of this should have happened four years ago and in pretty much reverse order. The old facility should not have been closed until a replacement had been located (Sport England’s regulations are unfortunately unspecific on this point) and a definite plan for what was to happen to the old ground should have been presented. The football club might also have reacted rather more proactively to what was expressed 20 years ago as a risk to its tenure there. All the subsequent debate (some of it quite robust and divisive) would have been avoided. The transition could have been conducted in a less adversarial, and probably cheaper, way and not conflated with the wider problem of the LRIE. If anyone ever writes a book on how to manage the successful transition of a football facility, this episode is unlikely to feature.

Thursday 24 February 2022

This week’s news

• Click here for the latest (February 2022) newsletter from Newbury Town Council.

• I’ve been shared in quite a lot of email correspondence about the imminent new football pitch at Monks Lane being considerably smaller than the previous one at Faraday Road and that this is in breach of government policy. The matter was raised in the letters page of this week’s NWN. I asked portfolio holder Howard Woollaston about this and he said that he had already forwarded details of the issue to the appropriate officers at WBC and would let me know what their view was.

• Just announced here is that The Antiques & Brocante market is back for two visits in 2022. The markets will be held at Shaw house and will host up to 40 traders. The markets will be running on 29 May and 14 August between 10am and 4pm. For further information click here or you can email jackieedwardsmarketing@gmail.com regarding stall information.

• This year will mark the 10th anniversary of Grow Newbury Green‘s first Community Orchard at Barn Crescent. On Sunday 13 March there will be a Community Planting Event starting at 10am and volunteers are very welcome. The event is in partnership with Newbury Town Council and is supported by Newbury in Bloom. The event will also be followed by a short ceremony to thank all of the hard workers who have kept the orchard prim and proper.

• Leading housing association Sovereign has supported the launch of a new technology bus for older residents in Newbury and Thatcham. It gave £3,000 from its community fund with The Good Exchange to Volunteer Centre West Berkshire (VCWB) and Age Concern Newbury and District’s Befriend and Activate Partnership. When it launches in March, Befriend Bus, kitted out with a laptop, screen and speakers, will drive out to residents living in sheltered housing, social housing developments and other areas submitted through referrals in Newbury and Thatcham. The Befriend Bus coordinator will help them connect with their loved ones using FaceTime, which they can do from the comfort of the bus or their home. The coordinator will also encourage social interaction with fellow residents and make arrangements for them to become regular shopping trip passengers. The bus plans to do weekly visits and hopes to support around 50 people in the community.

• Greggs fans will be delighted to hear that their Northbrook Street store is re-opening this Sunday after several months closure due to staff shortages.

• To celebrate Easter this year, Newbury will be hosting an Alice in Wonderland themed festival along Northbrook street upwards to Bartholomew Street. The festival, set up by Newbury BID, is to take place on 15 April and will feature street actors, activities for children and live music. See more here on Newbury Today‘s page.

• Newbury Today reports of some brave residents from Falklands Grange Care Home completed a sponsored walk around the common at RAF Greenham which raised £200 for the British Heart Foundation. Not only did the residents of the care home complete the walk but there was an afternoon tea event to raise further money for the BHF. Well done to everyone involved from us at Penny Post.

• The next five years will see huge housing developments in West Berkshire. As reported by Newbury Today, the impact this will have on schools will cost approximately £10m to be able to accommodate the new pupils. You can see a full roadmap here of where and what schools the money will be put towards. Some of this money is, however, contingent on the long-delayed Sandleford development getting the green light. The matter still rests with the Housing Secretary as the matter was called in last year and was the subject of a lengthy appeal. If even if Michael Gove does approve it, many of the problems which have stalled the project so far (such as two developers which seem to have at times mutually incompatible agendas) will remain.

• City Arts Newbury in the former Wesleyan Chapel on Hampton Road (off Pound Street), is raising money to create a Community Art Cafe with art/craft teachers on hand to offer support, introduce to mindful/art activities. Open to all, but hoping to reach those suffering from isolation, loneliness and the mental health fallout of Covid-19. Please support this wonderful venture here. And check out their upcoming creative classes for February here.

• Click here to keep up to date with what’s happening at Newbury Racecourse.

Walking experiments

The results of Newbury’s Masterplan survey have been approved by WBC’s Executive. You can see the document in full here.

In the last couple of weeks (see below), we’ve looked at some of the issues that this has addressed. On many of them, it seems that WBC and Newbury Town Council (NTC) are in broad agreement. On the matter of pedestrianisation, however, opinions remain more divided. I contacted WBC and NTC’s Lib Dem Councillor Tony Vickers, who is also WBC’s shadow portfolio holder for Highways and Transport, about this.

“The WBC Lib Dem Group supports NTC on this,” he told Penny Post on 21 February. “We also agree that in the medium term an even more ambitious pedestrianisation – as proposed by the Town Centre Master Plan consultants – should be achievable and is desirable. That would involve 24/7 making the current “vehicle restricted” streets no-through roads with arrangements for access to properties within the area by emergency services and deliveries, through a one-way system with some lay-bys within the scheme. In the coming year, WBC’s capital budget includes making further changes to A339 through Newbury which will are aimed at improving east-west traffic across it (including by bike and on foot) while deterring through traffic north-south. This should release capacity on this section of north-south strategic route for vehicles to accommodate peak hour traffic that currently (allegedly) has to go through the town centre.

“There is a myth that cars are customers: the presence of cars in a shopping street detracts from what makes Newbury an attractive destination for both local residents and visitors in a modern society. That’s fine for local convenience shopping in a suburban housing estate. It isn’t what will enable the forward-looking vision to succeed. “Experience” and “dwell time” is what will succeed, as the BID largely recognises.

“Some immediate changes are possible through an Experimental Traffic Order (ETO). This needs no prior consultation. The Highway Authority just does it (after giving prior notice, of course) and after six months experiment there should be enough evidence for it to be fully consulted on prior to making permanent. This was done for the Station Road closure.”

As mentioned before, this is a difficult and divisive matter, as many other towns have found. No one solution will work for every one of the groups which uses the town. I’d say that six months is probably the bare minimum that would be needed for any experiment. Ideally it should be a year to enable people to get used to the new arrangements and to use them throughout an entire cycle of seasons.

Thursday 17 February 2022

This week’s news

• Click here for the latest (February 2022) newsletter from Newbury Town Council.

• Newbury Town Council is moving forward with the next stage of its new Community Café project for Victoria Park. At the meeting of Full Council on Monday 31 January, it was confirmed that, following planning approval, the detailed design is now ready, and the next stage is to issue tender documents inviting suitably qualified contractors to bid for the project build. More information can be found here.

• We recently published a statement from Lochailort, the owners of the Kennet Centre, about the proposed Eagle Quarter redevelopment. We’ve since had a response from the Chair of Newbury Town Council’s Planning Committee. You can read both statements here.

• A recent (3.20pm on 17 February) announcement from GWR says that the red warning concerning storm Eunice will lead to “significant changes to rail services” from 4am on Friday. This is expected to last throughout the day and will result in some cancelled services. Passengers are advised to consult Journey Check before setting out. GWR is also accepting rail tickets booked for Friday 18 February for travel over the weekend or on Monday and will issue full refunds to anyone choosing not to travel at all. GWR will also need to check for any damage before re-opening so there could therefore be further delays and changes to services over the weekend.

• There are a few days left to make nominations for the 25th annual Newbury Town Civic Awards. Nomination forms are available for collection from Newbury Town Hall, can be completed online or can be printed off from the Newbury Town Council website by 20 February. These awards celebrate achievements, honour volunteers and recognise those who make a difference in our community so it’s definitely worth going to the trouble of making a nomination.

• Congratulations to the organisers and volunteers of the Newbury Park Run at Greenham Common which has just celebrated it’s 10th anniversary. Anyone is welcome to participate in the 5km run/walk/jog at 9am on a Saturday morning. See details here.

• Newbury Building Society has been nominated for three awards in the British Bank Awards 2022. They are asking customers to vote for them here. It takes less than 2 minutes and all voters will be entered into a prize draw to win £1,000 (T&Cs apply). Last year NBS won Best Building Society and Best Specialist Mortgage Provider which was very impressive. We have heard of many local residents who have been very grateful for NBS’s help with mortgages.

• If you would like to reduce the carbon footprint of your home, it’s worth finding out about Newbury Building Society’s GoGreen Further Advance Mortgage or GoGreen Self-Build Reward

• Newbury College‘s Study Online programme offers a wide range of flexible free Level 2 & 3 online courses for over 18 year olds to study from home, at work or on the go. See here to select a course in Business Skills; Childcare, Education & Teacher Training; and Health, Social Care and Counselling. The courses are funded by the Skills Funding Agency and include the main qualification and a short, additional workbook.

• Congratulations to the students at Newbury College for hosting a very successful Valentine’s Dinner Dance this week. It was strictly good times as loved-up couples enjoyed the unique experience of a professionally-led ballroom dance, followed by an exquisite seven-course meal. You can book lunch at The Restaurant at Newbury College any Wednesday or Friday during termtime.

• Following this, the next 5 years will see huge housing developments within West Berkshire. As reported by Newbury Today, the impact this will have on schools will cost over approximately £10m to be able to accommodate for the new pupils. You can see a full roadmap here of where and what schools the money will be put towards.

• Quite literally some good news from The Willows Primary School as it has been rated “Good” by Ofsted inspections. This is an improvement upon the 2018 rating of “requires improvement”. According to the report, headteacher Joanna MacArthur and staff are to be credited for this rapid improvement and quick turnaround.

• Sticking with Newbury schools, Year 1 and 2 pupils at Fir Tree school witnessed their favourite stories come to life as part of National Storytelling Week. Merry-go-Round storyteller Amanda Kane-Smith kept engagement high by including the pupils in a series of fun story activities. See here for further information on the informal celebration and photos.

• As we reported last week, the Newbury and District Agricultural Association has, after much discussion decided not to hold a Newbury Show this year (though there will be what’s described as an “extended ploughing match” on 17 September, with some stalls). Members should be receiving a newsletter soon with more information on these points.

• Click here to keep up to date with what’s happening at Newbury Racecourse.

Enborne’s time in the sun

Earlier this month, Calleva Community Energy submitted a planning application for a “proposed solar photovoltaic farm and associated infrastructure with ancillary equipment including substation, security cameras, deer fence, attenuation basin, access track and soft landscaping scheme” to the north of Spring Gardens in Enborne. This would be a 2.5MW system, enough to provide power for perhaps about 600 homes. Enborne (population 735) currently has about 300 homes so this would be enough for them and also – if it goes ahead – for the Watermill Bridge Scheme (which would be very close by although over the county border in Basingstoke and Deane). You can see more on the application, and make any comments, by clicking here to visit WBC’s planning portal.

A slight complication is that the land is administered by the Poor’s Allotment Charity on behalf of the Parish Council but that the ownership is in the process of being transferred to a new incorporated charity. This will create a clearer separation between the PC and the charity. The more immediate issue, however, is that – as is to be expected with any significant application – a number of residents seem minded to object (as they are entitled to do). A survey in January 2020 indicated that two thirds of the residents of Enborne who voted supported the scheme. The West Berkshire Council pre-planning application advice was that the project “would have an urbanising impact.” This seems an odd judgment, given that solar farms are by their nature generally rural beasts. “Urbanisation” would imply homes so the objection could be more fairly made of Watermill Bridge. In any case, the declared climate emergency has made this observation seem rather behind the times. The site is certainly suitable for development so there are, in terms of spoiling the view or changing the nature of the area, many worse things that could go there.

The three ward members (James Cole, Claire Rowles and Dennis Benneyworth) have decided that, whatever view the officers seem likely to take, the matter should be called in to be considered at planning committee. Perhaps rather like the Chestnut Walk development in Hungerford, the application goes to the root of what West Berkshire Council can or ought to do to help achieve its climate-change goals. In Chestnut Walk, WBC is the (co-)landowner whereas in Enborne it is not but in both cases the decision will set precedents for how the approval of similar projects are handled in the future. It’s also possible that WBC’s current local plan, which was approved long before the climate emergency, has little to say about the council’s policy on solar farms. There might be a bit more about this matter in the refresh that’s currently being worked on.

Walking the streets

I mentioned last week (see below) about some of the possible improvements for Newbury which have been suggested in the recently published masterplan. Though this seems to have been well received, some points of disagreement remain. One of these concerns the question of pedestrianising (or not) some (or all) of the town centre all (or part ) of the day.

Newbury Town Council’s leader Martin Colston told Penny Post on 17 February that NTC’s strategy “is for the Market Place to be permanently pedestrianised except for Mansion House Street so traffic can flow down Wharf Street but not through the main body of the Market Place. This would enable the Market Place to become much more of a public space at all times of day.”

He added that NTC also supported a proposal by the Newbury BID last year to extend the current period of pedestrianisation from its current 10am to 5pm, to 9.30am to 11pm. That would, he said, “allow for the evening economy to be unhindered by traffic and still allow deliveries overnight and up to 9:30am before the town starts to get busy with pedestrians. This was turned down by WBC despite the fact that the six-month 24-hour pedestrianisation during the first lockdown proved very popular.”

The masterplan proposes an evening one-way system (though it’s not clear in which direction). “This does not go far enough in my view,” Martin Colston added, ” although it would be a marginal improvement compared to now. I believe that extending the hours of pedestrianisation is a really important step and would help the night-time economy and use of the Market Place.”

As mentioned last week, any such changes are going to involve compromises between the competing needs of the various town-centre users. Any trial also needs to be for a decent period of time as for the first couple of months people will often be be uncertain about the new regulations and so conclude that the scheme has been poorly thought out. The current roadworks and road closures in Northbrook Street (which seem set to last for the rest of the month) are providing a kind of brief test and there doesn’t seem to have been any major bottle-necking on alternative routes, as some opponents of pedestrianisation fear will be the case with a permanent closure.

No such scheme will please everyone. If all the major proposals in the masterplan are followed through there may be a few other compromises to be made as well and a certain amount of short-term confusion. If the long-term decision is right that’s a price worth paying. With regard to pedestrianisation, however, there doesn’t yet seem to be any clear consensus on what the right decision should be.

Thursday 10 February 2022

This week’s news

• Click here for the latest (February 2022) newsletter from Newbury Town Council.

• Newbury Town Council is moving forward with the next stage of its new Community Café project for Victoria Park. At the meeting of Full Council on Monday 31 January, it was confirmed that, following planning approval, the detailed design is now ready, and the next stage is to issue tender documents inviting suitably qualified contractors to bid for the Project build. More information can be found here.

• If you want to take part in the quiz at the Bowler’s Arms in aid of the Friends of Wash Common Library on 15 February, there will be one round of questions that should appeal to any students of our PM’s rhetoric. Called fake news, this will comprise several pairs of preposterous statements: in each case, one was a prime-ministerial utterance and one wasn’t. All you have to do is guess which was which. I’ll bet that not even seasoned Westminster hacks will get them all right. Go along and prove me wrong…

• One aspect of the Eagle Quarter (redevelopment of the Kennet Centre) debate that seems to have been overlooked, in the opinion of one of our correspondents, is that”the last thing Newbury needs is any more coffee shops.” For more on this controversial development, see Not Reading or Basingstoke below.

• Funnily enough, Newbury Today has released a poll that asks “do you think Newbury has too many coffee shops?” (It’s clear from the paragraph above that at least one person does.) You can take part here. There certainly doesn’t seem to be enough employees to staff them all at the moment

• The Lockdown Woods group, organised by Newbury Friends of the Earth, has been busy installing 250 mulch mats around young saplings. Susan Millington of the group stated “I am amazed that we got it done so quickly, but we had a good team of seven working very efficiently, with plenty of time for chatting as well.” You can see photos on the Lockdown Woods facebook group here. The next Friends of Lockdown Woods meeting in Goldwell Park will be on Sunday 6 March at 10am, when they might plant some snowdrops at the southern edge of the lower portion of the new woodland area. Plus tending the Woodland Trust whips in that segment, where there are no bulbs to get trampled.

• Quick reminder about the public meeting at the Sutton Hall in Stockcross at 7.30pm on Friday 11 February to discuss how to save The Rising Sun pub.

• This week saw the 79th anniversary of the tragic WWII bombing of Newbury on Wednesday on 10 February 1943. Allan Mercado was 10 years old at the time and shares his memories with us here.

• Residents near the construction site along London Road in Newbury claim that pollution that was allowed to enter the River Lambourn has devastated the wildlife, or what is left of it. The residents have remarked about the smell of sulphur and triggering eye irritation. Due to pressure from Action for the River Kennet and local press, the source of the pollution has been stopped but the wildlife have yet to return to the area.

• Newbury Town Councillor, Vaughan Miller is supporting a new law which requires all employers to pass on tips to workers, without any deductions. With 80% of all tips now being paid for by cashless payment, a form of tipping which is currently not legally required to be passed onto staff, these sensible regulations are now more urgent than ever. After the council meeting on 31 January, Vaughan Miller got the unanimous support of the Council for this section of the upcoming Employment Bill, which would make this a legal requirement.

• News here of a whopping £38m investment will be put all into the development of roads in West Berkshire over the next 5 years. The A4 Faraday Road Junction, the Burger King roundabout and the Robin Hood roundabout are amongst the list of developments planned for improvement.

• 105 year-old Shaw resident Ruth Saunders received a well-deserved MBE last December for raising thousands of pounds for Thames Valley Air Ambulance. Now she’s being recognised as Sainsbury’s oldest customer. This was commemorated with a bouquet of flowers which was gifted by cashier Gladys Thom. See here for lovely photos on the Newbury Today page.

• Last week’s NWN reported that organisers of the proposed Christmas Carnival at Newbury Racecourse have been assuring residents that they have “taken on board” comments made as a result of the previous application, which was refused, and are trying again. You can take part in a consultation here.

• The Newbury Town Civic Awards, with four categories, have been launched for 2022. Nomination forms are available for collection from Newbury Town Hall, can be completed online or can be printed off from the Newbury Town Council website. The nomination deadline is 20 February. These awards celebrate achievements, honours volunteers and recognise those who make a difference in our community. 2022’s will be the 25th such event.

• So lovely to be in snowdrop season now and Greenham House Garden (adjacent to the Burger King Roundabout, on the west side) is a great place to find them in Newbury. Please send photos and locations of your favourite snowdrop spots to penny@pennypost.org.uk to add to our local snowdrop guide here.

• Click here to keep up to date with what’s happening at Newbury Racecourse.

The vision at the crossroads

The results of Newbury’s Masterplan survey have been published and will go before WBC’s Executive on 10 February and thereafter be discussed and doubtless agreed at Full Council. You can see the document in full here. It’s over a hundred pages long so there’s a certain amount to digest and discuss and, thereafter, a number of strategic decisions to be taken.

The Executive Summary describes Newbury as a “crossroads” town, metaphorically referring to its, in many ways, enviable location and the actual crossroads of M4’s J13 where the A34 intersects the motorway. The section also sets out nine additional guiding principles which state that the town centre should be broader, more walkable, more welcoming, greener, more sociable, more cultural, more independent, more balanced and more entrepreneurial.

Any of these could be looked at in considerable detail but I’ll just take a quick glance at two.

On p62, the report states that “over two thirds of survey respondents wanted more local and independent shops in Newbury town centre, whilst over 45% would like to see more local, independent cafés and restaurants.” The rest of the page talks of “improving the prominence and the connectivity of local and independent businesses” through methods such as “public realm improvements, wayfinding and a coordinated ‘branding’ strategy for these areas.” The real issue, though, is not finding these shops but how they are going to be encouraged to set up in the first place.

Unless WBC is the landlord, it can’t do much to encourage this directly except, as the report suggests, through reductions in business rates (which, however, represent an important part of WBC’s income). There’s also the question of defining what constitutes an “independent” shop. At what point does a small but expanding chain cease to be independent? I also suspect that the term “independent” is used to describe a kind of state of mind, taking in its ethos, its level of engagement with local suppliers and its historical connections with the area. These things aren’t easy to measure. Being independent is not in itself enough unless you can also offer what people want at the right price. Perhaps Newbury’s best defence against being even more over-run with multiples (that some claim it already is) is not to get too large.

There’s also the question of provision for pedestrians, a word which appears 64 times in the report. The question of if, and when, and where traffic should be banned from parts of towns and cities has convulsed everywhere from London downwards. Newbury is no exception. The current regulations provide, in summary, a central barrier-controlled no-vehicle zone between 10am and 5pm. The masterplan envisages something that goes a bit further than this with one-way traffic at other times in Northbrook Street that would facilitate more al fresco life. I understand that an Experimental Traffic Order could come in without consultation, effectively being a trial period for a possible permanent (but as yet unfunded) change in the street scene.

However, others feel that the measures could go further still, with traffic being prevented from using the Northbrook Street and Market Square area 24/7, except for deliveries at certain times and blue-light access. There was a trial of something very similar in the summer of 2020 but this was in exceptional circumstances and, at three months, was probably not long enough to enable the arrangements to be fully evaluated (at least a year is probably needed for such a scheme). Changes like this will never please everyone as the needs and wishes of shoppers, retailers, drivers, cyclists, delivery firms and the emergency services are rarely aligned. The masterplan, however, provides a perfect opportunity for more strategic thinking about how the town will evolve.

Many of the other proposals it contains will also demand compromises between competing interests. All parties agree that change is required although effecting this won’t be to everyone’s liking, at least at first. A new pair of smart shoes may not be comfortable for the first few days and you might be tempted to go back to the old ones: then you look at the scratched leather, worn heels, leaking soles and perhaps outmoded design and remember why you decided to go for an upgrade. You made your choice and there’s a bit of short-term pain – but you have got to have faith in what you decide, particularly now you’ve spent all that money.

Speaking of which, I have asked WBC several times in the last two days how much the masterplan has cost but have yet to receive a reply.

Not Reading or Basingstoke

This leads onto the question of the proposed re-development of the Kennet Centre (to be known as the Eagle Quarter). We’ve covered this several times and it continues to attract criticism, mainly on grounds of scale and the housing mix. On the former point, it’s been pointed out that the development would be more suitable for somewhere like Reading or Basingstoke: and yet it also contains plans for flexible office and retail units which the town sorely lacks and which would help Newbury become, in this regard, less like Reading and Basingstoke rather than more. The proposed new access through the centre of the site would also jive with the stated demands both for more open spaces and more pedestrian access. I can see both sides of this argument. It’s to be hoped that, if this plan goes ahead that these beneficial features will remain, even if the scale of the development needs to be reduced to obtain approval.

Many, however, remain unconvinced about the plans as they stand. The Newbury Society has been particularly vocal in its criticism; while Newbury Town Council has recently re-stated to Penny Post its objections from its Planning Committee meeting on 25 October 2021 – “(i) the Town Centre Conservation Area Appraisal and Masterplan Vision document [this has, of course, recently happened – see above] are not yet published and the application should take these documents into consideration. (ii) The development is out of character with the historic market-town nature of Newbury. (iii) There is a lack of affordable housing. (iv) The blocks as amended are still too high.” The discussion on this will continue. Please let me know your views by emailing brian@pennypost.org.uk. You can also click here to see a recent statement by the developers, Lochailort.

Thursday 3 February 2022

This week’s news

• The Newbury and District Agricultural Association has, after much discussion decided not to hold a Newbury Show this year (though there will be what’s described as an “extended ploughing match” on 17 September, with some stalls). This is probably a wise decision. As mentioned before, organising an event of this size takes the best part of a year and much of the period has been lost as a result of the election of the new trustees. Work is still being done on establishing the state of NADAS’s finances and what form its future activities will take. Most agree that the show was getting too large and needed some changes: planning a new event, even a smaller one, can take even longer than repeating the same format. There would have been nothing worse than a show which went off at half-cock. Members should be receiving a newsletter in the next few days with more information on these points.

• The village of Stockcross has been without a pub for some time (it used to have two) but a campaign is under way to save The Rising Sun, which has been empty for several years, from being converted to housing. You can find out more about the campaign here. There will be a public meeting at the Sutton Hall in Stockcross, 7.o0 for 7.30pm, on Friday 11 February to discuss how this goal might be achieved. Many such campaigns have been required in recent years: some have succeeded, others not. I would have thought that Stockcross was a large enough place to support a pub, if there’s sufficient local support. One result of the pandemic may have been making people realise how important such places are. We’ll let you know how the campaign progresses.

• This week’s Newbury Weekly News reports on p5 that a new CCTV system has been installed in Newbury: people visiting the town can now feel more safe, or more spied upon, depending on their point of view.

• This week’s NWN also reports, also on p5, that organisers of the proposed Christmas Carnival at Newbury Racecourse have been assuring residents that they have “taken on board” comments made as a result of the previous application, which was refused, and are trying again. You can take part in a consultation here.

• The Newbury Town Civic Awards, with four categories, have been launched for 2022. Nomination forms are available for collection from Newbury Town Hall, can be completed online or can be printed off from the Newbury Town Council website. Nomination is deadline is 20 February. These awards celebrate achievements, honours volunteers and recognise those who make a difference in our community. 2022’s will be the 25th such event.

• So lovely to be in snowdrop season now and St Lawrence’s Churchyard is a great place to find them in Hungerford. Did you know that snowdrops can often be found in graveyards because monks first brought them to this country from Europe in the late 16th century and planted them in monastery gardens? It took them about 200 years to become a wild plant and our common wild snowdrop is called Galanthus nivalis. Victorians also planted them extensively on graves as a symbol of eternal life. And snowdrops planted in ‘holy ground’ or graveyards have been undisturbed and able to flourish ever since. Please send photos and locations of your favourite snowdrop spots to penny@pennypost.org.uk to add to our local snowdrop guide here.

• Click here for the latest (January 2022) newsletter from Newbury Town Council.

• Following Newbury Town Council’s latest Full Council meeting on 31 January, the Council is to apply for a £300,000 loan from the Public Loans Work Board to help develop the community café in Victoria Park.

• Great news from Newbury BID as new CCTV cameras has been installed in and around Newbury Town Centre. This is all thanks to funding from Thames Valley Police and Newbury Town Council.

• The Corn Exchange is offering art DIY workshops throughout spring for those that wish to endeavour in their creative side this year. See here for a full range.

• The Starting Gate in Speen collects crisp packets for recycling by Speen Terracycle Recycling Group which has a drop-off point near the Shell garage in Speen.

• Educafe’s weekly Community Cafe is pleased to have re-started this Wednesday 2 February 11am – 2pm in the new location of Newbury Library. All are welcome to enjoy free refreshments, arts and crafts, chatty corners, seated yoga and more.

• This week’s Newbury Weekly News looks back at how the paper covered the death of King George VI and the Queen’s accession to the throne in February 1952. While looking through the 1952 editions, they spotted old ads and announcements from local companies and organisations, some of which are still in Newbury today. Enjoy a trip down memory lane here.

• Some bin collection days are changing from week commencing Monday 7 February. Visit West Berkshire Council’s website here to check how your street is affected.

• As mentioned last week, those of you who work within Greenham Business Park should expect four new bus shelters soon after a recent investment as part of a commitment to promote sustainable transport. Newbury Today assures that bus routes 103/103A/103B will be connecting these stops within usual working hours for a cheap price of £1 a ticket.

• Click here to keep up to date with what’s happening at Newbury Racecourse.

• The vaccination centre in the Kennet Centre will be open again this weekend, Sunday 6 February, for boosters for over 16 years olds.

• Boots on Northbrook Street now has a walk-in covid vaccination clinic for the 12 to 15-year-olds 9am to 5pm Monday to Saturday and 11am to 4pm on Sunday (closed between noon and 1pm).

• Newbury Town Council is looking for volunteers to be a part of a Steering Group for its Neighbourhood Development Plan. More information here or email NDP@newbury.gov.uk.

• Any comments, suggestions or feedback about the Council’s community transport services (including Readibus) should be sent to WBC’s Transport Services Team. You can write to them at Council Offices, Market Street, Newbury, RG14 5LD, email Transport@westberks.gov.uk or call 01635 519394.

A three-course meal

Did you know that there is a top class restaurant at Newbury College? Penny was invited to have lunch there last week and was very impressed by the three-course lunch prepared and served by professional catering students under the watchful eye of industry tutors. Listen to her live streamed radio show from the restaurant. You just have to remember the restaurant is only open on Wednesdays and Fridays in termtime but at £13.95 per head it’s a steal and you are also helping to train the next generation of employees in our local restaurants and pubs. You can also book the restaurant for an evening event on a date of your choice. Find out how to book here.

Intuition Hair and Beauty Salon at the college also offers a real working environment for students to provide a wide range of competitively priced treatments including cuts, colours, massages, manicures and facials. So you can pamper yourself or treat a friend while supporting the students.

The college is very keen to collaborate with the community and local businesses to offer the best work experience for its students.

Will the eagle land?

You can click here to read a letter from Lochailort Investments, owners of the Kennet Centre in Newbury, which was sent to Penny Post and other local media outlets this week. Lochailort plans a wholesale redevelopment of the jaded and tatty Kennet Centre which will be known as Eagle Quarter. As might be expected, opinions differ on how acceptable these plans are. This post currently contains only Lochailort’s opinion but we welcome comments from others which can show matters in a different light. Please see the first paragraph of the post for more on this.

The main objection can be summed up in one word – scale. The buildings are tall but, as the letter points out, no more so than exist elsewhere in Newbury. The bigger question is whether this is appropriate for the town centre. It could be argued that some of the representations made about Newbury’s historic centre are slightly rose-tinted, the moment having passed, probably in about 1960, when it still had the market-town character which is often attributed to it. I concede that Newbury is not Basingstoke or Bracknell and most of its residents have no desire to see it become like these places. The question is perhaps rather not what Newbury is, or might once have been, but what it wants to become. Is this development out of step with its civic aspirations or will it help realise them?

Another issue that has been flagged is that the housing component will offer little to attract families and, it being rent-only, nothing at all for those who want to buy. Does the town already have more than enough flats of the kind which might be attractive for well-heeled professional needing easy access to the station and the M4 but not for people in need of affordable or family-friendly properties? Given its location, houses with gardens here are clearly out of the question. The number of flats (and thus the development’s height) is probably economically necessary to provide a sufficient income. The developers will be hoping that, by the time the project is completed, the market for these properties will not be over-saturated.

There are also many things to recommend it. These the opening up of a new open-air through route, the emphasis on flexible-lease work spaces and the environmental credentials. It’s also true that virtually anything short of a maximum-security prison or an open-air recycling centre would be more attractive than what’s there now. This isn’t, of course, an argument for building simply anything. The plans are constrained by geography and economics but seem to have been carefully thought out. Whether they accord with what Newbury wants, or wants to be, is ultimately a matter for WBC’s planners and councillors decide: or possibly, if matters go that far, for the Secretary of State. Residents can influence these decisions through the usual channels.

Thursday 27 January 2022

Scroll down for local events and activities and news from your local councils.

This week’s news

• The Newbury Town Civic Awards, with four categories, have been launched for 2022. Nomination forms are available for collection from Newbury Town Hall, can be completed online or can be printed off from the Newbury Town Council website. Nomination is deadline is 20 February. These awards celebrate achievements, honours volunteers and recognise those who make a difference in our community. 2022’s will be the 25th such event.

• Click here for the latest (January 2022) newsletter from Newbury Town Council.

• The Watermill Theatre needs help accomodating actors and stage managers for two large productions this spring, The Wicker Husband and Our Man in Havana. If you live within walking distance of The Watermill or short driving distance (max 10 miles) and would be willing to accommodate one of their team, or know someone who does, please contact Clare at clare@watermill.org.uk

• Volunteers at the Speen Community Cafe have completed a lovely blanket for Newbury Soup Kitchen. The community cafe is at The Starting Gate pub on Wednesdays 2 – 4pm and anyone is welcome (you don’t have to live in Speen). You can enjoy a chat, a cuppa and a cake and if you like help sew squares together or learn how to knit or crochet.

• The Starting Gate also collects crisp packets for recycling by Speen Terracycle Recycling Group which has a drop-off point near the Shell garage in Speen.

• Educafe returns from an extended Christmas break with lots of exciting news for 2022 including more free exercise classes, English for maternity and job support, She’s Ready programme for strong empowered female social and physical action programme.

Educafe’s weekly Community Cafe is pleased to be re-starting next Wednesday 2 February 11am – 2pm in the new location of Newbury Library. All welcome to enjoy free refreshments, arts and crafts, chatty corners, seated yoga and more.

• Take a look here for a stunning photo shoot of a red kite enjoying roadkill just outside Snelsmore Common, courtesy of Bev Hiller on Newbury Today.

• Some bin collection days are changing from week commencing Monday 7 February. Visit West Berkshire Council’s website here to check how your street is affected.

• The closure of St John’s Road for Thames Water works is set to be reopened on Saturday 29 January.

• Greenham Business Park is to accommodate four new bus shelters after a recent investment as part of a commitment to promote sustainable transport. Newbury Today assures that bus routes 103/103A/103B will be connecting these stops within usual working hours for a cheap price of £1 a ticket.

• Still in Greenham, twelve young trees have been planted in the front gardens of houses in Westwood Road and New Road Greenham under an ‘adopt a tree’ scheme organised by the Greener Greenham Group. This ‘streets where we live’ project was funded from donations via the Good Exchange and can be extended to other streets in the area as further trees are available for planting up to the end of March 2022. Anyone interested please contact Alison Blackborow on 07766558849 or aandpblackborow@virginmedia.com

• The vaccination centre in the Kennet Centre will be open again this weekend, January 28 and 29, for boosters for over 16 years olds.

• Boots on Northbrook Street now has a walk-in covid vaccination clinic for the 12 to 15-year-olds 9am to 5pm Monday to Saturday and 11am to 4pm on Sunday (closed between noon and 1pm).

• Newbury Town Council is looking for volunteers to be a part of a Steering Group for its Neighbourhood Development Plan. More information here or email NDP@newbury.gov.uk.

• Hamstead Marshall Parish Council, which recently has been going through some challenges out of all proportion to the parish’s size or population, recently issued the following statement:

“After many years of service, John Handy and Peter Benest have stepped down from Hamstead Marshall Parish Council. My fellow parish councillors wish to thank both gentlemen for the years of service to our community. I (Anne Budd) have agreed to take on the role as Chairperson and Maryn Oppenheim has kindly agreed to take on the role as Vice-Chairperson. Rob Manser has agreed to continue the role of Lead Councillor in various projects such as ‘SID’ training for volunteers as well as HMPC’s website re-design and management of the new website.

“There are two vacant parish councillor positions, and we are reviewing the two options of either a community wide election or, a co-option process. A further update on this matter will be forthcoming very soon.

“Our current Parish Clerk has also resigned, and we are in the process of recruiting a suitable candidate. Maryn, Rob, and I ask for your patience and support as we go through the transitional processes. The scheduled HMPC meeting at 8pm on 17 March will proceed; I hope you will be able to join us.”

Newbury’s Champions

Our congratulations to Dr Susan Millington for winning West Berkshire’s Volunteer of the Year Award 2021. Susan is the founder and driving force behind the Lockdown Woods project which worked with West Berkshire Council, Newbury Town Council and the Town and Manor of Hungerford to identify three separate areas where more than 1,500 young saplings were planted, including donated trees from the Woodland Trust. The judging panel felt that her nomination really stood out and was able to demonstrate both positive environmental as well as health and wellbeing benefits.

Other Newbury-based winners from the 2021 awards were West Berkshire Young Carers’ Project and Newbury Road Club, who both shared the Community Group of the Year Award.

The Young Carers Project supports children and young people under the age of 18 that provide regular ongoing care and emotional support to another who is physically or mentally ill, disabled or who misuses substances. The judging panel found the Young Carers Project to be a worthy winner, as it provides an excellent service supporting young carers and the panel was impressed with the feedback from young people and the impact it has had on their lives.
The Newbury Road Club (NRC) elected a cohort of NRC female members to a newly established committee and decided to develop the NRC Women’s Ride Group to encourage more female participation within the group. Historically, NRC only saw a handful of ladies cycling regularly with the Club but their efforts to challenge this were commended by the judging panel for bringing people together, improving health and wellbeing and having a positive impact on those taking part.

More details about the Community Champions 2021 winners can be seen here.

Football under scrutiny

Anyone looking for reasons why they should not become a district councillor could do a lot worse than watch the YouTube recording of the first two hours (from about 10 minutes) of the meeting of WBC’s Oversight and Scrutiny Management Commission on 25 January. The Lib Dems sprung something of a trap on the Chairman, who didn’t handle the surprise very well, and questions were asked of the legal officer, who didn’t seem to give clear answers. The whole thing went downhill from there. Tempers got frayed, eyes were rolled, heads shaken and eyebrows raised, people spoke over each other, accusations flew around, points of order were raised – and still the clock ticked on as the car crash unfolded.

I can assure you that, in my personal one-to-one dealings with them, most are much better people, and WBC a more functional organisation, than this might imply. None the less, all the most unedifying consequences of a politically divided council debating one aspect of a complex and divisive issue were there for all to see. The length of a football match, plus extra time ,was expended before the matter was voted on and the exhausted and bruised commission members moved to the next item.

The football comparison is not a random one, for this agenda item was to scrutinise the awarding of the construction contract for the proposed new sports hub at Monks Lane. It was not convened to look at the overall decision, nor the situation at the Faraday Road ground, nor the future of the LRIE development. Different views exist as to the wisdom of these decisions but this meeting was just to look at the contract, which it eventually did (this will now be rubber-stamped at the next meeting of the Executive).

(Note: the “steps” mentioned below describe the level of the non-league pyramid that the ground can be used for. Step 1 is the first level (National League), step 2 the second (National Leagues North and South) and so on. The higher the number, the lower the league. Hungerford Town is currently step 2, Thatcham Town step 4, AFC Aldermaston step 6 and Newbury FC step 7.)

All these matters are closely connected but have become conflated. I’ve written about this many times and I sense this won’t be the last outing. One issue is whether the Monks Lane is a replacement facility for Faraday Road: opinions differ on this, not helped by contradictions between WBC’s planning application and statements made at the above-mentioned meeting. Another is the cost. Portfolio-holder Howard Woollaston told Penny Post on 26 January that this will, including the loan repayment, be about £290,000pa over the 40-year term (the capital cost will be about £3.35m, funded by a loan from the Public Works Loan Board). He also confirmed that this could be upgraded to step 4 “without any further expenditure” and I understand that the design spec and building contract will be for step 4. He also assured me that it was “ahead of the curve” in terms of sustainability, with the specifications including air-source heating, hedge widening, a bank of bee-friendly wildflowers and the planting of about 100 trees.

A spokesperson for the Newbury Community Football Group told Penny Post on 26 January that the costs for a 3G football pitch, clubhouse, pavilion and stands at Faraday Road (for which permission has been granted, as there was no plannignreason to refuse it) would be about £2.1m (this includes a 20% inflation uplift since the figures were first prepared in 2021), about £600,000 of which might be expected from WBC in line with similar previous commitments. The NCFG also estimates that revenue from the site will generate £720,000 over the following 40 years. The spokesperson added that “this would provide at least a step 4 with the ability to easily scale up to step 2 and above as required (there may be incremental costs associated with scaling) .” He added that one of the step 4 requirements was having “250 seats located in one stand.” This had, he pointed out been the situation at Faraday Road until that stand was removed and gifted, sold or leased (I’m not sure which) to Hungerford Town FC, which is punching way above its weight as an established team in the National League South with a step 2 facility.

We’re clearly dealing with two very different proposals: in Monks Lane, the rent (£41,000pa) would be going out, whereas with Faraday Road, revenue would be coming in. The problem with retaining football at Faraday Road however is that this offends a central plank of WBC’s policy with regard to the regeneration of the London Road Industrial Estate, that the site would be re-developed for housing, the profit from which (roughly estimated at £3m) would help fund the other development plans in an area which most agree needs it.

That assumption, however, is looking a lot less certain than it might have been. Planning approval, in the light of new flood regulations, cannot be guaranteed. If granted, mitigation measures for this and additional sustainable features will eat into the profit. If we assume that £2m will be realised, and that it might take seven years from now for the last house to be sold, this is the sum that would already have been spent on Monks Lane. The benefit to the council is thus zero. If planning permission can’t be obtained or proves too complex or expensive then I’m not sure what the plan B is. This should have been established first.

Another dilemma may lie in wait in May 2023 if there is change of political control at WBC – I make no predictions and have no pre-disposition but it’s a possibility – then the Lib Dems will be faced with the choice of what to do with the ground. If Monks Lane is operational, as it should be, and thriving, as I hope it will be, this might be a hard question to answer. Unless work on the long-awaited Faraday Plaza has started by the time of the election, the whole LRIE project may seem too abstract a concept for most voters to grapple with: nothing but the creation of the access road off the A339 and the closure of the football ground has so far been accomplished there. It is from this latter ill-timed and ill-considered decision that so many problems have flowed. Even if football ever returns there, it’s unlikely that any of the matches it hosts will create as much acrimony, partisan rivalry and heated arguments as have ensued in the three and a half years since it was closed. Until something is definitely decided as to its future, these debates will rage on.

Thursday 20 January 2022

This week’s news

• We all need some heartwarming news, especially in January, and this week it comes from a nurse at Falkland Veterinary Clinic who is looking after a little spineless hedgehog who has been named Maggot after the Pogues’ song Fairytale of New York. Luckily young Maggot is growing his fur and spines back and will hopefully be released back into the wild before long.

• Newbury has recently welcomed a new community larder at the Waterside Centre, which opened this Tuesday after a successful mock larder was trialled. Penny Post contacted the Operations Director at Waterside Community Centre, Sarah Emery about this. “The mock larder was great,” she told us, “as it allowed those who are worried about landfills to feel better and for those that needed the food to know what to expect in the future.” This week’s NWN states that “the larder will be open from 26 January onwards”: however, it will be open on Tuesday 25 January from 2pm to 4pm and every Tuesday after that. Sarah also stated that those who wish to volunteer are welcome to by either dropping into the Centre or signing up on the Sofea website. For more details please contact waterside@berkshireyouth.co.uk or call 01635 018500

• Click here for the latest (January 2022) newsletter from Newbury Town Council.

• The Newbury Town Civic Awards, with four categories, have been launched for 2022. Nomination forms are available for collection from Newbury Town Hall, can be completed online or can be printed off from the Newbury Town Council website. These celebrate achievements, honours volunteers and recognises those who make a difference in our community. 2022’s will be the 25th such event.

• Six new electric vehicle charge points are now live across West Berkshire public car parks including two 22kW Fast Chargers at Newbury Library Car Park capable of charging two vehicles at once and one 50kw DC Rapid Charger (capacity for one vehicle only) at Newbury Central Car Park next to KFC. For more details please see West Berkshire Council’s website. Please note, users will be required to pay for their parking space whilst charging their vehicle.

• A number of pharmacies and other vaccination centres in the area are now offering sessions which can be booked locally (as well as through the NHS website) as well as being available for drop-in patients. As many have limited indoor space and as wit times can vary, people are advised to book in advance. One such takes place at Strawberry Hill in Newbury, on Wednesday 26 January which is doing a specific after-school session for secondary school and further-education students. They are open for 18 plus from 9.30am to 1pm and 1.30pm to 5.30pm. They also have clinics for 12 plus, and 16 plus between 3.30pm and 6.30pm. Remember you need 12 weeks gap since your first, or second dose and 28 days since any positive covid-19 test.

• The vaccination centre in the Kennet Centre will be open again this weekend, January 22 and 23, for boosters for over 16 years olds .

• Boots on Northbrook Street now has a walk-in clinic for the 12 to 15 year olds 9am to 5pm Monday to Saturday and 11am to 4pm on Sunday (closed between noon and 1pm).

• If you want to take advantage of the 20% discount off the à la carte menu at The Hartley Arms, Donnington on Wednesdays and Thursdays there is still time until the end of January. And if you want to work up an appetite first this walk from Donnington Castle to Snelsmore Common should do the trick.

• Eight Bells Community Strength is appealing to volunteers for a community navigator role. You can sign up for their team here, or otherwise, can email them at cs@eightbellsnewbury.co.uk

• Newbury Town Council is looking for volunteers to be a part of a Steering Group for its Neighbourhood Development Plan. More information here or email NDP@newbury.gov.uk.

• See here for information and events in Parkway, Newbury.

• An NHS research exhibition is on display at West Berkshire Library in Newbury. Opening times and more can be found here.

• Hamstead Marshall Parish Council has now registered with West Berkshire Council to use a Speed Indicator Device (SID). The SID will display the speed of approaching vehicles, hopefully encouraging drivers to abide by its 30mph speed limit. All vehicle speeds are also recorded for later analysis by West Berkshire Council. Anyone within the Parish can now register to use the SID: contact the Parish Council for details. Registered SID operators must complete a short online training course and then supervise the SID during its deployment for an hour at a pre-registered location in the village.

The utmost integrity

West Berkshire Council held an extraordinary full council meeting on 18 January to debate some motions which were held over from the last meeting in December due to lack of time. The first item was tabled by Councillor Jess Brooks: this is considered in detail in this separate post which includes a link to the Zoom recording of the event.

The motion was a cleverly worded one as it asked for the members to agree to following a set of self-evidently correct principles while at the same time allowing there to be a debate on some matters where Councillor Brooks felt WBC’s conduct had fallen short of these ideals. The motion was, he explained, phrased in this way as it provided the only way by which these matters could be given a proper public airing. On several previous occasions when the matter had been raised it had been deferred to the Executive (like the government’s cabinet) and no further scrutiny was possible.

The two most important matters raised – both of which have been covered on many occasions and in some detail in Penny Post – concerned two disputed Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) charges; and the continuing tale of Readibus’ funding. It is the latter which is likely to be of more interest to Newbury residents as it’s from here, from Thatcham and from some of the communities to the east that the majority of the award-winning community transport company’s clients are to be found.

Or, in some cases, “were to be found”, for the three-year-long dispute has resulted in some of its services being curtailed and fewer people thus being able to use it. Hopefully this will be resolved and matters returned to the harmonious conditions which prevailed for more than 30 years before this mysterious rift. It’s not too late for this to happen. Certainly the demand still exists and the more people can remain independent and self-reliant the less likely they are to need to call on West Berkshire Council’s adult social care budget, which is already by far the council’s biggest single area of expenditure.

Thursday 13 January 2022

This week’s news

• This week’s Newbury Weekly News has, on p3, an article about West Berkshire Council’s welcome change of mind over its decision to allow volunteers at the Kennet Centre vaccination clinic to get free car parking. At a media briefing on 7 December at which I was present, WBC’s Leader Lynne Doherty said that this was being introduced as a temporary measure in the run up to Christmas but seemed doubtful that it would be extended. She also ruled out offering retrospective refunds. An article in the NWN on 9 December confirmed these points and also pointed out that, as Ms Doherty had said two days before, volunteers could ask for refunds from the charities or organisations for which they were working. The NWN’s articles, an intervention from Laura Farris MP, doubtless continued pressure from volunteers and charities and perhaps a period of reflection at WBC HQ has resulted in a change of tack: the period of free car parking (at the Station Road Car Park) is now described as “open ended” and will be kept under review. If you are a volunteer you should contact, or will be contacted by, the organisation that’s recruited you for details of how this works.

None of us get every decision right first so WBC is to be congratulated for changing course on this one. The report in today’s paper was, however, slightly clouded by accusations from WBC that the original NWN article on 9 December involved “inaccurate reporting”. Enquiries with WBC and NWN failed to reveal what these were beyond the point, which the paper accepted, that the article had said that Lynne Doherty had had her booster jab at the Kennet Centre whereas it had in fact been at the nearby branch of Boots. This doesn’t seem to undermine any of the points the article was making. The messages we all get loud and clear, though, is that WBC’s Leader has had her booster and that if you go to have yours in the Kennet Centre then the staff there will be that much happier for not being out of pocket. Two good reasons to go and get yours if you haven’t already done so.

• There’s a letter in this week’s NWN from David Peacock of The Newbury Society which criticises the way in which the various images of the proposed Eagle Quarter redevelopment of the Kennet Centre have been presented. I contacted the developers, Lochailort, on 13 January to draw this to their attention and ask if they had any comment and was provided with a statement, as well as two part preview images, which you can see in this separate post. This statement also clarifies Lochailort’s position on affordable housing and stresses again its commitment to including a number of sustainable features. If David Peacock or anyone from The Newbury Society or anyone else has any comment on these, please feel free to use the “Leave a reply” box at the foot of the post, or to email me on brian@pennypost.org.uk.

• Last week (see section below) I wrote about the latest episode in the saga of Readibus and West Berkshire Council. This one was largely scripted by the Local Government Ombudsman who partially upheld Readibus’ complaint that consultation on which the current dispute is partly based was flawed. The Ombudsman has limited powers to enforce subsequent action and so was unable (even if so minded) to insist that discussions be re-commenced to try to resolve the matter for the benefit of the local residents who have for about 35 years been enjoying the benefits provided by this award-winning community transport charity. An email to WBC on the morning on 13 January enquiring whether anyone was planning on picking up the phone has so far not received a reply. The story is also covered in this story on Meridian News. Hopefully there won’t be too many more episodes: what’s needed now is a drawing of the proverbial line and them hopefully, the proverbial happy ending.

• Six new electric vehicle charge points are now live across West Berkshire public car parks including two 22kW Fast Chargers at Newbury Library Car Park capable of charging two vehicles at once and one 50kW DC Rapid Charger (capacity for one vehicle only) at Newbury Central Car Park next to KFC. For more details please see West Berkshire Council’s website. Please note, users will be required to pay for their parking space whilst charging their vehicle.

• The new cafe at the Waterside Centre, run by Colline’s Kitchen (which used to be next to the Town Hall in the market place) opens Friday 14 January and is open 8.30am to 4.30pm Tuesday to Saturday with a delicious range of cakes, coffee, buddha bowls, toasted sourdough sandwiches, soups and more. Follow them on facebook to find out more.

• The Corn Exchange re-opens to visitors this Friday 14 January. Their first event of 2022 is a Pink Floyd tribute night this Sat 15 Jan.

• Newbury Town Council has paid tribute to Esther Jane Luker by erecting a blue plaque in her honour at Luker Hall. From 1904 to 1933 Luker was the first headmistress of Newbury Girls’ School, the first school in Newbury to offer secondary education for girls to university standard.

• Looking to meet new people, save money on your food bills and prevent food going to land fill? Check out the new community larder opening at the Waterside Centre in Newbury (behind Costa Coffee) on Tuesday 18 January. The Larder will be open every Tuesday 2pm to 4pm when people can come and select their items of food and other household products as well as access other support services on site. For more details please contact waterside@berkshireyouth.co.uk or call 01635 018500.

• St Bartholomew’s School are still looking for entries to their title-art banner competition which would be featured on their newly-designed BartholoNews newsletters. The secondary school has requested for any keen local artists to submit “an eye-catching title design” to the new extended deadline of Monday 17 January.

• Local artists are certainly in-demand, as another request for “paintings, photographs, drawings or any medium of your choice” this time coming from Arlington Arts for their “community art exhibition A Winter’s Tale”. A Newbury Today article further explains the T&Cs of the competition which starts on 19 January and continues until 26 February.

• The year 9 group at The Clere School were asked to study from home this week, due to a Covid surge amongst the school’s staff. Friday remains a teacher training day and normal schedule is expected to resume in the near future. See more on the Newbury Today here.

• To all of the incredible NHS staff out there who love tattoos or would like a permanent reminder that they are appreciated: local tattoo artist, Lee Priddy is offering free badge of honour tattoos, from his four flash designs to the NHS staff who have put other people before themselves throughout these challenging times. A truly permanent reminder of the amazing work that the NHS has put in throughout the last couple of years. All tattoos will be held in his studio, Full Power Studios, on 16 February starting at 10am til late, will allow the staff to claim their free tattoo from Lee. To anyone wanting to book this tattoo, you can email Lee at fullpowerstudios@outlook.com or DM him on Instagram @leepriddytattoo a photo of your NHS Blue light card for verification.

• Eight Bells Community Strength is appealing to volunteers for a community navigator role. You can sign up for their team here, or otherwise, can email them at cs@eightbellsnewbury.co.uk

• Newbury Town Council is looking for volunteers to be a part of a Steering Group for its Neighbourhood Development Plan. More information here or email NDP@newbury.gov.uk.

• See here for information and events in Parkway, Newbury.

• An NHS research exhibition is on display at West Berkshire Library in Newbury. Opening times and more can be found here.

• Please click here for Hamstead Marshall.net, which provides an excellent round-up of what’s going on in and around the village. This also publishes the quarterly Hamstead Hornet.

NADAS – to show or not to show

As many of you will be aware, we covered in some detail the Newbury and District Agricultural Society’s rather tumultuous 2021 (see earlier sections below) which culminated in an AGM in November at which a new board of trustees was elected. Much of their time since then has been spent examining the details of what they’ve taken over. They have also created a newsletter which has recently been sent to all the members, the intention being that this will be a quarterly publication. In this issue, the new Chairman Steve Ackrill says that he is “really looking forward to the challenges that lie ahead” and also points to a number of rebranding tasks and changes to the website. He also reports that the accounts for the year to 31 December 2021 should show a profit of “close to £100,000” and that, despite a debt of £320,000 the cash position is a fairly healthy £220,000. I also understand that discussions are being pressed forward with re-negotiating the Section 106 agreement which currently places restrictions on how and when the site can be used.

The big uncertainty at present is what will happen about the Newbury Show in 2022 which, for many people, is why they joined NADAS in the first place. Here the new board is in a difficult position. For some time it’s been clear that the Show as it was organised was losing money and the new trustees need carefully to consider what needs to be changed and what retained and how large it should be. There would be no point in doing a Show just for the sake of avoiding a third fallow year if it’s not going to at least break even: on the other hand, many members might expect or demand that some kind of event take place. There’s also the question of time. Events of this size and complexity take a year to plan properly and, through no fault of its own, the new board is already into the third month. Whatever form the new event takes will form the template for future ones so it’s important that this be got right. A final decision has yet to be made but the timescale is not in favour of a decision to proceed. The shadow of Covid still hangs over every piece of planning. If NADAS decides not to hold a show this year then that will allow more time to plan something for 2023.

Many people who are not members of NADAS (though may wish to join – email accounts@nadas.co.uk for more information) will have been following the story because of concerns as to whether the ground will be sold and, as at one time seemed possible, turned into a distribution centre. The current board was elected on the platform of preventing this and retaining the site, or at least the large majority of it. It may take further time to establish how best this can be done. If that involves waiting another year for the return the Show then that might be a price worth paying.

Thursday 6 January 2022

This week’s news

• Green bin (garden and food waste) collection service has been “temporarily suspend” by West Berkshire Council until 8 January, with the services resuming from Monday 10 January.

• A new community larder is opening at the Waterside Centre in Newbury (behind Costa Coffee). The Larder will be open every Tuesday 2pm to 4pm with the first Mock Larder on Tuesday 11 ahead of Tuesday 18 launch. people can come and select their items of food and other household products as well as access other support services on site. Working with Sofea and Fareshare, they take supermarket warehouse excess and re-distribute it in the community. If you require any further information or have any further questions please contact waterside@berkshireyouth.co.uk 01635 018500.

• St Bartholomew’s School, Newbury are looking for any applications towards their title-art banner competition which would be featured on their newly-designed BartholoNews newsletters. The secondary school have requested for any keen local artists to submit “an eye-catching title design” to the new extended deadline of Monday 17 January.

• Remaining on the topic of secondary schools, students at Park House school have donated 26 boxes of food to the West Berks Foodbank. This was just in time for the Christmas donations appeal sent out by the Foodbank before the holiday season to help those in need.

• Newbury’s Luke Humphries reached his third PDC World Championship quarter final but sadly was defeated by ‘The Flying Scotsman’ Gary Anderson at Alexandra Palace on 1 January. A Newbury Today article highlights what a fantastic year the 26 year-old had, “he finished runners-up to James Wade in the UK Open” as well as “two last-16 appearances in the World Matchplay and Grand Prix followed, as well as reaching the semi-final of the Hungarian Darts Trophy” which currently leaves Luke within the top 20 in the world.

• Local artists are certainly in-demand, as another request for “paintings, photographs, drawings or any medium of your choice” this time coming from Arlington Arts for their “community arts exhibition A Winter’s Tale”. A Newbury Today article further explains the T&Cs of the competition which starts on 19 January to 26 February.

• A new scheme by National Highways addressing safety and congestion on the A34 has been introduced which will explore opportunities to relieve traffic congestion and make it safer for drivers on the road between the M40 and the M4 junctions. Earlier last year Laura Farris MP called for National Highways to prioritise safety upgrades to this “dangerous” stretch of the A34 and it was an issue that her predecessor frequently raised as well. See more here on Newbury Today.

• Information here from the invaluable Bedwyn Train Passenger Group about changes to rail services between Bedwyn and Newbury, mainly as a result of Covid-related staff shortages.

• The Base at Greenham new exhibition titled Decoding Braille which will be open 7 to 30 January 2022. The next exhibition after that is based on the the 57th instalment of the wildlife photography competition and will be held between 4 February and 3 April 2022. See here for more.

• A reminder that the Corn Exchange will remain closed for in-person visits until 14 January. During this time tickets can still be bought on-line. See more here.

• Newbury Town Council is looking for volunteers to be a part of a Steering Group for its Neighbourhood Development Plan. More information here or email NDP@newbury.gov.uk.

• See here for information and events in Parkway, Newbury.

• An NHS research exhibition is on display at West Berkshire Library. Opening times and more can be found here.

• The Winter 2021 Ullage magazine is available to read here.

• Click here for information about lateral flow tests available in West Berkshire.

• Click here for the December 2021 issue of the Hamstead Hornet Newsletter.

• Community larders are running in Newbury, Thatcham and Wantage – click here for details.

Readibus and West Berkshire Council: the Ombudsman’s decision

Regular readers of this column will be aware that we have been covering the problems that have arisen between the award-winning community transport company Readibus and WBC (this affects people other than just in Newbury but this is where most of the users of the service live). One of the issues was a consultation about funding cuts in 2018 which was not extended to Readibus’ customers on the peculiar grounds that many of them had learning disabilities (the charity in fact provides transport for people with mobility issues).

Readibus raised this issue with the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) who, in the judgement finally published just before Christmas, found that WBC was in several cases at fault (though some claims were not upheld). WBC was asked to make an apology and pay £300 to Readibus to cover the “uncertainty” caused by the matter (the maximum fine that the LGO can issue in such cases). You can see a link to the LGO’s report and recent statements from WBC and Readibus in this separate post.

Among the comments the LGO makes (para 49) is that “I cannot say on balance whether carrying out a public consultation for the cuts to community transport grants would have changed the Council’s view.” Such a statement could apply to any event in the past which did not happen: the wider point is that you can’t exclude certain groups from consultations on a whim. It also seems odd that at least one person in a decision-making position at WBC didn’t appear to understand who were the beneficiaries of this service that WBC and its predecessor had been funding for over 30 years. The need for such a service has certainly not diminished in that time: indeed, given an increasingly ageing population, it’s probably increased.

What happens next? A decision made by the LGO is not lightly to be set aside. The decision was that WBC was at fault in several ways. It’s therefore reasonable to expect that related decisions may also have been flawed. Other matters, such as a contentious confidentiality clause (not part of the LGO’s investigation) remain as obstacles. The LGO specified three agreed actions: an apology, the payment of £300 and a review of consultation procedures. However, WBC would unwise to assume that everything else about the matter has therefore been handled in the best possible way.

Meanwhile, the service is operating at a lower level than it might be, the would-be customers being the losers. The services which Readibus offers are part of the complex fabric of adult social care (ASC) and improve the lives of people in many ways. On a purely financial level, the more self-reliant and independent people are, the less of a charge they become on the public service. If all the effects of the reduction in the service are translated into additional ASC costs then the whole divisive and time-consuming exercise could in fact be costing money rather than saving it. A lot has changed since 2018. Hopefully, this judgment will help draw a proverbial line and enable discussions to re-start. It would seem that the ball is in WBC’s court on this one.

News from other areas

Penny Post area – please see the following separate sections: Hungerford area; Lambourn Valley; Newbury area; Thatcham area; Compton & Downlands; Theale area; Marlborough area.
News and views from across the area and beyond: please see the most recent Weekly News with Brian column.

To see the current Newbury Area Weekly News section, please click here.

Other archives

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