Last year, Newbury Town Council appointed a new CEO, Toby Miles-Mallowan, to replace Hugh Peacocke. Some might wonder what the CEO of a town council does and what this particular one hopes to achieve in the role. Well, wonder no more: for we recently caught up with Toby between planning meetings, steering groups and trips to the Corn Exchange to ask him about these very things, as well as the all-important matters of his choices of music, book, film and luxury item were he to find himself cast away on a desert island.

How long have you been the CEO of Newbury Town Council?

For just over six months, having joined at the end of March 2024.

What jobs did you do before that?

Prior to joining NTC, I was the Head of Homelessness, Health and Wellbeing for BCHA a small housing association in the South West of England. There I was responsible for managing our Survivor Care Services (modern Slavery and Domestic Abuse), managing our specialist services for women with complex needs and the Education and Training Programmes: so, quite a broad portfolio.

Before then I worked primarily in the substance-use treatment sector for around 15 years in various roles, starting as a front-line worker, commissioning services, managing them and developing and implementing new ones. One of my earliest jobs was a Probation Officer, where I had the pleasure of working in Newbury for a time. Sadly, my office and the court building it was part of are no more. I remember then thinking that Newbury was a nice place to be, with a strong sense of community (particularly amongst the offenders I supervised).

How would you define what the role of a town council’s CEO is?

This is a hybrid role. I am the CEO with the corporate responsibility for Newbury Town Council; I am also the Town Clerk with the responsibilities to clerk meetings (minuting, advising the chair); I am also the curator of a listed building, commonwealth graves and historic monuments. So, it’s quite varied.

I feel incredibly lucky to be in this role and being able to work across such a varied and diverse organisation. I have a small, dedicated team who are passionate in delivering a great service for the people of Newbury.

My focus for the council is to improve the transparency of the council, I am intending to do this by improving our communications with the public. We will be looking at increasing our communications through social media and mainstream media (such as Penny Post).

What do you think are the main advantages that Newbury enjoys?

Newbury is in a beautiful part of the world and has a great blend of urban and green spaces. It is a great place to bring up children and has a good family atmosphere, good schools and services. Transport wise it is blessed with access to the road infrastructure and good rail access to London and the South West. It is, after all, often described as being at the cross-roads of the south.

I think that the Corn Exchange is one of the crown jewels of Newbury. The range of activities it puts on throughout the year is amazing – and also inspiring. For example, after their performance of Little Mo, my daughter decided that she wants to become a human rights lawyer…

What do you think are the biggest challenges that Newbury faces at present?

Doe to the above reasons, more people are choosing to live in Newbury and this is leading to more planning applications for more housing. The challenge here is to ensure that development is sustainable and in keeping with the character of Newbury, a historic market town, and to ensure we are protecting the uniqueness of this place.

The next big challenge is climate change. The council declared a climate emergency five years ago and it’s meeting the objectives of this challenge. We are seeing more and more frequent flooding events and as the town becomes more developed the impact on residents will increase. So its looking at how we can protect homes at risk of flooding whilst protecting our SSSI/SAC rivers.

How can the town council help overcome these?

The Planning and Highways committee is a key player in trying to ensure that development is sustainable and in keeping with the character of Newbury. This committee gives the community an additional voice over planning applications which they may not have with the Planning Authority.

For example, the Planning and Highways committees we have in the short time I have been here been able to influence a developer to reduce the scale of their development and push it back from the road to ensure the development is in keeping with the character of the street. In addition the planning and highways committee was able to protect an ancient hedgerow and bat corridor

They second way NTC can overcome this is through the development and implementation of our neighbourhood plan. It is vital that we get this ready to go to referendum to the community to set out guidelines for development.

With regards to climate change and flooding events, the Town Council needs to play a bigger role in supporting the community in preparing homes and protecting them from flooding events. We are supporting the Newbury Flood Forum financially and are in discussions in providing space to store flood defence equipment. I am also looking at how the Council could support the coordination of flood wardens locally in the future.

Newbury is currently embarked on a neighbourhood development plan. Tell us a bit about that.

This is an ongoing journey for us. We are currently reviewing and updating our original objectives to ensure that they are relevant and future proofed. We have a clear vision for Newbury to “strengthen Newbury’s economic and historical position as the Crossroads of Southern England by protecting the heritage, architecture, and culture of our market town, whilst continuing to develop a sustainable, innovative, vibrant, and friendly community, where people of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities are welcomed and included.”

At this stage we are working on the policy documents that support our overall objectives and then consulting with the public to ensure that it matches their views.

There’s also a town-centre strategy being worked on: how’s that shaping up?

This is a partnership piece lead by West Berkshire District Council, the first stages of seeing actual works are underway with the development of the Wharf. This is really exciting that will see the expansion of the Peace Gardens by the Wharf toilets (it is known as the Peace Gardens after the main flower bed that was planted by the Ukrainian community in solidarity of the ongoing conflict). We are excited to see the improvements to these gardens that will be enjoyable for all and encourage people to access this side of the canal.

We are establishing the steering group for the Town-Centre that is chaired now by our Mayor which will give stakeholders a voice in the ongoing development of the Master Plan.

If there was one thing that you could change about how local government works, what would it be?

I think it would be planning process. This can be quite a challenging and frustrating process for individuals. I would like to see some elements fast-tracked (through Neighbourhood Orders) to enable developments that are for the community good being moved through the process quicker.

What are the main things that you’re hoping to achieve in this role?

To protect the things that make Newbury unique, the blend between a town centre and access to the countryside, Newbury is not overdeveloped and I am keen to ensure that we maintain sustainable development for Newbury to keep its charm and uniqueness.

Imagine if you can that this is Desert Island Discs and that I’m Lauren Laverne. What would be your must-have piece of music?

If it is a single song, it would be Kamasi Washington’s, The Truth.

If its an album, it would be Nirvana’s Nevermind, the soundtrack of my youth.

I’ll ask Lauren if you can have both. And your book?

My favourite book would be a toss up between Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchetts’ Good Omens and anything by Joe Abercombie:  The Heroes, if I had to pick one.

Good Omens is the perfect blend between the darkness of Neil Gaiman and the Discworld humour of Terry Pratchett. To me the main characters are representatives of the authors (Neil Gaiman is Crowley the Demon and Terry Pratchett is Azriphale the Angel).

Again, I’ll see if we can smuggle both of these onto the island. And – not something she offers – your film?

For many people my age, it has to be the any of the original Star Wars trilogy, I can’t tell you how many times I have watched those films: I do remember that my brother and I wore out the Betamax tape (a superior device to the VHS) of The Empire Strikes Back that we had. I was lucky enough to get to watch Rogue One in the Directors Screening Room in Pinewood Studios which will always be a good memory for me.

And your luxury object?

My pocket watch – it’s a family heirloom that was given to me on my 18th birthday.

You’ve got it. Enjoy your stay on the island…

See also…

Interview with Richard Spencer-Williams, Town Clerk of Marlborough.