News » WBC Parish Report for May 2022
 WBC Parish Report for May 2022 3 June, 2022 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
WBC Parish Report for May 2022Cllr Graham Bridgman (West Berkshire Council, Burghfield and Mortimer Ward)West Berkshire CouncilCouncilAnnual MeetingThe Annual Meeting of the Council on 10 May saw the election of a new Chairman and Vice-Chairman of Council, the announcement of the Executive membership by the Leader and some changes to Committee memberships, Committee Chairmen, etc. Councillors Rick Jones and Alan Law were elected Chairman and Vice Chairman respectively. The Chairman is the formal representative of West Berkshire Council and, as well as presiding over Council meetings, officiates at civic functions and welcomes distinguished visitors of national and international significance on behalf of the district. The Chairman recognised several Councillors with Long Service Awards. Councillors Hilary Cole, Jeremy Cottam and Alan Law were recognised for 15 years' service, and Councillor Graham Pask was recognised for 35 years' service. Refurbished Council ChamberAs anyone attending the District Parish Conference on 26 May will have seen, the Council Chamber has been refurbished with new tables, lighting and connectivity as well as enlarging the available floor area by removing the permanent dais. It is looking very smart! ExecutiveThe nine Councillors making up the Executive, the main decision-making body of the Council, were confirmed at the Annual Meeting. The Executive takes key decisions – those that affect two or more wards or where decisions will have a significant impact on the Council’s budget. Joining Council Leader Lynne Doherty on the Executive will be eight other Councillors, including me as Deputy Leader, and Tom Marino who has been appointed to the Executive for the first time since he was elected in 2019. Tom replaces Hilary Cole who has stepped down after 13 years as a member of the Executive. The full Executive membership, announced by the Leader, Lynne Doherty, is as follows:
So, I remain with my roles - Deputy Leader of Council and Executive Portfolio Holder for Health and Wellbeing, Chairman of the West Berkshire Health and Wellbeing Board, a member of the Licensing Committee and a substitute on the Eastern Area Planning Committee, the District Planning Committee and the Joint Public Protection Committee, plus a WBC nominated member of the Atomic Weapons Establishment Local Liaison Committee and the Local Government Association General Assembly, and a WBC nominated Governor of the Berkshire Healthcare and Royal Berkshire Hospital NHS Foundation Trusts. The next meeting of the Executive is on 9 June. HM The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee(See more below about the Mortimer Jubilee Party.) Special Platinum Jubilee Bus Travel in West BerkshireFollowing the success of the free bus travel offer last Christmas and for the recent Easter weekend, most bus journeys starting in West Berkshire over the Jubilee weekend (2-5 June) will be completely free. This initiative has been developed by West Berkshire Council in partnership with Reading Buses and Thames Travel, and will be valid on any Reading Buses, Newbury & District, or Thames Travel services within West Berkshire. Road ClosuresWith numerous events taking place over the special four-day weekend, including the Big Jubilee Lunch on Sunday 5 June encouraging neighbourhoods to get together to celebrate, a huge vote of thanks to the WBC Traffic and Road Safety team, who have been extremely busy behind the scenes processing applications and arranging all the necessary signage with WBC’s contractor Volker Highways (the road closure signs are being organised in advance and will be supplied free of charge for event organisers to collect and return as part of their application). Over the weekend there will be 64 events taking place, with Volker Highways providing road signs to 55 of these (a total of 180 road signs). Thanks are also due to the WBC Insurance Team, who have arranged public liability insurance for the street parties at no cost to the organisers. You can find out more about where the road closures will take place on the interactive map. More information on Council events taking place over the Platinum Jubilee weekend can be found on the dedicated Jubilee page. FinanceCouncil top nationally for overall performance and amongst the best for value for moneyAccording to independent research by money.co.uk, out of 304 local authorities surveyed nationally, WBC is one of the top ten (eighth) for value for money, and top for overall performance. The research analysed a variety of council services - recycling levels, road conditions, crime rate, percentage of good or outstanding schools and care homes. The report found the district scored well on road maintenance compared to other councils and was the highest scorer on social care. Across key areas WBC scored highly out of ten:
The overall performance score for WBC was 8.49 out of 10 – top of all 304 councils. Of the top 15 authorities, eight are London Boroughs and three are Metropolitan Districts (all Manchester) (with all of them “N/A” for road maintenance). That leaves three Unitary Councils, all in Berkshire - Windsor & Maidenhead (third for value for money and 13th for overall performance), WBC (eighth and first) and Wokingham (13th and fifth), with Maldon District Council in Essex completing the 15 (at 15th and 11th). The top ten are detailed below and for more information about how WBC spends taxpayer’s money, see https://info.westberks.gov.uk/councilspending.
Grant figures announcedThe Economic Development team in West Berkshire is focused on helping businesses in the district to succeed and thrive through the support WBC offer. In the past 2 years, helping businesses through the Covid pandemic has been the focus of the team and they have distributed a huge amount of grant funding to help businesses recover and grow, in collaboration with the Business Rates team:
Household Support Fund Scheme extendedThe Household Support Fund has been extended until the end of September to support vulnerable households most in need of help with significantly rising living costs. To date the fund has successfully helped support over 1,400 households to pay for energy bills, food and clothing. The funding has also supported 4,000 children across West Berkshire by providing Free School Meal vouchers, recognising the additional financial pressure during this time. The funding is limited and will be made available to assist vulnerable residents, pensioners and children across West Berkshire. To read the criteria and apply for the Household Support Fund, please visit here. Education
Children’s Services retains ‘Good’ ratingWBC’s Children’s Services has retained its 'Good’ status following the latest inspection from Ofsted. It follows a visit from Inspectors, who spent a week with the Children and Family Service in March. Building on the progress made during the last inspection, WBC achieved ‘Good’ across all four inspection areas:
The report praised the effectiveness of “strong, stable and child-focused leadership team” and said “Leaders in West Berkshire demonstrate a strong political and corporate commitment to achieving the best outcomes for children and families”. It also recognised the experience that West Berkshire has in supporting asylum-seeking children, noting that unaccompanied children are met with kindness when they arrive here. In particular, the report noted the introduction of an early response hub through which highly effective working relationships have been developed with universal, voluntary and community services. It means that children and families benefit from help and support at the earliest opportunity, provided by a range of skilled services and valued partners who serve the children and families of West Berkshire. Keevill Unit officially opens at Speenhamland SchoolA new learning space for children with physical disabilities was officially opened at the end of April by Paralympian Louise Sugden. Louise is a former Speenhamland and Keevill pupil, and has competed both as a former wheelchair basketball player and current powerlifter. The Keevill Unit is part of an £860k transformation project funded by WBC. The first phase saw the refurbishment of the Pelican Building, an existing structure on the school site, into an inspiring learning environment for Early Years children, providing two new classrooms, a designated outdoor learning zone, accessible toilet and hoist for children with physical disabilities and extra indoor and outdoor space, for all pupils to enjoy. When the Pelican Building was complete, work began to relocate the Keevill Unit for children with physical difficulties. The expanded area now provides two classrooms, a dedicated Special Educational Needs therapy room, an accessible hygiene room, two resource areas/office, and a kitchen area. Curridge School Eco-successCurridge Primary School in Thatcham are celebrating their Eco-Schools Green Flag award with merit! To achieve this accolade, Year 6 children made a huge effort in continuing the 'green' work featured in the curriculum, and collected evidence over an eighteen-month period to submit to the Eco-School team. This included taking part in lessons and projects featuring art inspired by Wangari Maathai and Jadav Payeng; drawing up an environmental review & action plan; designing a sustainable housing development of 150 homes, and building bug hotels and gardens to attract more wildlife. Culture
Antiques & Brocante MarketShaw House in Newbury is hosting an Antiques & Brocante Market on Sunday 14 August. This unique French-style Brocante market is making a welcome return to Shaw House, offering antiques, vintage, retro, bric-a-brac and decorative arts items plus vinyl records outside on the Great Lawn. It is a great day out for all the family with free entry to explore the House. Street food will be available outside, plus light refreshments from the café and pre-prepared picnics are available to order from www.westberkshireheritage.org/whats-on. Health and Social CareHealthy Start SchemeWBC has been promoting changes to the Government’s Healthy Start Scheme, which supports eligible low-income families receiving benefits (with a move from vouchers to a card based scheme). Healthy Start is a national programme to help those who qualify by providing free vitamins from pregnancy, plus financial support to pay for healthy food and milk until their child is four. Mums that are more than ten weeks pregnant, or have a child under four, may be entitled to receive a Healthy Start card, which can be used to obtain free vitamins, and has money loaded on it to buy items including vegetables, fruit, pulses, cow’s milk and infant formula milk, in a number of shops displaying the MasterCard logo. The card can be applied for online and a further benefit will be added to it every four weeks. Health and Wellbeing BagsSometimes people need to take some time and do something for themselves – maybe reading a book, learning a new recipe, having an activity to do with a friend, or going for a walk… WBC launched this new scheme last month and wants to advertise that you can find all of this and more in the new Wellbeing Bags, each containing a selection of items, that can be borrowed free from local libraries. CyclomaniacsCyclomaniacs is a fun session of cycling for children aged nine to 12 years taking place on Saturday mornings from 09:00 to 11:30. No specialist equipment is needed; just a bike, a cycle helmet and a can-do attitude to have fun. Costing just £15 per rider, there are limited places available. The sessions will take place at Shaw House, Church Rd, Shaw, Newbury, RG14 2DR, and the next events are taking place on the following dates: 4 June, 18 June, 2 July, 16 July, 3 September and 17 September (a limited number of loan bikes are available on the day at a cost of £5 per bike per session). Level 2 and Level 3 Bikeability courses are also available - this is the modern standard for cycle training, giving everyone the skills and confidence to cycle on the road. For more information and to book a place for Cyclomaniacs, or for more about Bikeability, please email activetravel@westberks.gov.uk. EnvironmentFree soil conditioner giveaway success!WBC’s first ever soil conditioner giveaway at the Integrated Waste Management Facility at Padworth was a huge success, which saw 25 tonnes of soil conditioner collected by West Berkshire residents on Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 May. Residents patiently waited for their turn as there were long queues on Saturday due to high demand for the material, which is a fine grade, peat free soil conditioner, made from garden and food waste collected from households across West Berkshire. CommunitySustainability FundAfter a successful launch in 2021, Veolia’s Sustainability Fund is back this year and offering up to £1,000 worth of funding to innovative project ideas to transform local communities across the UK. The Fund will support inspirational ideas that aim to make a positive change towards local communities. The purpose of the Fund is to support non-profit organisations, community groups or individuals that help transform their local community through enhancing biodiversity, promoting sustainable waste behaviours, protecting or preserving resources and the environment, or using recycled, reused or reclaimed materials. Projects can apply at veolia.co.uk/sustainability-fund. TransportNew community bus for the Newbury and Thatcham Handybus serviceWBC has funded a new community bus for the Newbury and Thatcham Handybus service, run by the Volunteer Centre West Berkshire. The bus, which has been adapted to be fully accessible, was successfully funded through the 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 for shopping, to attend appointments and meet friends. The new minibus is part of the ongoing support for community transport schemes. £55k has been allocated in funding this year to help local providers deliver services, as well as making grants totalling £50k available for capital projects each year. Speed ChecksWBC’s Road Safety Team and officers from Thames Valley Police visited several locations on Friday 13 May to carry out speed checks. Using a laser speed detection device, speeds were checked and those drivers found to be breaking the speed limit were pulled over. As a result, nine drivers were issued with tickets for excessive speed in 30mph zones. One driver was found to have no insurance or MOT and had his car seized as a result, and another was cautioned for not wearing a seat belt. Officers spoke to a further 17 people, whose speed was over 30mph but less than 35mph, to remind them of the dangers of breaking speed limits and the consequences for both themselves and the pedestrian should they hit someone. Current Consultations
Parish MattersWard
The JubileeAlthough an SMPC event (in co-production with Mortimer Music Live CIC and Mortimer Village Partnership), we hope that Mortimer’s Jubilee Party will attract participants from far and wide. At the time of writing, a lot of construction is underway – see left for the stage (that’s me with hands on hips – typical pose!). The beacon lighting on 2 June, and music event on the 3rd, should be a superb precursor to the all-day event on Saturday (all free entry). Thanks to the entire Q70 committee, with Cllr Simon Beard as Chairman. Solar FarmAlthough it is a Wokefield planning application, I suspect all local parish councils will have a view on the WBC proposal for a solar farm on “Land North of Bloomfield Hatch” (22/01330/REG3) and I look forward to views (I have already been contacted by some neighbouring properties). Reading Quarry Energy Recovery Centre(Again, an application that parishes beyond Burghfield have a view upon.) I am going to give up trying to predict when items will get to be heard by the Eastern Area Planning Committee! Having anticipated this as an agenda item for 1 June, I am told that WBC are waiting for further information for this application. This will, in turn, trigger a further round of consultation, and the latest I have is that there is an extension for a decision to 31 August… UkraineAgain, this arose from a parish issue but has wider implications. With thanks to Cllr Danusia Morsley (SMPC) for pointing issues out, changes are being made to the WBC system to improve “the customer journey”. Generally, I think the system is working well but it can always be tweaked for improvements. Neighbourhood Action GroupAfter many years as Chairman, Royce Longton has stepped down and I was elected in his place at the AGM on 25 May. Huge thanks are due to Royce. Cllr Nick Carter (SMPC) and Richard Coles were re-elected as Vice-Chairman and Secretary respectively. The main theme of the meeting was a discussion about anti-social behaviour in Burghfield and the s60 order recently imposed. One message to be continually repeated is the need for residents to report crimes via 101 or the TVP website (but always using 999 in an emergency). BurghfieldCafé Planning ApplicationHaving thought that this application would also (see above re Reading Quarry) reach EAPC on 1 June, it didn’t because of further consultation responses. In addition, an ‘unsolicited amended plan’ was received by the WBC Planning team from the agent that needed to be considered and a further consultation period may be required.
Stratfield Mortimer
Nigel LynnHaving been unable to come to the Annual Parish Meeting, Nigel Lynne, the WBC Chief Executive, will be attending the PC meeting on 9 June. No doubt Windmill Court will be discussed. Windmill CourtA decision regarding the WBC position on the land will be going to the WBC Executive (but not to the meeting on 9 June). 72 Windmill RoadI note that a planning appeal has been launched and, as someone who called the application to committee if it was recommended for approval (it wasn’t), will be responding (this is a paper appeal – there won’t be a hearing).
Graham Bridgman Council Member for Burghfield and Mortimer Deputy Leader of Council and Executive Member for Health and Wellbeing 1 June 2022
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