Changes to be implemented from 1 April

Residents who use Wokingham Borough Council’s garden waste services will see some changes to collections from April.

With the increase in housing across the Borough, and the success in take up of the garden waste scheme, many residents who have signed up for the garden waste service will see a change in their collection day or week, or both; they will be notified shortly via letter.

Cllr John Halsall, executive member for environment, leisure and libraries, said: “I am delighted at the success of our garden waste service so far with around 25,000 homes using it. We must change routes slightly to complete collections each day and reduce unnecessary journeys. I apologise in anticipation for any inconvenience caused.”

Residents can also find out their new collection days on www.wokingham.gov.uk (search for ‘rubbish and recycling collection days’) from 1 April.

Road investment

Wokingham Borough Council has revealed details of how the £1.177 million announced by the Government in November 2018 will be spent to improve the road network for drivers and cyclists across the borough.

A list of additional schemes in 2019 has been announced as well as a dedicated pothole budget to allow the council to address issues across the road network that develop during the winter.

Throughout the year the council surveys the highways network, through visual inspections, technical assessments and analysis. This information generates an annual road maintenance campaign, so the council can ensure investment goes where it is needed the most.

Cllr Pauline Jorgensen, executive member for highways and transport said. “Our residents’ safety is our number one priority and we carry out essential maintenance work on the roads, throughout the borough, that most require our attention to keep our road network safe for all our road users.

“With more than 457 miles of road within our Borough to maintain, we are delighted to receive this additional funding from central government that will allow us to extend our annual road maintenance campaign.  This funding will allow us to carry out work not just the main roads but also smaller residential roads that we have not had the funding to do before.

“We will also be allocating £113,000 to fix potholes to deliver additional improvements to our roads especially as a result the freezing cold conditions we have experienced recently”

This additional funding has been allocated by the council based not only on information provided in the usual condition surveys, undertaken as part of the annual road maintenance campaign, but also taking into consideration the deliverability of these projects within the timescales provided. It was also essential to consider any planned projects taking place within the surrounding areas to minimise both cost and disruption.

Road schemes

As a result of these consideration the council identified the following schemes.

• A329M Coppid Beech (Norreys) – resurfacing flyover
• Mereoak Lane/Grazeley Green Road (Shinfield South) – junction improvements
• Wilderness Road (Hillside) – drainage improvements
• Rushey Way (Hillside) – carriageway resurfacing
• Woodlands Avenue (Bulmershe and Whitegates) – carriageway resurfacing
• Safety fencing improvements across the borough

In addition to these works, a number of smaller estate roads within the borough are planned for micro asphalt resurfacing and the council hopes to deliver the programme towards the end of the year.

For further information about the council’s road maintenance campaign be or how you can report pothole visit www.wokingham.gov.uk and search ‘pothole’.
 

Aided by the glorious weather during the past few days, developments at Woodford Park lake have forged ahead with the foundations for the boardwalk going in.

Elsewhere on the lake, developments continue to reinforce the bank area.

New plans for Addington School

Wokingham Borough Council is proposing to extend Addington School in order to provide space for up to 50 children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and will be discussing plans with residents, parent and members at a drop-in session later this month.

The drop-in session will take place at Addington School, Woodlands Avenue, RG5 3EU from 5.30pm to 7.30pm on Wednesday February 27.

Currently, there are 133 Wokingham Borough children with SEND who are educated outside of the borough. This causes disruption for the children, in terms of long journey times and less time with their families and has also created budget pressures for the council.

Under the current proposals, a new teaching area with four classrooms and new café and social/breakout areas would be built to accommodate the expansion. It is proposed that the new classroom building will be positioned on the school’s existing hard park area with a new hard play area being provided to accommodate this. In addition, it is proposed that the existing car park is extended to provide approximately 30 additional car parking space which will require the relocation of the schools sensory garden. All proposals are within the schools existing boundary.

Details of the proposals will be available at the session on February 27 and further details will be provided as part of the planning application which will be available on our online planning portal.

Woodley’s primary schools take part in mini Bake-Off!

Year 5 children from Highwood Primary and Willow Bank Junior schools joined together this week for the annual Woodley Cluster Bake Off Challenge, hosted and supported by The Bulmershe School.  The children had come up with designs for a showstopper cake, then, after some practise at school, spent the day baking and decorating.  They also joined with a partner from the other school for a technical skills challenge, and presented their showstoppers to their families and The Mayor.

The cakes were amazing, both to look at and to taste, and our judges had a hard time choosing between them.  The winning showstopper was a fantastic burger cake with a side of shortbread fries, designed and created by two pupils from Willow Bank.  The children all worked hard during the day making sure that their cakes turned out as they had practised, and thinking on their feet when things did not go quite according to plan!  Their behaviour, team work and independence was wonderful and a great day was had by all.

Woodley Town Council Leader Keith Baker commented on how amazing the cakes were, including the taste.

The schools’ would like to thank Town Councillors Keith Baker and John MacNaught and The Bulmershe School Head Teacher, Mrs Woodfin who acted as our judges; to the Mayor, Mr Sam Rahmouni for presenting the certificates; to The Bulmershe School and their fantastic Year 10 Student Ambassadors for their organisation and support, and to all the pupils and staff for their outstanding effort.

Looking forward to Woodley Bake Off 2020!

The solar panels installed on the roof of Woodford Park Leisure Centre are now working to create sustainable energy.

A panel recording instantaneous power, the total amount of energy generated and the total CO2 saving is now in the reception area.

Woodley Town Council and the Woodley Town Centre Management Initiative are recruiting for a Town Centre Manager

Please see Vacancies for further information and to download an application form.

Application deadline: Monday 4th March 2019

Lake improvements underway as local wildlife watch on unpeturbed

Ebsford Environmental have started work on the lake this week (w/c: 11 February). The water level has been temporarily lowered to enable the works to be carried out effectively and safely.  The water level will be carefully maintained and this will not affect the fish. The next stages of the work are the removal of tree stumps in the banks, redistribution of the silt and installation of a ‘Nicospan’ membrane to retain the silt in specific areas ready for planting. Once this is complete the construction of the boardwalk will be carried out.

For more information on the project visit the lake project page and keep an eye on the website for further updates.

Addington School allocated money to expand

Wokingham Borough Council’s decision-making executive has approved a £4.4million expansion of Addington School so that more local children with SEND can be educated closer to home.

The school serves 206 children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and is rated outstanding by Ofsted. The Executive’s decision on 31 January now means Wokingham Borough Council can work with the school and surrounding community to investigate the potential for a planning application.

Some 130 (about 40%) of Wokingham Borough children needing a special school place are currently educated outside the borough. These placements, and the associated travel expenses, are disproportionately expensive as well as being very disruptive to the children.

All of the building work would be contained within the existing school site. The new classrooms would be situated where the ball courts and parking area now stand, and these would be relocated to the west of their current position.  The neighbouring popular public open space, which is protected in our planning policies as a Site of Urban Landscape Value (SULV), will not be touched by the school’s expansion.

“Addington is an exceptionally well-run school and provides first-rate education thanks to its dedicated headteacher, staff and supportive parents,” said Cllr Shahid Younis, deputy executive member for children’s services.

“An expansion would allow us to educate more of the borough’s children locally. We currently send far too many of our children out of the borough to expensive special schools elsewhere. Expanding Addington will mean more of our children can benefit from this outstanding provision, have a better quality of family life, and it will also save taxpayers money in the longer term.”

Sunday 17th February 2019

The public toilet will be installed in Woodley town centre on Sunday 17th February.

Crockenham Road at the junction of Waitrose will be closed from 5.30am until approximately 9.00am, with resident access at all times, with only one entrance and exit into Waitrose.

Please see the below letter, which has been circulated to all residents by Danfo, including a map of the road closure.

As already stated, the electricity and water supplies will still need to be fitted before the toilet can be used.

Keith Baker, Woodley Town Council leader, comments: “On Sunday the 17th February, the new public toilet will be lowered into position at the Crockhamwell Road end of the precinct. Unfortunately this will necessitate the closure of this part of the road from 5:30am, with the objective of opening it up again at 9am subject to completion of the work. We apologise to local residents for any inconvenience and the contractor has indicated they will attempt to keep noise to the minimum. Once the toilet is positioned, work can then be commenced in the coming weeks to connect up the various utilities to make the toilet operational.”

Click below to download the vacancy notice.

Vacancy Notice