The Just Around the Corner youth charity, who provide outreach youth work in the town on behalf of Woodley Town Council, are carrying out a survey to find out what young people are doing in their free time and what they would like to see provided for young people in Woodley. The survey only takes a few minutes to complete and will help JAC and the Town Council’s Community Youth Partnership to consider and develop youth activities and provision for the future.
Construction work to create a new community tree garden in Woodley precinct has been completed, with a raised brick wall installed around the four trees outside Waitrose, near the Crockhamwell Road car park.
The completion comes just in time for non-essential shops to reopen, with the Prime Minister announcing more retail outlets will be able to open from 15 June, providing social distancing can be maintained.
The paving slabs around the trees have now been removed, which should solve the problem of the roots dislodging the slabs and creating a potential trip hazard. The project was a joint initiative between Woodley Town Council, the Town Centre Management Initiative and Wokingham Borough Council. The brick wall was the preferred option following feedback from residents to the town council.
New seating will be installed in the area for visitors to the town centre by the town council, as well as a notice board in the same style as those in Woodford Park. It’s hoped it will help smarten up the town centre and help boost the local economy as it responds to the COVID-19 pandemic. Pedestrians will still be able to walk on either side of this new garden to move between shops.
Now the site will be handed over from the borough council’s contractor to the town council, which will plant up the area. The plants and vegetation to be installed in the garden has yet to be decided with current thoughts of a school community garden, a variety of grasses or even the use of moss to absorb carbon from the atmosphere or a mixture of both. Whatever is chosen will be easy to maintain.
“For many years the beautiful tree area at the Crockhamwell Road end has been marred by the serious trip hazard caused by their roots,” said Cllr Keith Baker, Leader of Woodley Town Council. “Several residents experienced shocking injuries as the roots grew and we got to a position something had to be done.
“We ended up with two choices, remove the trees or remove pedestrians from the root areas which are quite extensive. For the town council and many residents, removal of the trees was simply not an option so the concept of surrounding the root areas with a community garden started to emerge.
“As we move into the final stage of this project we need the community to get involved and there have been several suggestions including setting up a Friends of the Town Centre group and involving schools. Climate Change related options are also being considered. The area is sufficiently large enough to cater for all of these three. This has been a highly imaginative solution to a serious injury issue, which not only deals with that issue but is a highly visually pleasing feature. A classic win-win situation.”
“I hope this change will help encourage more people to visit the town centre as more and more shops reopen in the weeks ahead,” said Cllr Pauline Jorgensen, executive member for highways and transport at Wokingham Borough Council. “This solution by our highways team for this historic problem in the precinct should make it safer for pedestrians as well as providing an attractive area for our residents.”
“We have been concerned for some time about the dangerous tree roots causing some very nasty accidents in Woodley,” said Brian Fennelly, Woodley Town Centre Manager. “The new Tree Garden will address this issue and has the potential to be a very attractive feature in Woodley Town Centre.
“We are delighted to be receiving lots of great ideas on how best to landscape the new garden from local residents. Suggestions for a community garden, wild grasses and a moss covering are all very interesting and we look forward to developing these ideas quickly.”
Precinct prior to new tree area Photo: Stewart TurkingtonPhoto: Stewart TurkingtonPhoto: Stewart Turkington
⛔️⛔️⛔️ MILES WAY IN WOODLEY CLOSED TODAY AND TOMORROW 08.00-18.00 FOR REPAIRS ⛔️⛔️⛔️
ALTERNATIVE ARRANGEMENTS:
Miles Way, Woodley is closed between its junctions with Spitfire Way, Comet Way and Viscount Way.
The alternative route for all northeast bound traffic affected by the restriction shall be by proceeding via Comet Way, Hurricane Way and Spitfire Way or by this route in reverse.
The alternative route for all southeast bound traffic affected by the restriction shall be by proceeding via Mohawk Way, Hurricane Way and Comet Way or by this route in reverse.
The alternative route for all northbound and southbound traffic affected by the restriction shall be by proceeding via Colemansmoor Road, Vauxhall Drive, Loddon Bridge Road, Headley Road East and Spitfire Way or by this route in reverse.
Roads across Wokingham Borough will have speed limits reviewed this year, as the council works to ensure our streets are as safe as possible.
This will focus on the major transport routes across the area, with residents and town and parish councils being able to nominate roads where they think changes are needed.
Residents’ concern over traffic speeds has been significant in recent months due to the COVID-19 situation, due to low traffic volumes and restricted movement as well as more pedestrians and cyclists being on our roads.
Lockdown saw very quiet roads nationally and some authorities reported instances of extremely excessive speeding.
In Wokingham Borough, thousands of pounds has been spent fixing roads, signage and other street furniture, which has been damaged in recent months due to speeding – as well as injuries to drivers.
The announcement of this review aligns with the National Police Chiefs’ Council ‘Slow Down, Save Lives’ campaign, running from 18 May to 7 June, which highlights the devastating impact speeding can have, not only increasing the risk of a collision but the severity of the impact at higher speeds.
Figures show that on average 17 people are killed and 126 are seriously injured every month in the UK, where speeding is believed to have been a significant factor.
“We are reviewing our speed limits to ensure that they are appropriate for the level of development, both completed and planned, as well as the number of vehicles and pedestrians using them,” said Cllr Pauline Jorgensen, executive member for highways and transport.
“We want to hear from local groups, residents and business who would like to see changes to speed limits on roads near them to ensure they are safe.
“Traffic speeds and speed limits on Wokingham roads often divide opinion. Our team will review requests, alongside our data and with our partners at Thames Valley Police to decide whether these are appropriate.”
Each time we receive a request, officers undertake a formal review of the legal limit, current speeds and collision history before deciding whether a new speed limit is appropriate.
Any changes must be based on a robust and evidence-led approach. Officers evaluate all the available data alongside supporting information, environmental impacts and road characteristics, as well as consulting with Thames Valley Police, which enforces speed limits.
The council identifies roads where changes to the posted limit may be required through data collection and analysis, both directly and in partnership with parish councils operating Community Speedwatch.
These are schemes which allow volunteers to monitor the speed of passing vehicles using a hand-held speed detection device
In this review, the council welcomes comments from residents and businesses about their speeding concerns, suggested locations for speed limit changes and requests for information about the speeds measured on their roads.
Through the traffic regulation order process, where the formal change of speed limit will be consulted on, anyone can make comment upon or object to any proposed changes, before we implement changes to speed limits.
Residents should send their comments and requests by email to TM.Consultations@wokingham.gov.uk, clearly identifying ‘SPEED REVIEW’ and the roads affected in the title. Results will be published in the autumn.
At present Wokingham Borough Council has taken the difficult decision to temporarily close all of its libraries.
A large number of online library services are still available, including ebooks, enewspapers and audiobooks. While the libraries are closed we have suspended the fines so there is no need to renew or return your books. Please look after the books, until such time as the libraries reopen, then you will be able to return them.
New Digital Services
Sign up for free library membership by visiting the Spydus website to join our libraries online.
Freegal Music – Access 15 million songs from thousands of artists. You can download 3 songs per week, and listen to streamed content for up to 3 hours per day. Login to Freegal Music with your barcode and PIN, or download the Freegal Music app from the App Store or Google Play Store, then select your library and log in with your barcode and PIN. Please note: Some of the titles may contain content of a more adult nature. As with all library usage we recommend parents and carers give their child support in choosing appropriate items to match their needs.
Ancestry Online website – is a family history website with access to census records, births, marriages and deaths records, and much more. Available at Wokingham, Woodley and Lower Earley libraries. Access to this resource has been temporarily expanded to library cardholders working remotely, courtesy of ProQuest and its partner Ancestry. To log in from home, visit the Spydus website.
Woodley’s weekly Artisan Market returns Wednesday 3 June
Following guidance from the UK Government during Covid 19, Woodley Town Centre Management Initiative have decided to reopen its Artisan Market on Wednesday 3rd June.
The market will have floor markers to help customers adhere to social distancing and this will be under continual review.
The market will be available in Woodley Town Centre every Wednesday, 09.00-14.00, along with its weekly Saturday market.
COVID-19 has caused many people to lose jobs or have time at home and Wokingham Borough Council is offering them the opportunity to learn something new or build their skillsets in order to get ready for opportunities which come up in the future.
Free online training courses to help people into employment are being rolled by the council. Our adult education team has transferred all its teaching online, and it’s interactive too, with tutors to guide students and answer questions.
The council has worked alongside its sub-contractors, Activate Learning, Connecting Communities in Berkshire and CAP Money Courses, to allow learners to come together online, face to face with tutors and other learners from the borough.
The council’s adult education team and its partners are gradually increasing the offer to cover the following courses in the weeks ahead:
· English and maths
· English as a second language
· Mental health and wellbeing
· Creative writing
· IT skills
· Debt management
· Online job searching and how to succeed in a virtual interview
· Coding for beginners
To see details of the latest courses visit the Adult Education course listing website. New courses will be added regularly as our online offer develops, so it’s worth checking regularly for courses that may be of interest.
“Some of our residents may currently be in a situation where they may find themselves with more time on their hands and a chance to learn new skills and complete training to make them more employable,” said Cllr UllaKarin Clark, executive member for children’s services, including adult education.
“There’s a broad range of topics covered by our adult education team and I would urge residents to take a look and make the most of learning from our fantastic tutors. Even if you’re new to online learning, they will make it accessible and interactive for those who sign up.”
On top of this, both Bracknell & Wokingham College and Reading College and Connecting Communities in Berkshire even more online taster courses in the coming weeks. They will be adding courses all the time, so it’s a good idea to keep checking.
We would also like to hear from residents and employees about other courses they would like us to offer and the type of support they would like to enable them to take part in remote learning.
Eligibility criteria do apply, including:
· Must be 19 years old (as of 31 August 2019) or older.
· Been a citizen of a country within the EEA and have ordinarily been resident in the European Economic Area for at least three years.
· Other criteria do apply, contact the team for more information.
Anyone interested can call Linda Stacey on 0788 524 2692 or Jon White on 0776 738 0722 from our adult education team during working hours (9am-5pm, Monday to Friday) for a chat or email us on adulteducation@wokingham.gov.uk
The beehive project at Woodley Town Council’s allotments is proving to be a great success
Reading Road allotment tenants involved in the bee keeping project, which was introduced last year, are under the guidance of bee expert and allotment tenant Steve Cook, who is an official swarm collector. The bee keeping group is a mixture of experienced and new keepers, which has created a lovely friendly, supportive and educative group; as described by Carolyn Davies, a committee member of the Reading Road Allotment Tenants Association.
“There are currently eight active hives at the allotments, however, another allotment tenant recently got her first hive in kit form and is planning to put it together this weekend using a spare donated hive,” said Carolyn.
“One of the allotment tenants offered some old empty hives for the bee keepers. Shortly after he these were left a new swarm of bees moved in and it was very exciting to watch! There is one spare hive left from this donation, which will shortly be populated with bees and we have interest from a further three tenants who are interested in joining the group and cultivating hives.
“I’m hoping we might get a taste of Woodley Allotment’s honey special brand!”
Becoming part of a foster family can be life-changing for a young person in care and we need more local families to make this a reality for more young people.
Wokingham Borough Council foster carers Matt and Natasha Lee have grown as people since starting in the role last year. They are one of 64 foster families in the borough but more than 10 are urgently needed, especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Matt and Natasha balance fostering alongside their commitment to their three sons. It has had its challenging times but the pair describe it as a joyous experience.
“Fostering is something that we had talked about for many years,” they said. “We knew the time would have to be right to make it work for everyone, so started our fostering journey in January 2019 and haven’t looked back since. Within a few days of being approved as foster carers, we had a young boy placed with us for a few weeks of respite care and shortly after this, had siblings of seven and two years of age placed in our care.
“After six months with us now, it would be a lie to say that it’s all been plain sailing or easy, but we never expected it to be. Fostering throws up challenges the same as anything in life and at times can be emotionally tiring, but how the whole extended family have dealt with those challenges and overcome them gives the most positive feeling imaginable.”
The experience has seen growth not only for the young people in their care, but also Matt and Natasha’s own children. “The development we’ve seen with the children, including our own, in all respects is the greatest achievement of all and is something we’re all proud to be part of,” they added. “We had imagined fostering to be many things and, over a year down the line, are so glad we took that step to make a difference to someone’s life.”
PIC BY STEWART TURKINGTON
www.stphotos.co.uk
With the annual national Foster Care Fortnight (11 to 24 May) still going ahead during the Coronavirus pandemic the borough council wants to reach out to would-be foster carers for children including teenagers, siblings, and asylum seekers and children with disabilities who desperately need foster carers in the borough. It is very probable that more children will come into care and require foster homes as a consequence of COVID-19.
The council always looks for homes for the 100 plus children and young people currently in care with its own council carers first. Additional financial assistance in the form of council tax exemption is offered as part of a wide range of benefits and incentives.
Regardless of culture, background, sexual orientation and whether you are a homeowner or tenant, if you have a spare room, are aged 21 and over with life experience, live within twenty miles of the borough and have time for a child, you could foster. What matters most, is that you are the right family or person for our children.
As a foster carer, the council offers attractive remuneration packages, council tax exemption, excellent training including a specialist therapeutic programme, as well as one-to-one and out-of-hours support. Fees increase with experience often resulting in the equivalent of a reasonable salary, which could provide a complete change of career. For example, an experienced foster carer at Level 2, who cares for two children all year, could earn more than £25,000 p.a. excluding allowances for the child.
“Becoming a foster carer is open to a broad range of people and what’s most important is being able to provide a safe and loving home for the young people in our care,” said Cllr UllaKarin Clark, executive member for children’s services. “Get in touch with our team to find out about the possibilities of starting the journey to become a brilliant foster family while getting paid as well as access to a host of other benefits and training.”
During Foster Care Fortnight, the council is holding a drop-in virtual information event on Wednesday May 20 between 6pm and 8pm. Foster carers will share their experiences and discuss the positive life changes created for the children and young people involved.
Anyone interested is invited to email fostering@wokingham.gov.uk and we’ll make arrangements. The application process is friendly, supportive and quicker than you might think. The council is still actively recruiting, continuing with new fostering enquiries and applications by phone calls and virtual visits.
The theme for Mental Health Awareness Week across Wokingham Borough and the country is Kindness
Books and resources to help adults and children, particularly to help during the difficulties faced during lockdown and the Covid 19 pandemic, can be found by accessing Wokingham Borough Libraries online HERE.
Woodley’s Food bank hit the 20,000 donation this week with Woodley Town Mayor Cllr Kay Gilder providing the milestone donation during the Covid 19 pandemic
20,000 food and toiletries have now been donated to the Woodley Food Bank via drop boxes set up at Woodley’s Covid 19 Response group food drive co-ordinator’s house, since the Covid 19 pandemic started in March.
Ronnie Goodberry, also a key administrator of the group, started collecting donations on 27 March. “When I first started coordinating the donations, I wasn’t aware of the demand upon the food banks and other charities which issue parcels to vulnerable person within the Woodley area. At times, our living room was like a warehouse with a mass of baskets and carrier bags full with tinned items, toiletries, plus other food item; it was actually quite overwhelming at times.”
“We’ve managed to donate a large number of mini toiletries to the nursing welfare charity at the Royal Berkshire Hospital (RBH) and have received bikes, scooters, books, DVDs, games, soft toys and puzzles all donated for those in need.”
Woodley Town Mayor, Cllr Kay Gilder was delighted to be able to donate the 20,000th food item to the scheme, despite being recommended to self- isolate. “I was delighted to be asked for my donation to be the 20,000 given to this wonderful group of people who decided to start this initiative at the start of the lockdown. Although I myself am self-isolating I felt honoured to be asked to help these wonderful people, again it shows what a superb community Woodley is.”
Speaking of the Mayor providing the 20,000 item, Ronnie said: “the Mayor congratulated us for our efforts and was overwhelmed by the generosity shown by Woodley’s residents at this time of crisis. We asked the Mayor to help our group and 1400 members to celebrate the generous donations deposited at the drop boxes outside my house.”
The group is also particularly proud of how it has responded to individual needs and, often, in record time. “We managed to provide one family in isolation with food parcels that were sourced and delivered within two hours of the call going out. We also received donations including new toys, a cake, banners and balloons for a nine-year-old’s birthday as his family were in isolation, alongside food parcels and essentials,” said Ronnie.
Woodley Council Leader Cllr Keith Baker is also a member of the Woodley Covid 19 Response Group. Speaking about the group and its milestone donation, Keith said: “During the weeks, and now months, Woodley residents have come together as a community, demonstrating what a loving and caring group of individuals they all are. The true character of a town only becomes visible when a serious incident occurs and the Covid 19 virus is right up there at the top of the pile. Residents have come together in a remarkable way that most of us have never experienced before. The passion to protect the vulnerable seen by residents working together has been exceptional. Whether it is donating food, collecting prescriptions, going shopping, mini toiletries delivered to RBH, emergency deliveries, donating non-food items or even dismantling a bed and putting up its replacement residents have all played a magnificent part in proving what a wonderful town Woodley is.”
Donations continue to be needed, not just to the Woodley Food Bank through Ronnie’s collection boxes but also at other collection points around Woodley.
“I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to all residents who have donated, helped, and contributed to keep everyone safe and in food and essentials during the Covid 19 pandemic and thank you for your continued support,” added Mayor Kay.
Community garden to be set up in Woodley town centre
A community garden will be created in Woodley precinct to smarten up the town centre and help boost the local economy as it responds to the COVID-19 pandemic.
It will be created around the trees outside Waitrose, near the Crockhamwell Road car park, by removing the current paving slabs.
The joint project between Woodley Town Council, the Town Centre Management Initiative and Wokingham Borough Council aims to solve the problem of potential trip hazards around the four trees due to their roots dislodging paving around them.
Creating the raised community garden, which will go around the trees, removes the restrictions on the trees roots and will provide an area for the community to enjoy.
A brick retaining wall will be used following feedback from residents to the town council.
New seating will be installed in the area for visitors to the town centre, as well as a notice board in the same style as those in Woodford Park.
Pedestrians will still be able to walk on either side of this new garden to get to the shops.
Start date
Work will begin on 18 May and take around three weeks, with works being carried out by a contractor on behalf of the borough council.
Access to all shops which are open will be maintained.
The plants and vegetation to be installed in the garden has yet to be decided with current thoughts of a school community garden, a variety of grasses or even the use of moss to absorb carbon from the atmosphere or a mixture of both. Whatever is chosen will be easy to maintain.
Kickstart
“We are working to help kickstart our local economy during Wokingham Borough’s response to the pandemic and investing in town centres and high streets like Woodley’s is one of the ways to do this,” said Cllr Pauline Jorgensen, executive member for highways and transport.
“This will also solve a historic problem with tree roots in that area of the precinct as well as creating an area for the community to enjoy for many years to come.”
Cllr Keith Baker, leader of the town council, said: “This long standing issue of trip hazards has now been addressed by a highly innovative solution.
“For Woodley residents it not only makes this area safer but it also provides a visually attractive scene including new seating areas for them to sit down and rest, meet friends or simply to eat their lunch.
“This is the third piece of the regeneration of the public space in the precinct and will enhance the area considerably.” “Woodley Town Centre Management have been concerned for some time about the uneven surface around the trees in the town centre and while we don’t want to see the trees removed, the proposed plans for the garden are a good solution to the current trip hazards,”said Brian Fennelly, Woodley Town Centre Manager.
“We are also keen to get active involvement from the local community with planting and maintenance of the garden.”
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