Voted at the Annual Meeting on 7 May, Cllr Juliet Anderson was elected as Woodley Town Mayor, while Cllr David Bragg was elected as Woodley Town Deputy Mayor.
Cllr Anderson’s chosen charity for the year will be announced in due course.
To invite the Mayor or Deputy Mayor to an event, please email:
Matthew.Filmore@woodley.gov.uk
Life Education
£310 awarded to pay towards running workshops over two days at Highwood Primary School – providing health, wellbeing and drug prevention education to children.
Woodley Bowling Club
£350 awarded to pay towards re-carpeting the main lounge area and corridors in the club house. Find out more about the club HERE.
Woodley Festival of Music & Arts
£350 awarded to pay towards the cost of venue hire, Arts adjudicator and other professional fees, publicity, and piano hire for the festival. The Festival is held at the Oakwood Centre each year. Find out more about the Festival HERE.
Woodley Photographic Club
£350 awarded to pay towards the purchase of a new projector to display photographic images. The club meets on Mondays at the Oakwood Centre. Find out more about the club HERE.
Young person A
£100 awarded to pay towards the costs associated with taking part and representing England at the Dance World Cup in Prague in June/July 2024.
Young person B
£100 awarded to pay towards the costs associated with taking part and representing England at the Dance World Cup in Prague in June/July 2024.
At the meeting, it was decided that the maximum community grant amount awarded be increased to £350, with the individual grant rate remaining at £100.
During the current financial year, Woodley Town Council has allocated funds to make the following grants:
Community Grants – Up to £350, for community groups / organisations either based in or supporting residents of Woodley, to fund one-off costs such as specific projects or purchases.
Individual Grants – Up to £100, for individuals under the age of 21 living in Woodley, excelling in sporting or cultural activities, to fund representation at county, regional, national or international events.
Youth Grants – Up to £3,000 (although exceptions will be considered), for organisations, to assist and facilitate projects that reach, engage and support young people (those aged 21 and under) in Woodley.
Annual Grants – No cap, for fully constituted ‘not for profit’ organisations either based in or supporting residents of Woodley, to fund annual running costs or specific projects.
Should you wish to apply for a grant, then full guidelines and application forms can be found on our Grants Page.
Woodley Town Mayor, Cllr Janet Sartorel, hosted a Charity Quiz night, along with Woodley Town Deputy Mayor, Cllr Juliet Anderson on Friday at the Oakwood Centre.
The event was compered by Juliet, and involved a fun mix of games and a main quiz, which concluded with an interesting round named “Ikea or cheese?’.
The bar was run by team members of Woodley Lunch Bunch, with additional support on score keeping. A spokesperson for the charity commented: “We are so grateful for the Mayor’s support. We ran the bar and helped with the scoring and had a lovely evening. Thank you to everyone who came and helped to raise such a fantastic amount.”
Woodley Lunch Bunch is a local charity which delivers lunches to children in Woodley. You can find out more about the charity HERE.
The Mayor also ran a raffle with prizes ranging from bottles of champagne, chocolates, candles to vouchers for meals out. Janet would like to thank all the local businesses who generously donated prizes and to everyone who bought a raffle ticket on the night.
The Deputy Town Mayor produced a challenging and fun quiz, with additional games, including a ‘Heads or Tails’ round. The overall winners of the Quiz were the Valiant Vikings, closely followed by the Quiz & Tonics. The Valiant Vikings were presented with chocolate lollies by Janet.
Janet thanked everyone on the evening for their generosity to help raise such an outstanding amount. “I would like to thank everyone here for attending the quiz, buying raffle tickets and spending money at the bar. I am delighted to raise much needed funds for Woodley Lunch Bunch, who do such a wonderful service for children in Woodley. I would also like to thank the staff at Woodley Town Council for putting the event together, as well as Juliet for being such a great quiz host.”
Woodley Town Mayor, Cllr Janet Sartorel, attended the Finale Concert of the Woodley Festival of Music & Arts and was presented with a beautiful bouquet of flowers to thank the Mayor, Woodley Town Council and the staff at the Oakwood Centre for their support each year.
Fiona Fisher, chairperson of Woodley Festival of Music & Art gave huge thanks for the facilities of the Oakwood Centre and help from staff. She also said that the grant given by the Council goes a long way towards keeping the event going.
Cllr Janet Sartorel is picture with Ann & Rod Manning who have sponsored the festival for many years.
Woodley Town Centre Partnership has received a further £10,000 from the Police Community Fund, to add to the £5,000 they received in 2023. The money will go towards a CCTV system for the Town Centre.
Wokingham Borough Council has also recently agreed to contribute £15,000, and Woodley Town Council has now adopted the project and is currently inviting tenders.
Woodley Town Centre Partnership has already met with several bidders and is planning to work quickly to get an effective system installed.
Town Centre Manager, Brian Fennelly, said: “We are very grateful to have received this further contribution from the Police Community Fund. Wokingham Borough Council’s contribution is also very much appreciated, and it is very encouraging to have these two important stakeholders making an active contribution to Woodley Town Centre. Woodley Town Council has been fully supportive of the project all along and the Town Centre Partnership look forward to working with the Council at pace to get an effective CCTV system installed.”
The Town Council would like residents’ views on the potential installation of CCTV in the town centre. If you would like to feed into this, please take part in this short 1 minute survey.
We thank you for your time.
Town Centre Manager, Brian Fennelly, receiving a cheque from Matthew Barber, Police & Crime Commissioner for Thames Valley
The WASP team will be meeting at Woodford Park Leisure Centre, Haddon Drive, Woodley on Saturday 23 March, at 10am and welcome local residents to come and join them to lend a hand.
WASP asks volunteers to wear gloves, strong footwear and suitable clothing. The team is also encouraging volunteers to bring along their own litter picker and Hi Vis, if they have them. Otherwise these can be provided while stocks last.
For further details please contact:
Shelagh Flower: 07879330403 / shelagh.flower@googlemail.com
Local elections are taking place on Thursday 2 May, with all 54 seats up for contention on Wokingham Borough Council. On the same day, there is also a Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) election for the Thames Valley and there may be parish council elections if any seats are contested.
Although photo ID was a requirement at last year’s local elections, not all borough wards were up and so for many residents this will be the first time they need to bring ID. The change was introduced as a result of the Elections Act, which was passed in 2022 and has seen a number of changes to elections and voting.
For those who do not have suitable ID, you can apply for a free Voter Authority Certificate (VAC). This can be done online, or by completing a paper form and sending it to Wokingham Borough Council’s electoral services team.
For the local and PCC elections in May, the deadline to apply for a VAC is 5pm on Wednesday 24 April.
Before applying, check the ID you already have. Accepted forms of ID include:
Expired ID will also be accepted, as long as the photograph on the document still resembles a likeness of the elector.
A full list of accepted forms of ID is available on the Electoral Commission’s website, along with more information about photo ID and how to apply for a VAC.
If you turn up at a polling station without suitable photo ID, you will not be issued with a ballot paper. Bringing your poll card alone will not entitle you to vote. Before starting an application for a VAC, you must first remember to check you are registered to vote. The deadline to register is 11.59pm on Tuesday 16 April.
Changes have been made to the electoral ward boundaries in Wokingham borough, with two new constituencies.
Register to Vote – Deadline Midnight Tue 16 April
Cancel/amend existing postal/proxy – Deadline 5pm on Wed 17 April
New Postal Vote Applications – Deadline 5pm on Wed 17 April
Free VAC – Deadline 5pm on Wed 24th April
Find out more HERE.
You can contact WBC’s Electoral Services Team by email, or call (0118) 974 6000 to request a paper copies of application forms. The team will also be happy to help with any queries you may have in completing a form.
In October 2019, Woodley Town Council declared a Climate Emergency. Alongside becoming a carbon neutral organisation by 2030, the Council committed to work with all parts of the community to aid the reduction of harmful greenhouse gas emissions, as well as supporting Wokingham Borough Council with the implementation of its Climate Emergency Action Plan.
While we continue to make plans and carry out actions in line with our Climate Emergency Action Plan, we have updated our website to include a dedicated section with information to help our residents when considering how they can reduce their impact on climate change.
The information is divided into six key areas:
Each section has information about local and national initiatives, with references to useful apps and ways in which everyone can contribute to reducing their carbon footprint and the impact it has on climate change. You can access our Climate Emergency Information Hub HERE.
Paper bills will be posted from 11 March, however, Wokingham Borough Council is encouraging residents to access their Council Tax Bills online.
You will need to register for an account and you can switch to paperless billing, which is quicker and more environmentally friendly.
You can set up an account HERE.
We have reduced the Town Council Precept by £3.06 per Band D household for 2024-25. Find out more about this HERE.
In his letter to Argos, Currys, Decathlon and Halfords, Matthew Barber commented that while the sale of e-scooters is perfectly legal as they can be used on private land, the use of privately owned e-scooters in public places is currently illegal and asked the retailers to “consider the continued sales to be consistent with being a responsible corporate citizen”.
He added: “I fully understand that there is nothing to prevent you selling these products, but I would ask you to consider if it is responsible to continue to do so… I would ask if you would be content for your children to ride an e-scooter illegally, potentially putting themselves and others at risk and urge you to reconsider your position.”
You can read Matthew Barbers full statement on the Thames Valley Police & Crime Commissioner website.
We’d like to remind you that e-scooters are not permitted to be used in the precinct or in public places around Woodley.
We have previously published a summary of the rules and regulations from Thames Valley Police.
Members of the Planning & Community Committee have recently raised concerns about parking issues outside of Woodley schools at drop off and pick up times.
Members have witnessed inconsiderate, and often illegal, parking at schools, which has caused near misses between pedestrians and vehicles. This has been particularly noted around secondary schools, when older aged children are leaving at the end of the day.
Concerns were also raised that traffic speeds were high, and due to illegal or inappropriate parking along the road, some students are often seen walking in the middle of the road, putting themselves in danger of being in an accident.
Members are looking to hold discussions with Wokingham Borough Council and the My Journey team to consider ways of improving the situation, as well as requesting additional civil enforcement activities to enforce any illegal parking.
Members will raise this again as a future agenda item.
We are disappointed to report that the metal panels at the top of the canopy trail slide in the play area in Woodford Park have been vandalised.
The cost to repair the damage, which appears to have been caused by bolt cutters, will cost £2500.
There was also extensive graffiti and obscene images written and drawn on various areas of the slide and along the wooden fencing in the toddler area, as well as bottles of baby oil dispensed down the slide tube.
We will also once again contact the local schools to make them aware of the vandalism and continued graffiti and request for schools and parents to discuss with their young people the importance of respecting our parks and facilities and the community of Woodley.
The incident has been reported to the police. If you have any information that might help identify the culprit(s) please do get in touch with us or contact the police.
Please can we also ask residents to report any incidents of anti-social behaviour or vandalism in our parks and at our facilities to us or to the police. Thank you.
© Woodley Town Council 2024
