Category: Wokingham and West Berkshire Issues

On Sunday the local primary school singers and the Berkshire Maestros put on a great performance of carols and Christmas music. We were thrilled with the sleigh ride, challenged by the Christmas medley, had to concentrate on our round singing and enjoyed joining in with some the best know carols from the hymn books.

I would like to thank all the primary school children for their spirited singing, their teachers and parents for organising them and helping them get there, to the orchestra who were magnificent and to all involved in organising such a large and successful event. It is always one of the highlights of Christmas in Wokingham and this year lived up to expectations.

James Baker rehearsed the singers and orchestra well and brought the whole thing together brilliantly on the night.

In November just 366 people in the Wokingham constituency were on Job Seekers Allowance. Wokingham stays in the top ten places with the least unemployment ion the country. The numbers are down 54 on a month earlier, and down 219 on a year earlier.

I am pleased to be able to report such good success by many people in finding a job.

On Monday morning John Redwood visited Wokingham Post Office to thank the postmen and women for all their hard work over the year serving the local community. He asked them about the high volumes of parcels going through for Christmas, and wished them a happy Christmas with their families.

The office seemed quietly efficient, with the large volumes of post under control. People are sending fewer cards than some years ago, but buying much m more on line which needs parcel post for delivery.

Yesterday Wokingham Choral Society performed a great programme of Christmas music. Trying out the new venue for them in Winnersh, they sang us well known carols and more esoteric pieces of seasonal music. The choir trains hard and sings to a high standard. Some of the work was performed with the house lights turned down. Each singer had a small light attached to their music, which added to the atmosphere. Local children teamed up with the choir for Away in a manger which gave it some extra magic.

I would like to thank all involved in organising and all who did so well in the choir. It was a great evening.

I am looking forward to the annual primary schools carol concert at the Loddon Valley leisure centre. The Council has just sent out the details for those interested:

Over 400 schoolchildren will be singing in the Christmas season at Loddon Valley Leisure Centre, Lower Earley at the annual Wokingham Borough primary schools’ carol concert this Sunday (December 14) at 5pm.

Wokingham Borough Mayor Cllr UllaKarin Clark will host the evening and all proceeds from the sale of programmes will go to her chosen charity. This year, Cllr Clark is setting up a fund, in association with the Wokingham charity more arts, to support and mentor deserving teenagers in the borough who are showing an aptitude for the arts but do not have the resources or opportunities to reach their potential.

Some 28 local schools will form the choir and have spent many hours over the past few weeks rehearsing for the annual event. The schools involved are: Aldryngton Primary, All Saints CE Primary, Colleton Primary, Crazies Hill CE Primary, Earley St Peters CE Aided Primary, Emmbrook Junior, Farley Hill Primary, Finchampstead Primary, Gorse Ride Junior, Grazeley Parochial CE Aided Primary, Hawthorns Primary, Hillside Primary, Keep Hatch Primary, Lambs Lane Primary, Loddon Primary, Nine Mile Ride Primary, Polehampton CE Junior, Radstock Primary, Rivermead Primary, Shinfield St Mary’s CE Junior, St Dominic Savio Catholic Primary, St Paul’s CE Junior, St Sebastian’s Primary, St Teresa’s Catholic Primary, Westende Junior, Whiteknights Primary and Winnersh Primary.

I met representatives of the rail industry yesterday to review progress in providing more seats on trains on the busy Reading to Waterloo line.

I was told that current plans are to increase capacity by one quarter by adding two extra coaches to each train. They are also looking at improvements to signals to allow a greater frequency of service.

I explained the problems the railway currently creates for road traffic in Wokingham and asked them to look at the railway bridge over the Finchampstead Road to see if it could be improved to allow two way traffic including large vehicles. If they could widen the arch whilst keeping the strength of the renewed bridge it could help avoid collisions of large vehicles with the superstructure.

The Council is also planning a new bridge over the railway line as part of its road expansion plans.

The Council has published its latest proposals for Wokingham Town Centre. I reproduce below their press release setting out what they wish to do:

“NEXT STEP FORWARD FOR WOKINGHAM REGENERATION

Wokingham Borough Council’s plans for regenerating Wokingham town centre have taken a huge step

forward with the submission of the planning application for the redevelopment of Peach Place.

This phase of the regeneration includes the demolition of the Peach Street buildings between Costa

Coffee and the Redan. The demolished buildings would be replaced by new retail units with apartments

above; a new pedestrianised public square created; new toilets; plus an improved streetscape on Rose

Street with four new houses to replace the brick wall.

Cllr Philip Mirfin, executive member for regeneration and communities, said: “We’ve spent the last

month out and about meeting local residents, businesses and organisations’ previewing our plans and

the feedback has been really positive. People can really see how we’ve changed the plans in response to

the comments they made last year including things like introducing different rooflines, increased

architectural detailing and retaining the Redan, Haka and Marks & Spencer buildings.

“This scheme is all about helping us get the right balance of retail in the town and improving the visitor

experience. Wokingham is crying out for a greater variety and improved mix of shops which will

encourage people to come here. We also need new spaces, away from traffic, where people can relax

and we can hold more of the events which help Wokingham stand out from other locations. These

proposals help us move towards creating the town centre our new and existing residents deserve.

“Now the planning application has been submitted, people will have the opportunity to view the

proposals and submit their comments to the local planning authority as part of the statutory

consultation process. To take into account the Christmas period the planning authority has also agreed

to extend the consultation far beyond the normal four-week consultation period. People will have until

January 30, 2015 to submit any comments about the scheme.

Wokingham Borough Council, Shute End, Wokingham, Berkshire, RG40 1WQ

Tel: (0118) 974 6000 Email: communications@wokingham.gov.uk

“We are also making it easier to see the proposals and, in addition to the full suite of application

documents on view at the Shute End planning reception and online, we are also putting copies of key

documents in Shute End reception, Wokingham Library and at the Town Hall where they can be viewed

during normal opening hours. As a major application there are lots of documents to support the

application, some of which are very technical. If you want to get a real grasp of what we’re proposing

and why, I would recommend reading the design and access statement and the planning statement

which provide an excellent overview of the scheme.”

The planning application can be viewed by searching for planning application F/2014/2637 on the

council website at: http://www.wokingham.gov.uk/applications

Following the end of the statutory consultation process, the local planning authority will continue to

review the proposals in light of the comments and it is expected the application will be considered by

the planning committee in spring 2015. Should consent be granted, it is expected that work will start in

late 2016 and be completed in 2018.

Subject to gaining approval, the council will be looking to work with local people on the next steps of

designing the scheme, including looking at things in detail such as the landscaping for the public square,

how public art could be incorporated into the scheme, and creating a design guide for new retailers to

ensure their shop fronts look appropriate for Wokingham. Local residents will also be asked to help

create a name for the new square and the development, which will replace the working title of Peach

Place.

You can keep up to date with the latest news on regeneration projects through its new website:

www.regenerationcompany.co.uk

– ENDS -“

 

I n response to the many worries about congestion as people try to get to work, to the shops and to take their children to school, the Council is planning a number of new roads and road improvements.  They have sent me the following reminder of their major current plans:

 

“The Council is proposing to build 5 major roads across the Borough.

 

The North Wokingham Distributor Road

The South Wokingham Distributor Road

The Arborfield Relief Road

The Shinfield Eastern Relief Road

The Winnersh Relief Road

 

Funding for these roads is primarily coming from developer contributions as developments are brought forward on the strategic development locations. However there will be a short fall on some of the roads as the developers will only contribute to the minimum required scheme and not what has been approved following public consultations. In particular in Arborfield the developer would have argued that they could deliver the necessary mitigation with junction improvements in Arborfield Cross and would not have to deliver any form of relief road.

 

We bid for funding for the roads through the local growth fund, led by the LEP. We were successful in being allocated indicative funding of £24m from 2016/17 onwards. ”

 

The Council has completed its consultation on the route for the Arborfield by pass, and has altered its preferred route in line with local wishes. It will shortly announce the decisions on the routes for the Wokingham roads following consultation.

 

• The Autumn Statement gave some useful additional help to many small  businesses. It helps shops, pubs, cafes and small firms with small premises by offering cuts in business rates, provides more credit for business, and helps with the cost of taking on apprentices. I quote from the Chancellor’s letter about this topic:

 

• “More Help for the High Street. The £1,000 business rates discount for shops, pubs and cafes with a rateable value of £50,000 or below will increase to £1,500.

 

• Abolishing Employer National Insurance contributions on apprentices under 25. We will abolish Employer National Insurance contributions on apprentices under the age of 25. This will start from April 2016, alongside our policy to abolish employer NICs for under 21 year olds from April 2015. More detail is available on gov.uk in the Autumn Statement document.

 

• Action on business rates. We have extended the doubling of Small Business Rate Relief again – it benefits over half a million firms and means over a third of a million firms pay no rates. We will continue to cap the inflation-linked increase in business rates at 2%, and there will be a full review of the structure of business rates to report before Budget 2016.

 

• Boosting lending to small businesses. We will extend the Funding for Lending scheme by a year and focus it entirely on smaller businesses. To improve access to credit for smaller businesses, new funding for British Business Bank programmes will unlock up to £1bn of finance and we will encourage peer-to-peer lending.

 

• Backing the UK’s leading Research and Development activity. We will increase the R&D tax credit for SME firms to 230%.

 

• Revolutionising postgraduate support. We will make government-backed student loans of up to £10,000 available for the first time ever and across all disciplines, to all young people undertaking post-grad masters degrees, so that Britain can become the world leader for innovation and young people are able to become experts in their fields.

 

• Investing in Britain’s infrastructure. We have set out plans for the biggest road building programme for a generation, we’ve committed £2.3 billion to improve our flood defences, and we are expanding tax relief on business investment in those flood defences as well.”