News

The Aspire centre planned for Winnersh will work with local businesses to provide a state-of-the-art learning environment offering a range of courses for young people and support post-16 youngsters at risk of NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training).

It is hoped the centre will be open this September, following the submission of a planning application by Wokingham Borough Council.

The planning application for the vacant building is for change of use, from class B1 office/warehouse to class D1, so that it can be used for learning. The application is due to be determined in the spring.

Wokingham Borough Council to set to raise Radstock Lane Community Centre rent from £25 to £7,500, after Wokingham Borough Council reviewed the amount it charges Earley Town Council for the hall.

The £25 annual fee was set in 1983 between Earley Town Council and Berkshire County Council before its abolition. The 60-year lease said the price would be reviewed in 2012 after 29 years and also detailed how any future rent would be calculated.

Superfast broadband is being planned for Berkshire and now residents are being invited to have their say on where superfast broadband should be introduced across the county.

The Superfast Berkshire project – consisting of Berkshires six unitary authorities plus some parish councils is planning to make sure 90% have access, through investing almost £3m in improving infrastructure.

The 6 unitary authorities are:
Bracknell Forest Council Reading Borough Council Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead Council Slough Borough Council West Berkshire District Council Wokingham Borough Council

Comments must be made by March 28.

To take part in the superfast broadband consultation, visit www.superfastberkshire.org.uk/consultation

Young people and their parents are invited to a free Wokingham Apprenticeship and Training Fair on Monday March 4 at 5pm, to find out about the apprenticeships and training opportunities, taking place at the council’s Shute End offices.

Employers due to attend include Microsoft, British Airways, AWE, National Grid, Foster Wheeler, Cable and Wireless, BMW, Gillette and Cisco. There is still space for additional local employers to book a stall if they wish.

Over five million blue bags used for household waste will be delivered to residents by Veolia Environmental Services on behalf of Wokingham Borough Council.

It will take five weeks to deliver 80 bags, in two rolls of 40, to over 64,000 households. Taking this into account, all bags should be delivered to every doorstep by March 15, 2013 – over two weeks ahead of the service starting on April 1, 2013.

Residents who have already registered as a larger household of five or more will automatically receive their additional bags by April. Any residents new to the borough, or needing to register as a larger household should contact Wokingham Direct by emailing: [email protected] or calling (0118) 974 6000.

Wokingham Borough Council has started work on a new £160,000 cycleway improvement project in Earley and Woodley.

The Wokingham Borough Council scheme links the underpass in Henley Wood Road and Pond Head Lane, Earley, with Addington School and Bulmershe School in Woodlands Avenue, Woodley.

Under the scheme, the footpath along Woodlands Avenue, Fairwater Drive, Nightingale Road, and School Drive is being widened to three metres so that pedestrians and cyclists can both use it safely.

The existing footpath between School Drive and the subway under the A3290 near Pond Head Lane is also being widened, as part of the works.

Existing pedestrian crossing facilities are being improved, including new street lighting along the proposed route.

The cycleway also improves pedestrian and cycle access from Earley to employment centres, schools and local shopping centres and green spaces in Woodley.

This new shared-use footway/cycleway is the borough council’s largest single investment in cycling improvements in a decade. Work is due to be finished at the end of March.

ransport and highways issues relating to the major developments coming to Arborfield will be discussed at a special community forum meeting on Wednesday February 20 at Arborfield Garrison Community Centre, Princess Marina Drive from 7.30pm.

The meeting (which is open to all residents) will be an opportunity to hear how the borough council is assessing the potential highways impacts of the development proposals through its modelling, This alerts the developers to the hot spots which they need to address in their planning application.

The community forum will be chaired by Councillor Dianne King, and will be attended by senior highways officers and representatives from the Arborfield Garrison developers’ consortium. For more on the community forums, which have been established to bring residents, developers, community groups, town and parish council and the borough council together to discuss the major development, visit: www.wokingham.gov.uk/communities/communityforums.

Wokingham Borough Council’s executive approved an extension to the park and ride service from the site at Loddon Bridge to Reading town centre for a further year until February 2014.

The current park and ride site at Loddon Bridge has been in operation for more than 15 years. It is close to the A329(M) and provides a 15-minute express service into Reading. The service provides not just provide transport into central Reading but all day parking in a securely managed and monitored car park.

Next month (February) the council is looking for local people to take part in a workshop to explore their views and ideas on the town centre’s future as it develops its public realm strategy.

The council has carried out technical and analytical work to gain a better understanding of the issues. These include heritage, traffic and transport, servicing and loading and the council is now in a position to take this work further and build on the public’s views already given at the Wokingham Town Centre Public Realm workshop undertaken in June 2011.

The Public Realm Design and Delivery Strategy is separate from the regeneration project but it sits alongside it. The council will soon be developing designs for the town’s existing streets and public spaces including Peach Street, Market Place, Denmark Street and Broad Street and would like local people to get involved. A workshop, being held in Wokingham town centre on Saturday February 16 between 10.30am and 1.30pm, will be a chance for local people to give their views on the town’s streets and spaces and early ideas for improvement.

Anyone interested in attending should email: [email protected] or call on (0118) 974 6735 by 5pm on Friday February 8 to book a place

Wokingham Borough Council and Spotlights Dance Centre are starting weekly Street Dance Academy classes starting at Cantley Park, Wokingham on Wednesday February 27, 2013.

The classes place on Wednesday evenings from 5.30pm to 6.30pm and are suitable for anyone aged between 8 and 12 years old. The first term runs from February 27 to March 27 and costs just £16 for five weeks.

For further information on the Street Dance Academy or any other sports activities in the Wokingham Borough, call (0118) 974 3728 or email: [email protected].