Wokingham Borough Council has replaced the spaces with double yellow lines in a 12-month experimental scheme designed to improve road safety.
Notification letters were sent to 110 villagers on July 4 and the scheme took effect on August 1, reports the Henley Standard.
The council has received 31 emails raising issues such as the need for chicanes or additional traffic lights and preventing heavy goods vehicles entering the village. In a statement, the council rejected the idea of chicanes, saying they would require “build-outs” to create the effect and so mean the removal of more parking bays.
It added: “They can also have the unintended consequence of speeding up traffic as drivers race to beat oncoming traffic reaching that build-out.”
September 12, 2011 | editor
Wokingham Choral Society is preparing to celebrate 60 years of singing in the town.
The society will be presenting The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace by Karl Jenkins for its opening anniversary concert on Saturday, November 19 at at 7.30pm in the University of Reading, Great Hall, London Road Campus, Reading RG1 5AQ
Wokingham Choral Society was formed by a small group of enthusiasts in July 1951 and gave its first concert in November that same year. Membership has gradually increased over the years to around 120 singers with strength in all four voice parts.
More information visit www.wokingham-choral-society.org.uk
September 10, 2011 | editor
A 41-year-old man has been arrested released on bail until 5 October. following a fire at a Grade-II listed building in Broad Street, Wokingham, Berkshire.
Police said the fire was being treated as suspicious.
Det Sgt Carl Bradford said: “At this stage it is too early to say that this was definitely arson as we are not currently settled on what caused the fire.
“However, we are investigating it as a suspicious fire and would like to trace any witnesses.
“I would appeal for anyone who was in the town centre after midnight on Wednesday or anyone with any knowledge about the fire to contact police.
“This fire caused substantial damage to the building and had a significant impact on the local community due to the road closures that were in place while it was put out.”
September 9, 2011 | editor
More than 40 firefighters are tackling a large fire in a Berkshire town centre, reports the BBC.
Broad Street in Wokingham has been closed while they deal with the blaze in a Grade-II listed building, according to Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service about half of the roof of the two-storey and basement building had been destroyed.
BBC reporter Duncan McLarty, who was at the scene, said the fires were “quietening down” by 10:00 BST.
“At it’s height it was a really significant blaze. The innards of the building are wooden and Tudor.”
“The front of the building is a beautiful stately regency building, about 200 years old, so it’s hoped the outside of the building may be able to be saved.”
Vice-chairman of Berkshire Fire Authority and Wokingham borough councillor Pauline Helliar-Symons was also at the scene.
She said it was “very sad”.
“They are very precious buildings along this street and we’re very proud of them.
“I’m really grateful they’ve managed not to let it spread to any of the buildings on either side, or across the road. They’ve done a brilliant job of doing that.”
September 7, 2011 | editor
California Country Park in Finchampstead has a new climbing wall. The wall is suitable for parents, as well as children and toddlers.
Adults and children can go climbing at weekends between 11am and 6pm on September 10, 11, 17 and 18. Toddler sessions take place on Friday September 9 and 16 between 12pm and 3pm. Prices start at £5.
“The climbing wall has been a great success at the Multi-Activity Centre at Dinton Pastures Country Park this summer and we wanted to bring it to Finchampstead so that residents here could have some fun with it too,” said Tanya Budd of Wokingham Borough Council’s countryside service.
California Country Park is set within 100 acres of rare ancient bogland and lowland heath. It offers a wealth of walking and wildlife watching opportunities for visitors. The Park is open daily throughout the year.
For more details, please contact the Multi-Activity Centre on (0118) 934 4424. California Country Park is off Nine Mile Ride, Finchampstead.
September 5, 2011 | editor
Wokingham Town Hall is presenting eight Baroque Concerts.
The concerts are on the last Wednesday of each month (except Dec, Jan), starting in September, 2011. Each concert lasts 60 minutes.
28th September Crispian Steele-Perkins (trumpet)
26th October Stephen Preston (baroque flute)
30th November Eleanor Harrison (baroque violin)
29th February Andrea Pfenninger (soprano)
Adrian Boorman (countertenor)
28th March Jennifer Janse (baroque cello)
25th April Jake White (tenor)
30th May Maria Sanger & Peter Wells (recorders)
27th June Richard Smith (clavichord)
Wokingham Town Hall is right in the centre of the town, in the Market Place, at the junction of Broad Street, Peach Street and the A321.
Tickets for a single concert cost just £12.50 or you can buy a season ticket for all 8 concerts for just £72.
More information about the concert series: www.wokinghamconcerts.co.uk
September 2, 2011 | editor
Wokingham Borough Council is urging residents within the borough to make sure they are on the register of electors for the forthcoming year. Electoral registration forms addressed to ‘The Occupier’ will be delivered to every home during week beginning Monday August 29.
Residents are required to respond to the form every year; this ensures that the register is kept as up to date and accurate as possible. Forms can either be returned by post or (if there are no changes to be made) responded to online or by calling 0800 197 8603 for free.
September 2, 2011 | editor
Wokingham Borough Council confirmed today (August 31) that it was disappointed with the outcome of the Office of the Schools Adjudicator (OSA)’s review of admissions arrangements at Maiden Erlegh School, in particular that proposed tie-breaker arrangements had been rejected.
The OSA report was produced following objections from a number of parents and from Reading Borough Council to the new admission arrangements for Maiden Erlegh School which were consulted on as part of the Wokingham Borough Secondary Admissions Review during late 2010 and early 2011. As a result of the OSA report, the Secretary of State for Education has directed Maiden Erlegh School, which is now an academy, to amend the ‘tie-breaker’ arrangement to one of simple radial distance. The school has indicated its intention to accept the direction.
However, the same report vindicated all other aspects of the council’s admissions review and consultation.
The OSA report found that it was ‘reasonable for the council to increase the size of [the school’s] designated area in the way it did’; that the new designated area was ‘constructed objectively’ and formed a ‘coherent geographical area’; and that journey to school times and safe walking routes were properly considered.
In relation to the tie-breaker, the OSA report rejected the complaint that the tie-breaker was not easy to understand, saying:
‘It is clear to me, not least from the number and nature of the objections, that the way of calculating [the tie-breaker] is clear and simple and that its general implications for particular communities are widely understood. In this sense, I do not believe that [tie-breaker] is complex.’
August 31, 2011 | editor
Wokingham Borough students have achieved their best ever results in their GCSE examinations which were published on August 25.
Provisional results show the percentage of pupils gaining five A* to C grades in the Wokingham Borough has gone up to 82.9 per cent – a 5.2 per cent rate of improvement from the 2010 result of 77.7 per cent and 7per cent higher than the national results for 2010 of 75.9 per cent. The percentage of pupils in the Wokingham Borough gaining five A* to C including maths and English also increased by 3 per cent to 68.1 per cent, placing Wokingham Borough 9.6 per cent above the national results for 2010 for this measure (58.5 per cent). Nearly all the borough’s pupils got at least one GCSE pass atjust over 96 per cent.
August 31, 2011 | editor
Guide Dogs is celebrating it’s 80th anniversary with a Guide Dogs Week on 1 – 9 October 2011.
1931 saw the first guide dog partnership, and since the first four guide dog units were trained in Wallasey Cheshire, Guide Dogs has enabled thousands of blind and partially sighted people to get around independently, through guide dog partnerships.
The Guide Dogs For The Blind Association
Folly Court
Barkham Road
Wokingham
Berkshire RG41 4BT
01189 895800
Fax:
01189 891603
August 30, 2011 | editor
