Christmas Lights Switch On – Saturday 23rd November

Please come along to the annual Lights Switch On and Carol Concert in Woodley Town Centre. It’s the beginning of Christmas in Woodley!

Free bus travel on the six Saturdays leading up to Christmas

Wokingham Borough Council will offer free bus travel on the six Saturdays leading up to Christmas and for two festive events, with costs to be covered using funding from the Department for Transport.

This means that all those boarding local bus services from bus stops in the borough on the six Saturdays leading up to Christmas, as well as for Wokingham Winter Carnival and Woodley Christmas Extravaganza, will travel for free.

Find out more about which buses HERE.

Woodley’s Christmas Extravaganza

Don’t forget to make a start on your Christmas shopping at Woodley’s annual Christmas Extravaganza!

Please click here to view the full agenda for this meeting.

You can watch this meeting live, or after the event via a recording, on the Council’s YouTube channel.

If you have any accessibility issues relating to attending or viewing this meeting, please contact the Deputy Town Clerk either by emailing [email protected] or calling 0118 969 0356.

Hundreds of little witches, wizards and superheroes joined in the Halloween fun at Woodley town centre’s spooktacular event

Thank you to everyone who attended the town centre’s Halloween event on 31 October, here is a selection of the spooky fun…

Thanks also to the fantastic amenities team for creating the haunted graveyard, and our town centre manager, who is now thoroughly worn out from all the hard work…

The UK Government has issued a short consultation seeking views on the detail and practical implications of allowing remote and hybrid attendance and proxy voting at local authority meetings in England

The open consultation, running to 19 December, is particularly seeking the views of individual members of the public; prospective and current local authority members/representatives; all relevant local authorities defined above; and those bodies that represent the interests of local members/representatives at all levels.

Take the Survey

If you would like to find out more, please contact: [email protected]

Wokingham Borough Council will set its budget for 2025/26 in February next year, and is currently looking at how it can set a balanced budget, protect services, and invest in residents’ futures with input from residents in the form of questions proposed to the Council and a Survey.

Overview and Scrutiny Committees

With this in mind, the Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committees (which are public meetings of elected councillors that residents are welcome to attend and ask questions of) will hold sessions to look in detail at the ideas we have so far and make recommendations on them.

As well as a chance at these sessions to look at the detailed proposals, the Council is seeking views on a few key questions that will help it plan for a secure financial future.

The Overview and Scrutiny meetings, at which detailed budget proposals will be discussed, are:

• Community and Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee: Tuesday October 29, 7pm
• Community and Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee: Tuesday November 12, 7pm
• Community and Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee: Tuesday December 17, 7pm
• Community and Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee: January 20, 2025, 7pm

Questions can be submitted in advance of these meetings via the Council’s website.

Residents Survey

In addition to the Overview and Scrutiny process, the Council is seeking views on how it can safeguard its financial future by asking residents to complete a Survey, giving their input on these issues, by 2nd December.

Take Survey

Wokingham Borough Council is preparing to publish its new Local Plan, which is a strategy document covering all aspects of how Wokingham Borough should grow and develop in the long term.

Before the Council submits the new Local Plan for examination, residents have the opportunity to comment on the plan’s soundness and legal compliance until Wednesday 13 November 2024.

It will then go forward for examination by an independent planning inspector, and we hope to adopt it as soon as possible after this.

Take the Survey

Wokingham Borough Council is asking young people to take a survey to help understand their experiences, wants and needs in the borough

Wokingham Borough Council is seeking views of 11- to 19-year-olds to understand how they feel about their life in the borough in a ‘Youth Future Focus’ survey jointly developed by the council, Berkshire Youth and the Children and Young People’s Partnership.

The survey covers a range of topics including wellbeing, safety, leisure, support networks and worries and concerns.

Information gained from the survey will feed into the Wokingham Youth Offer Needs Assessment that will identify the services that already exist for young people in the borough, and where there are any gaps. It is important to get direct feedback from young people so the council can understand what services and opportunities they would want to have access to.

This will then inform the Wokingham Youth Offer that will be published and kept up to date, to ensure all young people have one place that they can access information about services available for them in the borough.

Encourage your young people to take part

The survey is open to those aged 11 to 19, or 24 for those with special educational needs and disabilities, until 25 October.

Wokingham Borough Council is also working with local schools, local groups and alternative provisions to make sure that as many young people get the opportunity to have their voice heard as possible.

An in-person event will be taking place later this year. If you have a young person who would like to attend, have any questions about the project or survey or need an easy-read version, please email [email protected].

Take the Survey

Wokingham Borough residents have the opportunity to help shape a strategy that supports resident’s use of electric vehicles

Wokingham Borough Council has developed an Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Strategy that sets out the actions it needs to take to support the transition to EVs, ahead of the phase out dates of new petrol and diesel vehicles.

As well as public transport and active travel, EVs play an important role in reducing carbon dioxide emissions from transport, improving air quality and tackling climate change.

Wokingham Borough Council’s strategy seeks to complement the growth in private EV chargepoint provision and help to fill any gaps left by the private market. It will be instrumental in the Council getting funding from the government for new electric vehicle infrastructure.

This will build on the successes of securing grants such as the On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme (ORCS) and the Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI), which support the rollout of residential chargepoints in areas with limited off-street parking.

The Council wants to support residents and businesses to make the switch to EVs by removing barriers where possible, which includes a good charging network.

Have your say

You can find a copy of the full strategy and a survey to complete on the Council’s Engage Platform, where you can also complete the survey.

Your feedback will help shape the proposals and ensure that the Council has a strategy that works for all communities.