Howard Woollaston: Parish Matters – August 2022

Parish Matters

I am the ward member (District Councillor) for Lambourn and the representative on West Berkshire Council. (The Lambourn Ward has the same borders as the parish of Lambourn.) These reports give a monthly summary of the work that I’ve been involved with in the ward. If matters take more than a month to resolve – which sadly is often the case – then expect to see them referred to more than once. You’ll see my contact details at the end of each section below if you need to get in touch about any of these, or anything else.

Just as some MPs also have executive responsibilities, so do some district councillors at local level. It might be useful to give you a quick overview of what mine are (some of these changed in April 2021 and again in May 2022):

I have a seat on the nine-member Executive (WBC’s main decision-making body).
I am the portfolio holder for Housing, Leisure, and Culture. (Leisure includes leisure centres, Newbury Lido, playing pitches and anything to do with sport. Culture includes libraries and all of the cultural and heritage buildings and events in the district).
I am also leading on the Leisure and Sports Pitch strategies which is, to put it mildly, a testing role.
I am a member of the Western Area Planning Committee which considers planning issues which either the relevant ward member/s or a sufficient number of residents feel need to be looked at more closely before a decision is made.

My colleague Clive Hooker is the ward member for Downlands, which includes the parishes of East Garston and Great Shefford, so please contact him if your enquiry relates to that area.

I hope that you all survived the heatwave a week or so ago. Like many people, I am quite happy up to about 30 degrees but beyond that it gets pretty uncomfortable (certainly the lawns round here feel that way). As I write this, the August harvests are well under way in the fields around the village – so here is my July/August harvest on matters affecting Lambourn ward.

New mini waste recycling centre

A new MWRC is being provided in East Garston in the Queens Arms overflow car park. This should be operational from about 10 August.

It will be similar to the one by Hungerford Station and include large containers for plastic pots, tubs, and trays, as well as smaller ones for waste electrical items and lined cardboard (tetra Pak, Pringles tubes etc), and the longer-established collections of paper, cardboard, and textiles. Hopefully this will encourage even more recycling and, as importantly, reduce carbon emissions (and you can pop into the Queens for a pint afterwards…).

More information on this and all other mini recycling centres in West Berkshire can be found here.

Speeding

My newsletter last month produced a flurry of emails about speeding, particularly in Lambourn and Eastbury and in specifically on Hungerford Hill. I have had a detailed discussion with Highways Department at West Berkshire Council (WBC). As a result, the following actions were agreed:

The speed warning light as you come into Lambourn by Hungerford Hill would be repaired (this has since been done).
A study will be undertaken to look at the viability of a 20mph speed limit in the centre of the village, probably from Crowle Road to just beyond the Church.
A speed-check study will be undertaken by WBC at two points – at the 30mph signs on Hungerford Hill and again by the junction with Crowle Road – for a full week.
I will discuss with the Parish Council the possibility of purchasing two speed indicator devices (SIDs), 50% funded through one of my members bids from WBC.

The number of HGVs going through Lambourn was also raised. I tried inputting “Wantage” into my Satnav when I was at Membury Industrial Estate and, probably not surprisingly, was directed straight down the High Street and out on Oxford Street. WBC’s Highways team is going to look at whether there is scope for signage directing HGVs down the B4000 and up the A338 through Great Shefford. This will of course have an impact on both roads which will probably not be popular with residents there, but Lambourn’s High Street is much narrower than the main road in Shefford and has far more pedestrians, particularly on market days – it is a bit of a no-win game!

Membury Industrial Estate and the B4000

The promised workshop on these major concerns that I organised was a great success. 18 of us met for a morning on Wednesday 20 July by courtesy of Rooksnest Estate in their Conference Suite. Attendees from West Berkshire Council included the most senior Officers from Planning, Enforcement, Economic Development and Highways; representatives from the community, the Parish Council, the Woodlanders Protection Group, local businesses; and me.

We split into groups to identify the key issues and then had a discussion as to how to at least reduce the impact on residents: solving them completely may be impossible. Most of us in Lambourn, including me, think that Membury Industrial Estate is in the wrong location for environmental and sustainability reasons as well as being in the AONB. However, we are where we are through historical decisions, and we have to appreciate that the Estate does generate significant local employment.

Key actions that came out were:

Look to create a Business Improvement District (BID). There are a number of these around the Country including one in Central Newbury. They raise money through a small levy on local businesses to make improvements to the appearance of the area and promote it overall. They also provide a forum for local businesses and allow a degree of peer pressure on those companies not meeting their obligations.
Enforcement to put measures in place to stop HGVs travelling in unsociable hours and particularly in the middle of the night.
Further investigation into speeding and weight of traffic on the B4000.
A preference was expressed by residents for smaller-scale development.

The possibility of gaining access to the Estate from the Service Station has been ruled out by National Highways. Finally, it was agreed to reconvene in September in a larger location so that other businesses and effected residents could also attend.

Nutrient neutrality

This continues to be a major problem for planning applications in the whole of the Lambourn Valley (and beyond: the Lambourn catchment covers about a third of the district) and is particularly having an impact on the racing industry, our key employer in Lambourn.

The good news is that a specialist consultant has now been appointed by WBC, paid for by central government, and there is now an understanding at DEFRA that the Racing Industry needs to be protected. I am hopeful that we will see some progress on this problem in September.

Lambourn Neighbourhood Development Plan

The LDP Working Party wishes to identify land which has potential for new housing up to 2036. The NDP is seeking appropriate sites for 25 new dwellings over the plan period. Sites for up to 65 houses have previously been allocated by West Berkshire Council.

“We would like to invite local landowners, developers and their agents to submit potential housing sites in the Parish of Lambourn. All submitted sites will be subjected to an independent technical site assessment process. Sites considered suitable following the technical assessment will be published for public consultation. Please complete the Site Submission Form which is available from the LPC website, or on request from either Lambourn.ndp@gmail.com or the Clerk to the Parish Council (The Memorial Hall, Oxford Street, Lambourn, RG17 8XP; Tel: 01488 72400)”

More information on the Lambourn NDP can be found by clicking here.

John O’Gaunt’s School

Whilst obviously not in Lambourn, many of our school age children attend JOG. With my Leisure Portfolio hat on, WBC has agreed to contribute £75,000, match funded by The Good Exchange (Greenham Trust) and with further contributions from Hungerford Football Club and Hungerford Town Council. This level of local contribution has allowed the submission of a grant application to the Football Foundation for £400,000 to provide a new full size 3G artificial football pitch for both school and community use.

Planning consent has already been achieved so, assuming the bid is successful in October, the new pitch should be available by the middle of 2023. The total cost is over £600,000 and as a 3G pitch with LED Directional floodlighting, it will be able to be played on for 80 hours a week. In the light of the Lioness’s success last weekend and the upcoming Men’s and Women’s World Cups, we expect even greater demand for pitches. WBC is already starting to look at the possibility of a further grass pitch on land that it owns adjoining this site.

Eastbury Village Hall

As mentioned previously, this is in a very poor condition and beyond economical repair. Chris Capel organized a recent village consultation, and the well-attended event indicated an overwhelming support for rebuilding it (as opposed to selling the land). The trustees will be meeting next week to identify the next steps and to look at the various funding opportunities that exist.

This will all take time, money and effort. There’s no quick fix but at least we now have a clear direction of travel. More news will follow over the coming months.

Casework

There is never a dull day as a district councillor and this month has been no exception. Issues raised have ranged from overgrown verges and footpaths to tree branches needing cutting and parking disputes and, of course, trying to support Christian Noll’s campaign to keep the telephone box – you can read more on this issue on Lambourn.org and in Penny Post.

Broadband

The outliers in Upper Lambourn finally have a broadband connection for the 21st century! Many people put a lot of effort into getting there, so a real result.

Do get in touch if I can help

August is always a quiet month with many away on holiday. WBC reduces all meetings to essential ones only. As a result, since I was elected in May 2019, I have usually not produced Parish Matters for August. I will follow his line again unless there are any urgent issues.

However, with no school-age children we took our annual family holiday in June, so I am very definitely here! As ever if I can be of any help, please get in touch on 07836 718100 or Howard.woollaston1@westberks.gov.uk.

My thanks as ever to Brian Quinn of Penny Post for bringing his journalistic expertise to my ramblings.