Howard Woollaston: Parish Matters – April 2025

As seems usual for us in the UK after a fabulous spring for the last few weeks, Easter looks as if it might be a bit of a washout. Hopefully, however, the Lambourn Open Day will not suffer the same fate as it did last year.

I am now Chairman of Newbury Conservative Association, for my sins, and we now have a snap by-election in Thatcham NE after the resignation from District and Town Council of our MP, Lee Dillon. Unsurprisingly I am rushed off my feet, particularly as I am on a massive learning curve on how to run a campaign. I have been doing my best to keep up with casework but if any have slipped, I offer my profuse apologies. Election Day is 24 April, so I’ll catch up on anything quickly after that.

Nutrient neutrality

I attended a briefing from the team at West Berkshire Council on this issue, which was surprisingly informative. It was made clear that it was confidential to Councillors, but I am allowed to confirm (as this is in the public domain) that WBC has been given a £2.45m grant from central government specifically to work on the River Lambourn.

The Council has a designated team looking at NN who are working up a multi-faceted strategy. This should allow more affordable housing and improvements to racing establishments, particularly for staff accommodation.

Membury Industrial Estate

The application for the asphalt plant was rejected unanimously apart from two abstentions. Sadly, though, it appears that the applicant will take this to appeal with no certainty of refusal. The key consideration was the perception of harm to elite racehorses which was a reason for refusal for a similar application in Yorkshire in 2015.

My personal view is that we as a community have to accept the need for the employment area, but it should be occupied by small enterprises giving decent employment opportunities to local people.

Neighbourhood Development Plan

Progress is being made slowly – as progress on such things often is – but again nothing new to report.

Planning

I have managed to arrange a meeting, kindly hosted by Jockey Club Estates, with three planning officers who are mostly involved in equestrian applications with planning representatives of Lambourn Parish Council, JCE and me to try and iron out a clear policy in the valley for the racing industry, given its importance to Lambourn.

The Lambourn Centre

Along with Councillor Chris Harris representing the Parish Council, I attended the re-established Joint Advisory Committee meeting in the library. It has never been in place since I was elected as your Ward Councillor in 2019; nor, I suspect, for many years before that.

This included four members of Everyone Active (the Council’s Leisure Managers) and key Council officers from the Leisure Team A very positive meeting with clear indicators showing an increased amount of use by residents and a clear strategy from EA to push ahead. We agreed to meet twice a year to monitor progress.

Roads

You cannot have missed the number of roadworks and, in some cases, road closures as our highways are repaired. I am sure we all share the annoyance at the inconvenience – but it is better than potholes…

Police

I attended a briefing from the Thames Valley Police & Crime Commissioner and the Chief Constable. Main takeaways were:

Crime is down.
68 additional neighbourhood police officers promised and funded.
Rural crime is down.
Arrests are up and drugs are tested for.
Retail crime is a growing issue, and the Police and major retailers are looking urgently at prevention options.

Devolution & reorganisation

West Berkshire has put a proposal to central government to create a new Ridgeway Unitary Council with South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse District Councils, leaving the rest of Oxfordshire as a single unitary. This effectively returns the old Berkshire boundaries from pre-1974. A main attraction is that all three are similar, mainly rural communities, with larger towns although Newbury would be the largest.

I suspect, given limited government resources, that we will not be high on their agenda. I would be very surprised if anything happens in the time before the next local elections in 2027. Also, the Labour Government may be thinking politically given their control of the major urban areas of Oxford, Swindon and Reading.

I will continue to keep you informed in this newsletter as things develop but my personal concern continues to be that it seems to me to take decision-making further from the people.

Casework

My prediction that the quiet period would come to an end in March proved to be spot on. Mostly as usual planning, housing and traffic issues.

Get in touch

Whatever is concerning you please do get in touch on 07836 718 100 or howard.woollaston1@westberks.gov.uk.