Howard Woollaston: Parish Matters – June 2026

June 2026

It doesn’t seem possible that Brian Quinn of Penny Post is already chasing me for this newsletter so that it can go into PP’s monthly Valley of the Racecourse newsletter – it doesn’t seem that long ago that I wrote the last one…

I hope that everyone enjoyed the spell of good weather. However, we seem to be back to normal sunshine and showers again. What would we do if we didn’t have our weather to talk about?

Lambourn’s Neighbourhood Development Plan (NDP)

I am delighted to say that the motion to accept the NDP and move to the next stage of public consultation (known as Regulation 16) was passed unanimously by West Berkshire Council (WBC) on 14 May 2026. An Inspector is likely to be appointed in early Autumn to review it. I spoke as seconder to the motion and took the opportunity to thank Sue Cocker for all of her efforts as Chairman of the Working Group. Without Sue, the plan would in all probability never have seen the light of day.

Lambourn Valley Flood Forum

This last met on Monday 11 May. The forum is now chaired by Vicky Rieunier who’s introduced a new system of asking questions in advance so that – hopefully – Thames Water, The Environment Agency and West Berkshire Council can come with thought-through answers.

Owing to a family issue, the WBC representative was unable to attend but because of Vicky’s new format provided a comprehensive set of answers. We had a constructive session with reports from the various flood wardens down the valley.

To summarise, the upper reaches of the river, seem to have coped reasonably well over the winter, despite the high groundwater levels, with TW’s pipelining and manhole sealing being largely effective. Detailed discussions about for example outside the fire station and the effectiveness of the ATAC unit generated possible future solutions.

The upgrade to East Shefford Sewage treatment plant is complete and TW is considering further improvements to the sewer system.

Of less concern to Lambourn but important nevertheless is that the lower reaches are in less good shape with concerns about the impact of possible further new housing developments north of Newbury. This is compounded by contamination of the water source by previous landfill, in particular in central Newbury.

Roads and roadworks

I included the three-year programme for our area last month :

2026-27: this is showing roadworks for Long Hedge; Eastbury Shute/Straight Lane; the road between East Garston and Great Shefford; and the road from Lambourn and Upper Lambourn (I think some work has already started).
2027-8: shows work on Oxford Street and Wantage Road up to Seven Barrows; the B4000 from Membury crossroads to the Poughley turning; and Great Shefford to Weston.
2028-9: this looks to be Great Shefford to Hungerford Newtown; Membury crossroads to the Wiltshire border; and the road between Fawley and South Fawley.

Well, you cannot say that WBC is not cracking on with this year’s proposals – a number are either finished or in progress, and only two months in…

As indicated last month, the gas pipe replacement is now well under way in various parts of Lambourn. They will continue perhaps until mid-October, but I am told that they are ahead of schedule which is encouraging.

I understand that affected residents have been notified but please keep an eye on Penny Post, Village Views and Lambourn.org which all have information on this.

Lambourn Parish Council

I attended the AGM last month where I spoke for a few minutes and then took questions. The new Chairman did very well in difficult circumstances particularly with an interim clerk. I also joined the Council meeting last week virtually. It is going to take time to bed everything down again, but I am encouraged that two new Councillors have come forward – they always need more if you would like to give something back to the community and you would be very welcome.

Members’ bids

This year it was for £4,000 (as opposed to £5,000 previously – a sign of the times, sadly, but the same for all wards) but did not have to be match funded and we had agreed to submit a bid for a further SID speed indicator.

Sadly, in the lack of organisation caused by the resignations the application was not ready but at almost the last minute I was called by one of the three Hungerford and Kintbury Councillors to see if I would add my bid to theirs.

Our Lambourn Shed uses Hungerford Shed’s facilities regularly, so I thought it was justified to ask for new mechanical woodworking tools for both organisations – I hate seeing free money not being used. Thankfully, WBC has agreed to fall in with this suggestion.

Sovereign/SNG

I had an excellent meeting with SNG’s Becky Morgan, who is responsible for Lambourn (and a wider area including down to Bristol and to the South Coast) at SNG’s office on Greenham Business Park. Amazingly she commutes three days a week from the Isle of Wight which takes well over two hours – now that is commitment.

She introduced me to one of her team closely involved in Lambourn and has since provided contact details of other members of the team.

One good result for the village has been that the re-opening of the bridge across the river at Harris Close: this is owned by SHG and was closed for health-and-safety reasons nearly a year ago. I was there recently visiting two residents and was delighted to see the bridge fully operational and well used again.

The residents highlighted other issues in the scheme. Thanks to meeting Becky, I now know exactly who to talk to when I next to contact SNG (probably on Monday).

Membury Business Park

It wouldn’t be a Parish Matters without Membury. The latest idea being floated by Walkers is to develop approaching 500,000 sq ft of mixed business units in 18 buildings, next to their recently completed distribution unit.

I have a meeting with the Woodlands Protection Group this Wednesday and a meeting is being arranged later this month with Walkers to fully understand the proposals. I believe this is a speculative scheme and not for them. On the face of it we should not resist it out of hand.

It could produce exactly what I have been seeking there – smaller units suitable for companies making or assembling products which could generate significant employment opportunities for people in Lambourn. I will report back next month.

Pedestrianisation in Newbury

The Conservative Group and the minority parties (Green, Labour and Independent) demanded a formal debate on this, which the administration finally granted for Thursday 14 May in an Extraordinary Council Meeting – sanity prevailed at the last minute with the administration announcing that the experiment will be scrapped from September. In my view, a great victory for public opinion.

Local government reorganisation

No further news from the government about any decision (although something definite is expected in July), so the Council and I suspect most political parties have started gearing up for an election in May of next year. There seem to be two options as to what form this might take:

If the Ridgeway plan is accepted, then there will be an election for a “shadow” Ridgeway council. This will probably involve WBC’s three-member wards being reduced to two members but with all boundaries staying the same. The existing administration will remain in place for a year to wind down WBC and effect a comprehensive handover to the new Ridgeway Council.
If the Ridgeway plan is rejected, elections will take place as normal. However, at some point in the future, WBC may need to merge with other neighbouring authority/ies to create a unitary of close to the government target of 500,000 people (WB currently has about 170,000).

Whichever way the decision goes it will have little immediate impact on Lambourn as the ward retains the same borders with still the one Councillor; currently me. It’s complicated…

Get in touch If you have any concerns or need any help, please get in touch on howard.woollaston1@westberks.gov.uk or 07836 718 100.