Howard Woollaston: Parish Matters – May 2025
Things do seem to change quickly, and as I write, this week is no exception by any means! A trade deal between the UK and India was rapidly followed up by another one with the US, a 0.25% interest rate drop with the suggestion of a further one or possibly two by the year end, a new Pope in Leo XIV and VE Day – hard to keep up…
Road Works
Road repairs continue and I now have the three-year plan from the Highways Team at WBC. The ones affecting the Lambourn ward are as follows:
2025/6
- Long Hedge – retexturing.
- Uplands and Drain Hill Upper Lambourn – surface dressing.
2026/7
- Ermin Street to the Wiltshire Border – 40/50mm overlay.
- Long Hedge 40mm overlay.
- Straight Lane Eastbury – surface dressing.
- The Park – 40mm overlay.
2027/8
- Wantage Road from Northfields to Seven Barrows – surface dressing.
- Ramsbury Road from Ermin Street to Hungerford Hill – 40/50mm overlay.
- High Street to Hangmans Stone – surface dressing.
Needless to say, pothole repairs will continue: please do report them. WBC is using new AI technology to help speed up repairs, but it is a thankless and unending task.
Lambourn Open Day
I had a great afternoon there, seeing a number of friends and watching the action. The weather could have been slightly better but at least the rain held off and it wasn’t, like last year, cancelled because of waterlogged car parks. Congratulations to all of those involved in the organisation.
Neighbourhood Development Plan
We are getting there! The Strategic Environment Assessment and the Habitats Regulation Assessment are out for consultation with a closing date of July 13th, 2025. Links to see these are:
- Lambourn NP SEA ER V3.0 – Locality reviewDownload SEA
- Lambourn Neighbourhood Plan HRA for issueDownload HRA
Also, the pre-submission draft of the NDP is available to see at the link below:
More information on this can be found on this page on the Penny Post website This includes the full text, and the links, of the message about this that was recently sent out by the Lambourn NDP Steering Group.
Planning
The meeting that I arranged between the planners and Lambourn Parish Council was generally agreed to have been a great success.
We had six planning officers attending, rather than the three we had anticipated: Bob Dray and Debra Inston (who are the two most senior in Western Area Planning); two of the main case officers involved in racing yards; and two planning policy officers.
The Parish Council was represented by Steve Mead (Chairman), Bridget Jones and Chris Harris (the Councillors most involved in planning matters) with Sue Cocker (Chair of LNDP). Also present was Will Riggall of Jockey Club Estates, who hosted the meeting; and me.
The two-hour meeting started with a presentation from Will on the racing industry and particularly JCE’s initiatives on getting planning consent on two new yards and its plans for the public gallops.
We then covered a range of issues including racing ties, racing staff accommodation and the vehicle/horse conflicts in the middle of the village caused by the increase in vehicle movements, speeding and particularly more HGVs.
There were a number of useful takeaways and new initiatives.
Chief Executive Interviews
I was pleased to be asked to join the panel interviewing potential candidates for this role at West Berkshire Council. We had 34 applicants which were whittled down to five for a two-day, four-stage interview process. One dropped out and one was deemed unsuitable by the end of the first day, so the panel comprising the Leader of the council, two Conservative and two Liberal Democrat Councillors interviewed the final three.
Joseph Holmes, who was Interim Chief Executive, was head and shoulders above the rest in the unanimous view of the panel and I congratulate him on his new role. I think that he will be an outstanding Chief Executive of the Council.
Devolution and reorganisation
No feedback as yet about the proposal for a Ridgeway Council. I will update you as soon as possible.
Refuse collection
The administration has confirmed its decision to collect on a three weekly basis rather than fortnightly. This relates only to black bins: green bins will continue to be collected every other week and food caddies weekly.
The Conservative, Green, Labour and the Independent Members all voted against, but the Liberal Democrats carried the day. There is a groundswell of opposition generally including a petition, the link to which is below.
From a personal view, living alone it is inconvenient having to remember which bin to put out when: but for families, particularly those with babies in nappies, or elderly people with special personal needs, it is a very distressing.
Casework
It is certainly hotting up with as usual mainly planning, housing and road issues.
Get in touch
If you have any concerns or need help, please get in touch with me at howard.woollaston1@westberks.gov.uk or 07836 718 100.
My continuing thanks to Brian Quinn of Penny Post for his journalistic assistance.
