Howard Woollaston: Parish Matters – October 2026

October 2026

Autumn is certainly upon us with the leaves falling, the wind blowing harder and enough rain to at least allow the lawns to re-green. There is even mention of the possibility of snow (though hopefully not quite yet…).

Being an owl rather than a lark, I regret the darkening evenings and the fact that already there are mentions of the dreaded Christmas word.

I have been up at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham for the last four days. I am obviously biased, but it seemed to me that there was clear optimism for the future and plans are being put in place.

Major proposal takeaways were further support for the farming industry, the reduction in the size of government back to pre-Covid times: while the headline was the removal of inheritance tax for primary family homes.

Lambourn Valley water main replacement

As predicted in my last newsletter, the works are about to move on to Eastbury, which is in my ward. I’m talking to Thames Water and West Berkshire Council about their proposals to keep Eastbury linked to the bus service from Lambourn.

It remains to be seen whether Thames Water can keep these bus links going as the road closure between Eastbury and Bockhampton starts imminently. Rest assured that I will be on their case as soon as the next phase starts.

Membury

Sue Cocker, Bridget Jones and I had a very productive meeting with Walker’s development team. They were clearly in listening mood and are keen to get the people of Lambourn on side.

We had a long discussion about the possibility of approaching National Highways again to investigate the possibilities of effectively creating a junction 14a at Membury to reduce any further traffic growth on the B4000, particularly for HGVs.

The development team agreed to provide an initial concept scheme showing how the proposal could work whilst not impacting at all on the service stations on either side of the M4. I’m trying to secure support for this from West Berkshire Council Highways team and other occupiers on the Estate.

As a reminder, the initial indication is that Walkers is envisaging a speculative scheme of approaching 500,000 square feet of mixed-use space split between light industrial and distribution uses. I’m looking forward to hearing a more detailed explanation – but if it’s going to produce low traffic generation and high employment opportunities then I’d be broadly in favour for the future good of Lambourn.

The likelihood is a pre-app submission this side of Christmas with a planning application early in the New Year; and it will be at this point that residents will be able to make their comments.

Lambourn Parish Council

I attended the recent Parish Council meeting at which Ian McKay was elected Chairman and Vicky Reunier agreed to be the temporary Clerk and the Responsible Person for legal purposes.

I’m very hopeful that the newly reconstituted council will now go from strength to strength, but I would reiterate my previous comment that new councillors are needed to represent the residents of Lambourn, Eastbury and The Woodlands.

The maximum number of councillors that the Parish Council can have may be being reduced from fifteen to eleven. There is currently what’s called a Community Governance Review taking place, on which you can have your say (by 23 October). This page on WBC’s website has all the information.

The significance of this is that to be quorate (ie able to conduct a meeting) there need to be one third of the maximum number of councillors present (so, currently five). If several seats aren’t filled and some councillors can’t attend a particular meeting, there’s a risk of this happening.

The Plough at The Eastbury

I am delighted that the organising team appears to have raised the £600,000 to purchase The Plough, renovate it and reopen up the business again as a local pub, a meeting place as well as a restaurant serving good pub grub. I wish them and Laurent the very best of luck for this so much-needed facility for Eastbury.

The Co-op’s railings

I recently went to check again on whether the railings were now secure. I’m delighted to say that they are I think in the end it was concluded that it was the responsibility of the Co-op and they clearly got on to the case very quickly.

Car parking charges

I have now raised this with the Leader of the Council, and he has agreed that I can investigate whether the car parking charges are creating a significant income against the costs involved.

As a result of our conversation, he is also now in no doubt that the installation of these charges is having a profound effect on parking in the nearby areas which also clearly has to be taken into account. More on this next month.

EV Charging points

Several people have raised with me the installation of the three EV charging points in the layby in Oxford Street. As I understand the position, they are for the use of the entire parish. They will be run by Connected Kerb and users will be able to charge using the Connected Kerb App. Alternative payment methods will also be available. Further information can be found on How to charge your EV? On Connectedkerb.com. Additional information will be available from West Berkshire Council ahead of them going live. So far there is no information on charging costs.

Ridgeway Council

There are rumours circulating that the government is having yet another rethink about this and then maybe yet another announcement later this month. The expectation is that this is probably a deferral rather than anything else and that the local elections to West Berkshire Council will be held in May 2027.

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.