If there’s one issue that affects the borough other than coronavirus, it’s housing numbers.
In July, the Government launched consultations over the future of the planning system and suggested that Wokingham should take 1,635 new homes every year, nearly double the current target.
In a bid to make Whitehall pay attention, council leader John Halsall threatened to walk naked through Westminster.
Our front page of July 30 mocked up what this would look like, complete with his trademark bow tie and, in keeping with his carbon-neutral target, a protest sign made from recycled cardboard.
The council’s green deal, setting out a road map as to how it would reach carbon neutrality by 2030, was approved by councillors at a meeting. It includes 37 core targets, 123 key actions and 385 milestones, along with a financial plan and a carbon budget.
As part of this, it was announced that residents would see their black boxes for recycling replaced with sacks. Originally described as hessian, they are actually made of recycled plastic with a weighted rubber mat at the bottom or stability. The aim is to keep recycling dry during the wetter winter months.
An experiment was conducted to see what Wokingham town centre would be like if Denmark Street was closed to traffic. Two Saturdays were planned after road use declined during lockdown and people rediscovered the joys of walking and cycling. However, it didn’t work and was scrapped after one weekend.
The idea might gain more traction once the distributor roads are completed and traffic can avoid the town.
Traffic was also a concern for residents of the A327 Finchampstead Road. They have been calling for the road to have a reduced speed limit, saying that vehicles are driving too fast causing windows to shudder in their homes. And we revealed that children living on the road were being ferried to school in taxis as it was considered too dangerous for them to cross the road to catch the bus.
Wokingham Town Council reported the sad news that Cllr James Box passed away suddenly. The first Labour councillor to represent Wescott ward, he was married with two young children.
As lockdown restrictions eased, pubs prepared to reopen for business: staggered entry times, booking systems, one-way routes, queuing to get in and additional hygiene measures in place.
As result capacity shrunk: The Redan reduced from 224 people to just 50, while The Rifle Volunteer introduced a special website so people could log their visit.
And to encourage people to support their local pubs, the Chancellor announced the Eat Out To Help Out scheme, offering a 50% discount, up to £10, for meals and non-alcoholic drinks.
It was due to start in August and Pete Scott, from the Lord Raglan, was excited. “We’ve very keen to get on board … it will definitely drill-up trade and help to get more customers through the door”.
Also allowed to reopen were leisure centres, from August 3. In preparation, the borough council arranged for previews of the new Bulmershe Leisure Centre.
But the community hub, which had delivered food parcels to isolating and vulnerable residents, announced it was to wind down its operations as council staff were returned to their usual roles. It had delivered 4,600 parcels, and supported 1,174 households.
Our edition of July 2 featured picture stories of the new normal: people socially distancing from each other. Borough mayor Cllr Malcolm Richards opened the new Winnersh GP surgery, keeping well away from Dr Matthew Pearce who said that the new site would allow it to train more staff.
And underneath that story we featured the handover of the presidency of Wokingham Lions: the chain of office was slipped along a tape measure laid out to exactly two metres so that Nigel Page and Lyn Bailey didn’t break the distance rule.
The first Wokingham Pride event took place – although coronavirus meant it wasn’t a day-long jamboree as planned.
Instead, borough council leader John Halsall teamed up with Wokingham town council leader Imogen Shepherd-DuBey for a socially distanced gathering in Market Place. Hopefully next year a larger event can take place.
The Royal Berkshire Hospital revealed that donations given to it during the Covid-19 pandemic would be used to create a staff welfare centre so they had somewhere to go to after stressful situations on wards.
With people still staying at home where possible, The Wokingham Paper teamed up with Sultan Balti Palace to launch a new delivery service. Anyone who ordered a takeaway was given a free copy, so they could keep up with all the news and enjoy a curry at the same time.
There was more good news – the Public Interest News Foundation awarded £3,000 grant funding to us as support for quality independent journalism during the pandemic. Jonathan Henwood, the executive director of PINF, said: “There’s so much more to do to support independent public interest journalism in the UK.
“Everyone has a role to play … we all need to pull together if we want to see a positive future for journalism.”
We were delighted to report that Brighton’s News had seen its delivery business soar in popularity during the pandemic as people switched to home deliveries not just of their favourite newspapers and magazines, but also essential supplies such as bread and milk.
There were more cancellations, as the organising committee of Wokingham Winter Carnival felt they had no option but to pull the November event, replacing it with a socially distanced charity market.
The community spirit for which Wokingham borough is famous for was in evidence when Wokingham Men’s Shed revealed that Wokingham Town Council had asked them to create more than 100 fair doors and windows for the Grub Club (now Share Wokingham) to distribute to the families it helped.
Looking to the future, staff at the new Alder Grove primary school in Winnersh were handed the keys by Cllr UllaKarin Clark, the executive member for children’s services, while a new SEND school is being mooted for Winnersh Farm.
