Recently we held a Chinese New Year themed market which was packed with many residents and was well received throughout the day. This market was a huge success with the foot traffic not slowing down during the day.

A Best of British themed market was also held in May to celebrate the 80th anniversary of VE Day which was also
another roaring success.

Councillor Tom McCann said "These markets were an outstanding success; the Town was filled with people enjoying themselves and were a great way of attracting people into our town centre."

Over the coming months more themed markets will be held in Thatcham Broadway and in the High Street, and we hope that these will be met with the same reaction as the first two.

Councillor Mark Thomas said "These markets have been warmly welcomed by the people of Thatcham and I look forward to visiting them for many years to come."

In recent weeks there have been a couple of crashes on this road, one into the railings at the Tesco’s roundabout and another opposite the waste recycling centre.

Cllr Phil Barnett said “Safety on this road has to be the number one priority. We are listening to local residents about how safe they feel on the A339 and this is one of the options we are considering.”

There are also new safety railings planned to be installed to make it safer for children going to Highwood Copse School around the A339.

Cllr Billy Drummond said “I am delighted that these works are going ahead in this financial year. People deserve to feel safe when walking alongside the A339 and both of these initiatives will help to increase safety for all.”

Your local councillors will continue to do all they can to make sure that public safety the number one priority along the A339.

Liberal Democrat Councillor for Theale, Alan Macro is campaigning to get the hospital that we deserve. The previous Conservative Government failed to deliver on their promise of rebuilding the Royal Berkshire Hospital by 2030. Now the Labour Government have
pushed back the plans even further - with construction pushed back to 2037.

“This simply isn’t good enough,” said Cllr Alan Macro. “Our community was promised a new hospital by Boris Johnson’s Government - and it has just not happened. “Further delays will mean patient safety is at risk. This can not go on. I am calling on the Government to reverse their decision and deliver the hospital we were promised.”

“Demand has outgrown what the Royal Berkshire Hospital can comfortably provide. That has led to “make do and mend” rather than building the facilities we so desperately need”.

“The real villain of the piece is the previous Conservative government who promised to build 40 new hospitals without setting the money aside for them”.

Back the campaign to end the delays on the rebuild of the Royal Berkshire Hospital by signing the petition. Together we can say enough is enough. Sign our petition here.

Over £12 million will be spent on improving our roads across West Berkshire with over £400,000 allocated to improving our pavements.

Cllr Heather Codling said “This is great news for the residents of Chieveley and Cold Ash. For too long our roads have been forgotten about and under this Liberal Democrat council we are making the repairs that are desperately needed.”

In 2024 the council repaired more than 3,000 potholes, and resurfaced 42.48km of road, We also cleaned 17,592 gullies and 568 signs.

Earlier this year, Cllrs Nick Carter and Vicky Poole have attended multiple site meetings with residents, and the council's Highways team. 

Since flooding in recent years, the council is developing district-wide plans for flood and drainage improvements. Earlier this year, Cllrs Nick Carter and Vicky Poole have attended multiple site meetings with residents, and the council's Highways team. We heard residents' concerns and views on the cause of and possible solutions to their issues of flooding.

Highways staff explained the results of a recent underground survey where they cleaned the drainage system, jetted lines and surveyed the underground connections in part of the Ward, where they found damage to the highway drainage system, such that surface water is not draining properly. The council's earmarking about £250K to repair its Highway drainage in Pingewood Road (some of which was damaged by third parties), and has added the works into this financial years budget which was passed back in February, we think shows that it assigns the matter high importance, notwithstanding the need to balance this with similar issues in such areas.

Cllr Nick Carter said “The residents of Burghfield Bridge have suffered more than most with flooding, I am delighted that West Berkshire Council are completing the repairs that are so desperately needed to fix the damage in the drainage system.”

Cllr Geoff Mayes has been monitoring the flood at Burghfield Bridge since the previous big flood in 2012 and again since he was alerted to the problem again in April 2023.

The £2.4 million investment is independent of work on Thames Water sewage treatment plants in the upper reaches of the river, which are already at capacity, known to have discharged over 1925 hours of waste since the beginning of 2025 into the River Lambourn. It also doesn’t include several projects facilitated and overseen by the North Wessex Downs National Landscape team, under the “Farming in a Protected Landscape” (FiPL scheme, which result from groups of neighbouring farmers working together.

Cllr Tony Vickers asked at a recent Council meeting: “Are projects from all the various funding streams being managed in a joined-up way in the rural areas?” He was told that the Environment Team are aware of all these projects. When details are available, they will be publicised.

Cllr Denise Gaines said “This is fantastic news for our chalk streams. For too long our rivers have been plagued by Thames Water’s continuous sewage dumping.”