All three are then expected to be approved when the council meets on Tuesday, March 2. If you want to find out more, but don t have the time (or energy) to go through all the complex council reports, charts and tables, then here are the five things you need to know.
Council tax is going up
West Berkshire Council is planning to increase council tax by 1.99 per cent, which means the average Band D household will see their bill rise to £1,596.40 in 2020/21. The increase, which is due to be approved on March 2, will raise an extra £2 million for the Conservative-run council.
But the Conservatives running West Berkshire Council say they are confident the new offices will attract businesses. They want to develop the 27.5 acre Newbury industrial estate in phases, and planning consultants say up to 280 homes, 3,473sqm of office space and 5,400sqm of space for other businesses could be built there. Cllr Lee Dillon, leader of the West Berkshire Liberal Democrats, said the pandemic and the severe economic downturn could have a significant impact on demand for offices. He said Covid-19 “has been that catalyst for accelerating flexible working” and “home working is likely to significantly increase.” He added: “We often find during a recession, if you go through the cycles, companies retract, they take on less staff and they need less office space.”
London Road Industrial Estate has been earmarked for a major redevelopment ANOTHER £345,000 of taxpayers’ cash must be spent before West Berkshire Council can apply for planning permission to redevelop London Road Industrial Estate. That’s according to a council report, which says it will need to pay consultants £300,000 to “progress the scheme through to a planning application” and spend £45,000 on assessing the feasibility of the redevelopment. On December 17, the council’s executive team is expected to sign off that investment and press ahead with the project, which has been in the pipeline since 2003. The council, which has opted to redevelop the 27.5 acre Newbury site in phases, wants to begin construction in two years and complete the project by 2030.