This is a website dedicated to the village of Theale in West Berkshire.
Theale is a historic coaching village on the old Bath Road between Reading and Newbury. See Theale history. Also see the Wikipedia entry.
Theale is in the district of West Berkshire and has a parish council.
This site was created and is maintained by Alan Macro, who is the West Berkshire District councillor for Theale. He is the council's opposition (Liberal Democrat) spokesman for Children and Young People, Leisure and Culture.
Alan is also Vice-chairman of Theale Parish Council.
Reading Buses want to re-route the Jetblack 1 bus service so that it would no longer stop at the bus stops in Theale High Street.
It would instead use Brunel Road and Station Road, with a stop outside Theale station. This is the service that runs between Reading and Newbury. It is the only bus that goes between Theale and Reading town centre.
The change of route would make life difficult for passengers from the eastern part of Theale. It would cause particular hardship to the residents of the sheltered housing at the eastern end of the High Street. It would mean that passengers would either have to walk to the stops outside The Crown or cross the A4 dual carriageway to catch the bus.
The re-routing would require the bollards in the centre of Station Road under the bypass to be removed. These were put in to stop lorries using Theale village roads to get to the industrial premises south of the bypass.Please sign my petitions to stop the bus being re-routed and to keep the bollards in Station Road.
These have now been made narrower to make them more effective in slowing traffic and to make it easier for people, including schoolchildren, to cross the road. Hopefully, they should help deter rat-running through Theale.
This work was done as a result of the petiton I raised. Work should start soon on putting road narrowings at the zebra crossing outside the primary school in Church Street.
IKEA have now submitted revised plans and traffic forecasts to West Berkshire Council. The planning application is scheduled to be decided by the West Berkshire Council planning committee on April 4th. You can view the plans and comment on them on the West Berks Council website. Go to http://www.westberks.gov.uk and search for the application number, 11/00218/COMIND.
I visited the CCTV control room in Windsor and was re-assured that the CCTV cameras in Theale are working.
Thanks to everybody who signed my petition asking for action to reduce traffic, speed and parking problems in Church Street. I got another 33 signatures outside the primary school today to add to the 40 I had already collected. I was horrified to hear of the many vehicles, including a bus, that didn't stop for children on the zebra crossing outside the school. I was even more horrified to hear of the vehicle that overtook one that had stopped! I asked for these zebra crossings to make it safer to cross the roadI have already asked the local police to monitor the crossing during school times. If any of you see vehicles not stop (or worse) when the police are not there, then please try to take the registration number and report it to the police on 0845 850 5505. Alternatively, email the information to me and I will pass it on to them. The more reports they get, the more likely they will be to take action!I have already presented the petition regarding traffic and speeding in Englefield Road to the council.
The planning application for IKEA is now in. You can view the plans and comment on them on the West Berks Council website. Go to http://www.westberks.gov.uk and search for the application number, 11/00218/COMIND. The closing date for comments on the orange notices is 24th March, however don't worry as all comments received up to the date that the application is decided must be taken into account.
The site visit that I called for on the plan for 30 flats on the Trafalgar Court site in Play Platt will be held at 09:30 a.m. on Wednesday 30th March. I hope that many residents will join me there.
I have put down a question to next week's West Berks Council Executive meeting to get the latest status on the CCTV system in Theale (again!). This was originally promised to be working in 2007! It seems like I am hitting my head against a brick at the council on this one.
I submitted the petition asking for West Berkshire Council to take action to reduce traffic and traffic speed in Englefield Road at the council meeting last Thursday. The petition had 60 signatures. I will let you know when I get a response from the Highways Department.
My petition for action to tackle the traffic speed and parking problems in Church Street has only got 35 signatures so far (lots of people were out when I called!) and I would like to get more before it is submitted. If you would like to help me get signatures, then please let me know and will get a petition form to you. I aim to submit the petition to the next West Berkshire Council Executive meeting on 31st March.
The planning application for an IKEA store in Pincents Lane, Calcot, has now been submitted.You can view the plans, etc, by going to www.westberks.gov.uk and putting 11/00218/COMIND in the search box (make sure that there's no spaces on the end if you copy and paste!). There are a lot of documents! You can also comment on the plans on the website. Please let me know if you have any questions about the application or on how to comment.
The Liberal Democrat opposition proposed to keep the six threatened youth clubs, including that at Theale, open in the budget debate. They also identified savings to meet the £37,000 cost. However, the Conservative-controlled council threw the proposal out.
West Berkshire Council are proposing to close Theale Junior Youth Club. They are also proposing to close some of the youth clubs in Newbury and all of those in Hungerford.
Permission to build 350 flats and houses on this site was granted by a government inspector in 2007. The permission lasted for three years and is therefore now up for renewal. The application site is in the corner formed by The Green and the Theale bypass.
The renewal application is to be decided at the Eastern Area Planning Committee meeting on 26th May (i.e. this coming Wednesday).
The meeting will start at 18:30 (30 minutes earlier than usual) and will be at The Calcot Centre, Highview (off Royal Avenue), Calcot.
The item is fourth on the agenda, but items are not necessarily heard in agenda order (depending on whether parishes/objectors/applicants wish to speak).
The officer's recommendation is for approval subject to responses from the Explosives Directorate, Nuclear Safety Directorate, Environment Agency and W Berks Public Protection.
Objectors and supporters can speak to the committee for a total of 5 minutes each. Anyone wishing to speak must notify the West Berks planning department by 4pm on Tuesday 25th May.
The LDF Core Strategy to approved by West Berkshire Council on January 21st did not include the Theale or Pincents Hill sites that were in the consultation document. An additional site in Newbury was included instead.
There is also a statement in the strategy that "Theale will need to undergo a period of consolidation without strategic scale development" following the construction of the Lakeside development of 350 homes.
This is good news for Theale and thanks are due to all residents who responded to the consultation. However, the battle is not yet over. The LDF Core Strategy has to be approved by a government inspector and it is certain that the developers will be making objections to him. Also, there will still be a requirement to build 500 homes in the Theale/Pangbourne/Purley/Tilehust area.
The Pincents Hill Developers are continuing with their planning application, which is due to be heard at a special Eastern Area Planning Committee meeting at Little Heath School on 24th February 2010 at 6:30pm.
This site was created and is maintained by Alan Macro, West Berkshire councillor for Theale. Site last updated 21/02/2012 .
Published and promoted by Councillor Alan Macro, 17 The Green, Theale, RG7 5DR
The views expressed are those of Alan Macro, not of the service provider