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Thursday, November 18, 2021

Newbury Weekly News

THATCHAM NEWS

THE MILL Sunday Carvery • Live Music • Families Welcome Advertorial Feature

The unauthorised development in Lawrences Lane Lawrences Lane, Thatcham

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Council discusses Lawrences Lane West Berkshire planning consider development issues

Smiles all round at The Mill AFTER a fantastic year fundraising, The Mill in Thatcham has donated more than £1500 to local charity Swings & Smiles. The Thatcham-based family pub has been running various events over the last 12 months The Mill manager Steph Wheeler and Kathy Dore present a cheque to Swings and Smiles CEO Laura Lewis Ref: 45-2921 Steph has a background in childcare and supporting children with special educational needs and this influenced her decision to support the charity as she has seen the fantastic work they do first-hand. and garden space. The Mill’s fundraising initiative is part of many changes over the last year with a focus on becoming a family-oriented local venue. There are plenty of live music events lined up for the end of the year, with classic pub food THE MILL FAMILY FRIENDLY PUB IN THATCHAM £11.50 per adult £6.50 per child Choose from beef, chicken or both! 12pm – 4pm LIVE MUSIC EVENTS (8pm start) Nov 27th James Mitchell Dec 4th J.J. & The Jukes Dec 11th The Cover Brothers Dec 18th Dan Pryde Dec 31st New Year’s Eve Party FOOD SERVED DAILY Tue – Sat 12pm-8pm • Sun 12pm-4pm Follow us on facebook so you don’t miss any future events! MillThatcham The Mill, Bradley-Moore Square, Thatcham, RG18 4QH ALL NEW SUNDAY CARVERY (starts from Sunday 28th November) to raise money, including raffles, auctions, live events and a family fun day held at the pub in September. The total raised was £1,557.28, with bar manager Steph Wheeler handing over a cheque to Swings and Smiles CEO Laura Lewis last week. Swings & Smiles is located in Lower Way, Thatcham, and relies on £440,000 a year through fundraising activities. The charity recently opened a sensory room to accompany the centre’s activity room, soft play room with ball pool on offer daily, and Sunday is now home to a brand new weekly carvery. Follow the “Millthatcham” page on Facebook for regular updates.

By HINNA AAMANI hinna.aamani@newburynews.co.uk @hinnaa_nwn

THE future of an unauthor- ised development at Law- rences Lane, Thatcham, was due to be discussed at West Berkshire Coun- cil’s eastern area planning committee as the Newbury Weekly News went to press last night (Wednesday). Applicant Ms C Gumble is applying for the change of use of the land to seven traveller pitches comprising seven stat- ic caravans, seven day rooms, seven touring caravans and associated works. The development, which commenced on August 13 without planning permission, faced a stop order from West Berkshire Council when it was initially spotted. West Berkshire Council went to the High Court in Sep- tember to get an injunction to stop the development, where the hearing was adjourned to December 8. SANTAS will be sprinting again this year as That- cham Rotary Club’s San- ta Fun Run comes back to town. Fetch the Santa hats and running shoes for the fami- ly friendly festive 5km run, which returns on Sunday, De- cember 5. Beginning at Thatcham Broadway, the runners will assemble at 10.45am ready for an 11am start. Coronavirus measures have been put in place and the race will be staggered, with all run- ners assembled into groups in order to keep safety a top pri- ority. Rotarian Bob Champion said: “It’s exciting to have the event back. “We believe we can do it in a way which is safe and we are asking people to take precau-

it will be interesting to see which way they vote.” Thatcham Town Council objected to the plans on five main grounds, including the issue of it impacting the char- acter of the neighbourhood, conflicting with the proposal to make Lawrences Lane an active travel route, and the issue of it being outside of the settlement boundary. Cold Ash Parish Council also objected to the plans on the basis of 14 different issues, including the destruction of the countryside, the devel- opment of travellers pitches being deemed inappropriate and the lanes being too nar- row. The application can still be viewed by searching 21/02112/ FUL in the West Berkshire Council online planning por- tal. Mr Champion said: “Small charities have had a hard time, their fundraising events have not been able to take place. “This is an opportunity for people to raise money for their own charities. “To help with this, we are offering to give back the en- try fee, to help them help their charities.” McCarthy Stone has agreed to sponsor this year’s run with three members of staff, based at the new retirement home in Thatcham, taking part in the race. Santa suits can be collected prior to the event. This year there will be no sign up on the day – all regis- trations must be in advance on the Thatcham Rotary website at www.thatchamrotary.org. uk

A retrospective planning application has since received more than 250 objections. Ward councillor Lee Dillon said that a site visit was car- ried out with planning officers from West Berkshire Council, representatives from Cold Ash Parish Council and That- cham Town Council, as well as local residents and Mr Dil- lon himself. He said the visit was to “draw attention to issues felt relevant for when they make their determination tomor- row”. Some of the issues discussed on the visit were the character of the land, the narrow access and surface water run-off. Mr Dillon said: “There are strong grounds for refusal – tions. “It will be great to see a larg- er amount of Santas again. “It creates a nice atmos- phere, people enjoying them- selves, dressed up. “The community enjoy it and we raise money for char- ity.” With 2019 seeing around 160 runners take on the challenge, Mr Champion is optimistic about the event’s return this year, noting that there once was a total of 200 Santas tak- ing part. Thatcham Rotary is encour- aging participants to consid- er raising sponsorship for a charity or good cause they wish to support. If participants let the team know how much they raise, their entry fee of £10 will be added to the amount they raised.

Ready, set, ho ho ho, Thatcham’s Santa fun

Police issue tickets to speeding drivers

POLICE officers conducted speed enforcement checks in Thatcham on Monday. Thatcham and Hungerford

Neighbourhood Police teams issued tickets as a part of their speed checks. Officers issued three tickets in Cold Ash, with

165 vehicles recorded as not speeding. Four tickets were issued in Lower Way, with 112 vehicles not speeding.