NWN-291020

NEWBURYNEWS LETTERS

Thursday, October 29, 2020 18

Newbury Weekly News

Your views POST : Newspaper House, Faraday Road, Newbury, RG14 2AD EMAIL editor@newburynews.co.uk talk to us Email letters to editor@newburynews.co.uk with your full name, a terrestrial address and daytime phone number. DEADLINE: MONDAY NOON

IT’S great news that 640 investors decided to commit their funds and support to the climate bond that reached its £1m target. It’s very clear that when the public has a chance to help they do and will, so I offer a hearty thanks to anyone that invested. I also wanted to give a big thank you to Newbury Town Council for making such an effective start on reaching their goals of carbonneutralityby 2030 and their innovative eco-grant scheme. Unfortunately, I can ’t bringmyself to congratulate our current Conservative administration at West Berkshire Council. When I asked just howmuch new solar had been installedsince declaring a climate emergency the answer came back as zero. They are still tellingus that pilot projects are needed to prove things out. This is simply incredulousas solar was pilotedaround 2010, not 2020, so a full 10 years wasted. Now add in that they admitted,at the same exec meeting, that there is at least £5m sitting in unallocated funds. That’s £5mof cash in the bank, but they still feel the need to ask the public to fund a £1mbond? As it happens, it’s all neededand at least 10 timesmore to meet the capacity stated in the EnvironmentalStrategy for carbon offsetting. Ourcounc’il s impacot n solarhasbeenzero

fool’s gold moneymaking regeneration of the LRIE. There is no master plan (so we are told). There has been no environmental impact study, no hydrological survey, no plans showing any infrastructure for sustainable drainage, no plans to deal with the need for extra utilities and it appears they have no concept of the practicalities (or impracticalities) that may present themselves. They are trying to build on land of the same flood risk as the flats that have been turned down on grounds of flood risk. So who knows if it will ever go ahead? This consultation is as meaningful as words written in water and you literally could not make it up. Millions of pounds spent to get nowhere and they still won’t apologise for their incompetence. JOHN GOTELEE London Road Newbury

LRIEregeneratiopnlan isjustchasingfoo’lsgold THE council is holding a public consultation on their regeneration plans for the London Road Industrial Estate (LRIE) on November 4. This might sound like West Berks Council has finally looked up the meaning of the word democracy. Unfortunately this is not the case. What are we consulting on? The councillors want us to approve their for a property developer to make enough profit to make it commercially worthwhile? As a rule of thumb, as a local council, if you have to destroy your community assets to provide luxury riverside apartments for a private property developer to make enough money, you are probably on the wrong side of the ethical line. We know that there is a growing ground swell of cross-party councillors who support the motion of re-opening the ground and hope that a formal proposal can move forward and councillors get the chance to vote, rather than being left out of the discussion by the executive of West Berks Council, who will not let a debate take place. Why not let our elected councillors debate and vote on it? NEWBURY COMMUNITY FOOTBALL GROUP

£191,000 on creating a “recreational space”. Their rationale is that they aim to have a replacement ground available in the future, but we have lost trust in this council’s rhetoric on this subject. We remember the press release in June 2018 saying the ground would be re- opened “soon”, the statement in council chambers in December 2018, saying a new ground could be ready “within a year”, the press release in March 2019 saying the ground would be re-opened “soon” (again). With the best will in the world a replacement ground will be not ready until 2022 and we urge the council to allow organised kids football by this modest expenditure. Invest in your community, invest in your children heath. Don’t just invest in property developers. LEE MCDOUGALL Newbury

It’s now a fact that spendingon this type of infrastructure could save West Berkshire money and so easily pays for itself when interest rates are so low. How longmust we wait to get to the projects that will make an actual difference?We are already 15 months in from the declared emergency, so zero really is not good enough. We have the money. We have the proven technologies. We have the locations identified,so what are they waiting for? AdrianAbbs Liberal Democrat councillor Wash Commonward Spendmoneytoget footbagllroundopen LAST week Howard Woollaston (executive portfolio holder for public health and community wellbeing, leisure and culture) advised that the executive of West Berkshire Council have refused to entertain the idea of reopening Newbury football ground for organised boys and girls football. This would simply require the use of modular buildings for toilets and changing rooms, at an expense of around £60,000. Furthermore, these modular buildings could be moved to other locations in the future if needed, meaning the cost of expenditure for Faraday Road is minimal. Instead they are hell bent on spending

Howtogetyourviews publisheidntheNWN THENewbuyrWeeklyNewsisdelightetdoreceive lettersandviewsfromreaders. Preferencweillbegiventolettersoffewerthan300 wordsandlocaltopicsA. llviewsmaybeeditedto conformwithlegalandpublishinrgequirements.

Counciolnthewrong sideofanethicalline

THE article in last week’s Newbury Weekly News about Newbury football ground being the “cash cow” to fund the London Road development was spot on. What sort of world do we live in, where our local council willingly and purposely destroys a community football ground to provide the funding

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