I heard this last week, and again at the retail association meeting. We have sent a press release asking the administration to confirm it or deny it, and to tell us who is paying and how much it would cost.
There is a rumour that West Berkshire Council are intending to move to New Greenham Park within the next five years. Apparently it is all part of the deal with NGP funding the Pavilion in the Park.
I suppose the Conservatives will take their increased majority as a sign of approval of all their current plans so I guess on that basis the pavilion will be going ahead. It'll be an awful shame to lose so much of the park but with the governing party's councillors mostly representing rural areas they aren't likely to be concerned about that.
It's difficult to understand why the Greenham Common Trust, which has done so much good in West Berkshire, now seems intent on doing so much damage to the park when there are so many unused buildings and sites in the town centre.
It now appears this whole thing may well be driven by the council as suspected in the first place
Let's see what the council say on the issue when prompted, I know one senior Tory looked like he was a child that had been caught with his fingers in the biscuit tin when I approached him with the subject at the election count!!!
Moving the back office functions of WBC out of town seems a good idea (cheaper space, release of car parking spaces, etc) - though they could find a more convenient location than Greenham - Colthrop for instance, much more convenient for those from the east of the area.
The downside of any move like this is the reduction of people using the town centre in their lunch breaks - I know one shopkeeper who gave up after his best customers disappeared to Shaw.
The obvious block on moving out of town will be cost. Or at least it should be. We are already more than £50m in debt, and the debt interest is punishing. Will the council borrow even more???
The idea of the council offices moving have been in the pipe line for years. If I remember rightly, the bus station moves to the staff car park so more accessible for the station and a hotel to be built on the bus station/council offices. A free bus, similar to Vodafone buses, runs to Greenham Park.
The idea of the council offices moving have been in the pipe line for years. If I remember rightly, the bus station moves to the staff car park so more accessible for the station and a hotel to be built on the bus station/council offices. A free bus, similar to Vodafone buses, runs to Greenham Park.
Except that Vodafone buses aren't funded with public money.
The obvious block on moving out of town will be cost. Or at least it should be. We are already more than £50m in debt, and the debt interest is punishing. Will the council borrow even more???
Surely the whole point of moving is to save money?
Offset by selling a prime town centre piece of real estate. Moving to Greenham is a win-win.
Or they do not want to be the only ones left in the market square on their own when all the other tenants have moved into Park Way or have deserted the rest of Newbury?
If the council sympathisers are supporting it, it must be true!!!
This sounds like something out of an Agatha Christie novel. The plot thickens, all we need is a Poirot to explain it all to us in the last fifteen minutes. So, has this been the diabolical plan from the beginning. Clear space at Greenham Park. Build a pavilion to fit all the dispossessed groups into. Build a glorious new WBC HQ on the cleared Greenham site Sell the now empty Market Street building Build an large unsustainable development in its place along with bus station, rail station, hotels and new shops.
Nice one, wish I’d thought of that. Keep your ear to the ground Richard.
We set out very clearly in our manifesto that we would redevelop the bus station and increase the parking at the station, whilst also providing a "rolling" bus station at the railway station to improve interchange. The one thing we did not propose was to move the council offices. Why take the council out of the highest footfall town centre in the district and stick it on an industrial estate?
Oh, and part of the reason we wanted to develop that area was to make cheap street the only way from the station into the town centre, thus encouraging footfall and retaining the retail offering there. Apparently the counicl want to create a new "Avenue" lined with more shops between the station and the Kennet Centre, thus bypassing Cheap Street and effectively killing it off. I would say that we should be supporting the existing retail zones, and if anything is built at the bus station it should be leisure based. No more retail units!!!
Perhaps they could swap their Supreme Headquarters for a train that moves up and down the line at different times. This would cut congestion, remove the need for WBC's expensive car loan scheme, and mean the Tories could close any outlying offices. And, if we stuck a library carriage on the end, we could close all the other libraries.
For people without their own transport. The council offices will become as inaccessible as if they had just moved too the moon. Its easier and quicker to get into London than up there.
For people without their own transport. The council offices will become as inaccessible as if they had just moved too the moon. Its easier and quicker to get into London than up there.
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