Over the past few days, local people in the Norreys area of Wokingham have been voting on projects to benefit the whole community as part of Wokingham Borough Council’s Community Budget.
Projects ranging from healthy living to community gardens have won funding over the past 12 months. And at the next Norreys Community Forum on April 24, the local community will vote on which project(s) will be awarded the remaining funds from the Community Fund.
Representatives from the three short-listed projects will attend the forum to present their case and answer any questions the local community may have. They are:
JAC (Just Around the Corner)
JAC will be running various projects from the Pavilion (football changing rooms) in Elizabeth Park. Funding is requested to help support the Governments Change for Life initiative. JAC will be setting up clinics to help people lose weight, stop smoking, and generally improve the health of residents in the Norreys area.
Wednesday Club (run by Norreys Church)
This is a weekly youth club for primary school age children that has been running for a many years. Recent budget cuts have meant that fruit cannot be offered to young people during the evening any more. Funding is requested so that fruit can be provided again.
Wokingham (North) Community First Responders
A group of local volunteers who have been trained by South Central Ambulance Service to attend 999/life threatening callouts in the Norreys area. Funding is requested as a contribution towards annual running costs. The group is also looking into purchasing a navigation software tool which will help pinpoint the exact location of a caller’s address.
Voting papers describing the projects have been delivered to households in the area and ballot boxes have been placed in many locations including the community flat in Eustace Crescent, All Saints Primary School, All Saints Church, Brambles Children’s Centre, Burma Hills Surgery, and Norreys Church.
Local residents have until the evening of the April 24 to cast their vote at the community forum. They can also vote online at: www.wokinghambsp.gov.uk/norreys-neighbourhoodproject/community-budget.
More Arts will also be attending the Norreys Community Forum to discuss what they can offer local residents. They will also be joined by Linda Newport who will give a presentation on the community gardening project and the aim of developing a community garden. The community forum is also a good chance for local people to raise issues of concern to them and also for people to tell others what they and their organisations are doing or planning to do.
The Norreys Community Forum will take place at 7pm on April 24 at All Saints School, Norreys Avenue, Wokingham. All residents of the Norreys ward may attend.
Rose Green, WBC’s senior community development worker, said: "The community budget is a great way for local people to have a real say in how the council spends its funds. I do hope everyone will take the opportunity to get involved."
