News

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Hungerford Town Council Annual Grant Scheme 2025/2026 is now open

Hungerford Town Council is delighted to advise that applications are now welcomed for the annual grant scheme for 2025 - 2026. The grants are normally allocated in May/June and the deadline for applications is Friday 25th April 2025.

As in previous years, the grants will be administered through The Good Exchange at www.thegoodexchange.com. We would encourage you to make an application through that scheme so that you can benefit from match funding and to enable other funders on The Good Exchange to donate to your good cause.

Please also ensure that you review our grant policy which you can find here: Policies - Hungerford Town Council

If you already have a current application with The Good Exchange, please could you let me know your project reference number so I can access your application details.

Please note we cannot guarantee that funding will still be available later in the year, so please make every effort to ensure you apply before the deadline date.

For any other questions, please do not hesitate to contact us on:

• 01488 686195
• Admin@hungerford-tc.gov.uk

All very welcome to attend Hungerford' Annual Town Meeting at the Town Hall 7.00pm. Refreshments will be served from 6.30pm

HTC UPDATE March 2025

February has flown by, unlike January which seemed to go on forever.

On the 11th we received reports of an individual with a weapon in the Fairfield’s Close area. One male has been arrested and the investigation is ongoing. If anyone has any information please contact us and quote crime number: 43250070910

17th The team carried out a test purchasing operation in the town with Trading Standards. Unfortunately one of the shops failed and sold a vape to a 15 yr old. The premise is now being dealt with my Trading Standards.

The team have been working alongside Sovereign Housing and have carried out visits to several properties in the town. One property in Fairfield’s Close has now been secured. There is ongoing work to be carried out in Chestnut Walk.

The team are currently focusing their activities on tackling drug dealing in the Hungerford and Downlands area. We encourage you to report your concerns to Police so we can build up our intelligence picture of what is happening and where.

For the month of February

0 reports of ASB

2 shopliftings from Tesco

0 reports of Criminal damage.

1 Burglary (to a garage)

3 Theft. One of these was tools from a work van.

The Team

The current set up of the Hungerford and Downlands Neighbourhood Police Team is 1 x Inspector, 1 x Sergeant, 3 x Police Constables and 4 x Police Community Support Officers.

The team are contactable by email but this should not be used in an emergency or for reporting crime as it is not monitored 24/7.

HungerfordandDownlandsNHPT@thamesvalley.pnn.police.uk

Please keep reporting incidents to us via 101, the TVP website (www.thamesvalley.police.uk) or 999, in an emergency.

Click here for the full results of the Informal Housing Consultation

The Neighbourhood Plan is making progress. We have a draft text of the Plan and the detailed evaluations of the housing allocations completed.

The Plan covers the whole parish for the period 2024 to 2041 and will be used to plan for Hungerford’s future and determine planning applications alongside the West Berkshire Local Plan.

The Plan Vision

Hungerford sits at the heart of the North Wessex Downs AONB and is treasured for being an historic market town set within beautiful and accessible countryside and waterways.

The residents of Hungerford seek to work together to embrace constructive change that ensures a vibrant, robust and sustainable economy that will enhance their prosperity and provide an affordable and nurturing environment for current and future generations.

This should be achieved whilst conserving Hungerford’s natural and manmade heritage and enhancing its strong sense of being a caring community and a fulfilling place to live.

There are chapters in the Plan under the following headings:

• Housing
• Employment and economy
• Getting about
• Leisure, Wellbeing, Public Safety and Learning
• Our heritage
• Climate change and biodiversity

In each of these there are aims, objectives and proposals.

Housing Site Allocation

The Neighbourhood Plan has to allocate sites to deliver a minimum of 55 dwellings to comply with the West Berkshire Emerging Local Plan. If it doesn’t, then the Emerging Local Plan will do this and the community will have less say over which sites are chosen.

After careful and detailed evaluation of many sites around the town several sites were identified that represented sustainable and deliverable options.

Informal consultations to obtain residents views and comments took place in The Corn Exchange building on:

· Wednesday November 1^st at the Town Hall 2pm to 4pm and 7pm to 9pm

· Saturday November 4^th at the Magistrates Room 10am to Midday

Alternatively residents could respond via the online consultation. Housing Feedback Form. The closing date for comments was by 4pm on Monday 13th November 2023.

For the background please refer to the attached Informal Sites Consultation document below for details of preferred housing sites and options. Also below is the Draft Site Assessment report which explains how the sites have been selected. 

UPDATE: We have now analysed the results and a report of the informal housing consultation is attached.

Way Forward

The main next stages for the Plan are:

• Complete the Draft Plan
• Send this to West Berkshire Council for comments
• Formal six week consultation, early 2024
• Public examination, mid 2024
• Public referendum on the Plan, autumn 2024

H2036 are pleased to advise public consultations will be held in the Corn Exchange, on potential new housing sites for Hungerford, on the following dates:

Wednesday 30^th June 7pm to 9pm

Sunday 4^th July 10.30am to 1pm

There will be further dates for public consultation during the summer. Details of these will follow.

We encourage residents to attend to view the exhibition which will be the same on both dates. Comments can be left in the box provided or you can comment online if you would prefer. All the information and ability for residents to provide their feedback will be made available on the www.hungerford2036.info website by the 30^th June 2021.

The supply of additional market and affordable homes is a key part of what the Hungerford Plan will need to cover and, in due course, seek approval for through a local referendum.

https://www.facebook.com/804369606265158/videos/792291731319977

Click on the link above to view our Virtual Christmas Light Switch-on

HTC is pleased to announce Hungerford’s beautiful Christmas Lights will continue to twinkle throughout December and into January despite Covid-19. This year we feel it is important for the community that we raise a bit of Christmas cheer and do something fun. To avoid crowds, we had a Virtual Christmas Lights Switch-On event involving a number of local community groups appearing on a community Christmas video which can be viewed in the comfort of your own homes via various social media sites.