Devolution in West Berkshire

Since 2017, we have developed a Devolution Programme to help sustain locally-led service delivery and the devolved management of community assets.

We are keen to continue to explore and adopt new ways of engaging with town and parish councils and make it easier to come to joint local solutions on the things that matter to you in your community. You may have an idea about how your community might be better maintained, or how local services could be successfully delivered with the help of volunteers and residents.

Previous Devolution Programme successes over the last few years have included:

• Transferring the management of library facilities to the community in Wash Common, Newbury
   
• Providing an extended service offer at Hungerford Library with the help of volunteers, creating a fully-functioning community hub.
   
• In Pangbourne, volunteers established themselves as a charitable trust in order to run and maintain the public toilets as a community asset

Some town and parish councils have equally opted to take on greater control of the management of parks, playgrounds, rights of way and highways verge management under the Devolution Programme. You can find case studies about Devolution Deal successes on our Devolution pages, here.

There are a number of very specific tasks you may wish to take on and we have produced the necessary guidance to get you started - please see our Devolution within West Berkshire pages for more information.
 

If you're interested in finding out more about these projects or have some new ideas you'd like to discuss, please get in touch with Jo Naylor (Principal Policy Officer - Communities) on 01635 503 019, or email: jo.naylor@westberks.gov.uk.