SPONSOR A STREET NEWSLETTER MARCH 2021

Firstly, we hope you have all kept safe and well during the past challenging 12 months. It certainly has been quite a year but hopefully we can see a glimmer of hope on the horizon, with the infection rates starting to decrease and the rollout of vaccinations. Thank you to everyone who has continued to do their bit with keeping the streets of clean and tidy, even during lockdown. Never has the quality of our environment been more important than during this past year. There has been a huge increase of people enjoying the village on foot and we have had many comments about how clean the village is, and we would like to think that this – in no small part – is due to the efforts of our wonderful SAS volunteers. There were 4 DofE students taking part in Sponsor a Street as part of their volunteering remit for their award. I am pleased to announce that they all fulfilled their requirement, and we were happy to sign off their efforts. We now have 2 more DofE students enrolled, who are currently doing well in working towards their Bronze Award. The Sponsor a Street scheme has now been active for nearly 18 months and we now have an amazing 34 volunteers enrolled! Over 100 bags of rubbish have been collected by Sponsor a Street residents over this period too, which is both sad yet fantastic news! It just goes to show what a difference this scheme is making, so keep up the good work! We are aware of some areas which require a work party to help clear up. The one area which is not covered at all is Temple Park and it has been noted that Temple Way is considerably littered. Once lockdown eases, we will be in touch with further details on how we can join collectively and tackle this area as a group effort. It would be wonderful if you could let us know when you have littered picked and how much was collected. It would also be useful to record the types of litter you collect such as cans, bottles, take away packaging etc, or just one bag ‘general waste’ and one bag ‘recyclable’. A chart can then be drawn up and information can be shared on both the Parish Office and Binfield Environment Group website and FB pages. We are planning to champion your efforts on the Parish Council website, in the Binfield Beacon and on the Parish Council Facebook page so please keep us updated on your progress. Any photos of what you have collected will also be useful and will be shared. Please report any fly tipping to customer.services@-forest.gov.uk and also drop us an email [email protected] Please be specific with the location and take pictures of the items if possible. We can then work with the Borough to have it removed. The Parish Council will promote the Sponsor a Street scheme by taking part in the Great British Spring Clean 2021, which takes place from 28 May to 1 June. This is dependent on government guidelines at the time. It is hoped that restrictions will be eased further by then so watch this space for more details. Please find below a list of the roads/areas which are currently being covered by Sponsor a Street residents. We are currently looking at areas which may be litter hot spots so if you come across anywhere that is considerably littered, please inform the office and we can try and allocate the area to a resident nearby. If you live on nearby roads which have not been listed below, feel free to litter pick there as well. Just inform the office so we can add the details to the list.

All Saints Church Road Amen Corner Estate Pound Place Beehive Lane Randall Mead Beehive Road Red Rose Benetfeld Road Rose Hill Blue Mountain paths Roughgrove Copse Bottle Lane Silver Jubilee Fields Open Space Chapman Drive St Marks Road Stephenson Drive Forest Road from Emmets Park to Co Op Temple Park Forest Road from Stag & Hounds up to York Road Terrace Road South Forest Road r/about to Binfield Road jctn The Pathway Foxley Field estate Tilehurst Lane Foxley Lane TRN between Tilehurst R/About Ketcher Green TRN from Stephenson Drive to centre village r/about Knox Green Turnpike Road London Road Wicks Green Lower Beehive Road and jctn with South View Wicks Green Open Space Monks Alley Winch Close Murrell Hill Wokingham Road Nash Park Wondesford Dale North of Parish/10k Route Wythemede Popes Meadow York Road

As you can see, the list is quite extensive, but of course, more roads can be added, so please spread the word to get the message out there and to cover more areas around the village. In the meantime, thank you once again for all your efforts. It does not matter how often you go out there to litter pick, we appreciate all your efforts and do not forget to inform us on what you have collected and how much. For further information, please check out the following websites: www.binfieldparishcouncil.gov.uk and www.binfieldeg.wixsite.com/binfieldeg From Binfield Parish Council and Binfield Environment Group.