Service cuts and council tax hike are on the cards
Weekly bin rounds face the axe in plans for 2021/2022 budget
Weekly black bin collections could be axed and council tax is set to rise as the Royal Borough looks to save millions of pounds in next year’s budget.
After the draft proposals for the 2021/22 budget were released last week, cabinet members will discuss them tonight (Thursday) and pending their approval, it will then go out for public consultation on Monday.
Some of the significant savings include switching to fortnightly black bin collections, cuts to community wardens and arts funding.
Council leader Andrew Johnson called it ‘the best budget to not only preserve our financial stability, but also continue investing and protecting the most vulnerable.’
Meanwhile, opposition leaders likened the plans to ‘giving up on the community.’
See p4-5 to find out more about the proposals.
A Maidenhead church launched a Christmas tree trail and has invited people to explore the town and vote for their favourites.
St Luke’s Church, in Norfolk Road, normally holds a popular Christmas tree festival but has had to adapt its plans to conform to restrictions on what would have been the event’s 10th year.
The trail sees a total of 54 trees lit up across Maidenhead for people to find, and was marked via a sociallydistant launch ceremony on Wednesday, December 9, with a little help from Royal Borough deputy mayor Cllr Gary Muir.
Ruth Dunkin, from the charity Thames Valley Air Ambulance, was also in attendance. Proceeds from the event will go to this good cause, as well as church funds.
Voting is open until December 23, with trees lit between 3.30pm and 8.30pm each day. Each person gets three votes but these must each be for different creations.
The church has made three dedicated routes available on its website for people to follow, if they do not have one of their own in mind.
St Luke’s vicar, Reverend Sally Lynch, said: “It is a joy to see all of the trees dotted around town bringing a little hope and cheer.
“We were really keen to keep the spirit of our tree festival alive and to shed some light this Christmas in particular. The lights on the trees speak of comfort and joy and hope, the message at the heart of Christmas.
“But we also want to encourage a bit of competition. Please do view the trees and vote online for your favourites so that on Christmas Eve we can award a certificate to the tree voted ‘best’.
“And please donate, online or at the church, to the really valuable work of the Thames Valley Air Ambulance and the church.”
A group who have taken part in the trail are the Maidenhead Street Angels, who walked the ‘Angel Route’ on Friday evening.
The volunteers spend Saturday nights patrolling the town centre until the early hours helping those in need of assistance. Their work has been put on hold owing to the pandemic.
Rev Lynch added: “It was really lovely that the Street Angels decided to follow that particular tree trail as it’s around the town centre, which is where they would operate.”
A ‘Memory Tree’ has also been set up in the church with tags made available online for people to print and send to the church to hang the names of loved ones who will be missed this Christmas.
Visit www.stlukeschristmastreetrail.co.uk for more information.
Speed read...
A church in Maidenhead launched a Christmas tree trail last week. A total of 54 trees are lit up across town for people to view and vote for their favourites.