THE construction of a new and improved hospital for Reading will be delayed until the 2030s according to a new report which has reset the targets for a number of hospitals across the UK.

Royal Berkshire Hospital is one of eight hospitals in cohort four of the government’s new hospital programme to be delayed until after 2030, despite promises that all 40 would be completed on time.

The news was revealed in a report from the National Audit Office (NAO) which said that the government will fail to deliver 40 new hospitals by 2030, as promised when it announced a £3.7bn funding package in 2020

It said the new hospital schemes promised by the government in 2020 now face ‘substantial delays and will not be completed by 2030, inevitably with implications for patients and clinicians’. Cohort four hospital, which includes the Royal Berkshire Trust will form part of the five-year rolling programme of planned hospital upgrades.

Read the full story in this weeks Reading Chronicle out tomorrow.

Also in this weeks paper:

READING Buses have seen a number of stops cancelled after badly parked cars prevented the service from accessing certain roads

TWELVE roads across Reading will be closed over the summer due to road upgrades by Reading Borough Council.

SEVEN people injured, one with potentially life-changing injuries, in a five-vehicle crash in Woolhampton

A PUB in Reading town centre is in the running for ‘Pub of the Year’ award after being shortlisted for the Great British Pub Awards

A CLUB security doorman who was injured in an unprovoked attack at a nightclub in Reading feels like he has closure after the perpetrator was jailed for over two years.

 

Woodley and Earley

WOKINGHAM Borough Council has been caught out over plans to make cuts to public bins throughout the area. The council’s Liberal Democrat administration had announced intentions to make changes to street cleaning and public area maintenance that involved sealing off public bins and collecting waste from open bins from a weekly basis to a fortnightly basis.

The administration argued that these changes would save the council £600,00 over three years. Work on these changes was undertaken, as a public bin was seen covered by a large black bag, rendering it unavailable for public use. Similar measures preventing public use of bins has been seen across the borough, which covers Wokingham, Woodley and Earley.

However, these cost cutting measures have been put on hold as it was found that the decision to make these savings was not fully approved via the council’s correct protocol.

Read the full story in the Woodley and Earley Chronicle

Also in this weeks paper:

TWO caring Woodley residents have been recognised for their efforts at a national awards ceremony

A GIRL from Early has been chosen to front a BBC charity appeal