Could Newbury's 'peaceful' reputation be its biggest barrier?

That was one of the questions posed by council and business leaders at an annual conference to refresh West Berkshire Council’s Vision project this week.
The need for a dedicated business hub and the construction of more commercial property were suggested as a way to encourage new and, in particular, large businesses, and boost the Newbury economy.
The Vision is a document that sets out the long-term aims for the town and, since it was launched in 2003, has helped shape schemes such as Parkway, the pedestrianisation of Northbrook Street and the opening of a cinema.
At last year’s conference, West Berkshire Council chief executive Nick Carter, said the council was moving beyond retail and would be focussing more heavily on residential development.
However, at this year’s conference, while such development at Market Street, the Sterling Cables site and the London Road Industrial Estate were discussed in some detail, the conference reverted to the perennial question of how to make Newbury a more vibrant place for business.
The head of communications at Bayer, Simon Greenstreet, said: “Newbury is a market town. It works really well for families. But for businesses it has a sense of being sleepy, a sense of not being dynamic. We haven’t been able to break out of this.”
He added that a consultation event with local businesses earlier in the year showed that there was a desire for more commercial property, and to have the town’s “tired office stock” replaced.
However, this prompted questions from the invited audience as to how the council would ensure that local residents were happy with the proposals.
Sue Jordan from Newbury-based business Gel Media said: “The residents and the businesses, they are not mutually exclusive, they are one and the same at times. How do you qualify what’s needed for Newbury against what people want?”
Her comments prompted Mr Carter to suggest the formation of a committee similar to the now-defunct Town Centre Partnership, made up of the representatives of a number of businesses, community groups and those representing the public.
“The new Vision goes beyond Newbury town centre,” he said.
“We need to consider a much wider geography. We need to enhance Newbury and its environs as an entity. Newbury needs to reach a tipping point to become and advanced business location. Newbury seems to be becoming an hour-glass figure, with one road crossing the river. Is it time now to think about another river crossing?”
Other questions from the floor included those from town councillors Anthony Pick (Con, St Johns), who asked if the council would consider constructing an orbital road around Newbury and Thatcham to ease the area’s notorious traffic problem and Gabrielle McGarvey (Lib Dem, St Johns) who asked what West Berkshire Council was doing to ensure that the town would have adequate housing supply for people aged 18 to 30 in the future.
What are your views? Do you think more needs to be done to make Newbury a more attractive destination for new businesses? As a resident, what do you think Newbury needs? Would you support the formation of a new committee similar to that of the Town Centre Partnership? Let us know by emailing Ellis Barker at the addresses above.