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When your bin will be collected and what the busiest roads will be over Christmas – all you need to know about the festive period




The A34 through Newbury is expected to be one of the busiest routes as millions of people head off for the Christmas getaway.

The AA has now issued an amber traffic warning for today (Saturday) and Monday.

The A34 has an amber warning for heavy traffic today and Monday
The A34 has an amber warning for heavy traffic today and Monday

The A34 from Oxford to Newbury has been highlighted as one of the expected ‘hotspots’ on both days.

“Christmas falling on a Wednesday may help to spread festive journeys - but it also means more days of traffic as the getaway from work on Friday is followed by last minute shopping traffic on Saturday and visits to friends and family on Sunday,” the AA said.

“Unsurprisingly, the quietest days on the roads will be Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day when less people are planning on travelling.

“If you’re doing some last-minute Christmas shopping, many retailers will be happy to let you leave your items to collect later, rather than make repeated trips back to your car – thieves love Christmas and thefts of items from cars also rises in December.”

When your bins will be collected

The days that bins are collected will vary over the Christmas period too.

West Berkshire Council said it “usually sees an increase in demand over the festive period” so was again using its garden waste collection vehicles and staff to help with waste collections.

This means that there will be no garden waste collections from Monday, December 23 until Monday, January 6, 2025.

The council will begin collecting garden waste again from Tuesday, January 7, 2025 for any subscribers to the service.

When your bins will be collected this Christmas
When your bins will be collected this Christmas

Subscribers can also leave out real Christmas trees – next to the green bin and with all lights and decorations removed – for collection until the end of January.

If your normal collection day should be Christmas Day, your bins will be collected on Friday, December 27; Boxing Day bins will be collected on Saturday, December 28 and any bins that should be collected on Friday, December 27, will be collected on Monday, December 30.

The following week, Monday collections will be collected on Tuesday, Tuesday will be collected on Thursday; Wednesday on Friday; Thursday on Saturday and Friday collections will be collected on Monday, January 6.

The week of January 6, all collections will be one day later than they should be.

You can see more details in the graphic above.

Getting help from West Berkshire Council

The West Berkshire Council offices will also be amending its opening hours over the festive period.

The offices will close at 3pm on Christmas Eve and reopen at 8.30am (and close at 5pm) on Monday, December 30.

On New Year's Eve it will be open from 8.30am to 5pm and then be closed on New Year's Day.

On Thursday, January 2 it will be open from 8.30am to 5pm and on Friday, January 3 it will be open from 8.30am to 4.30pm.

When the West Berkshire Council offices will be open this Christmas
When the West Berkshire Council offices will be open this Christmas

The council said “many” of its services will continue to be available online even when the offices are closed and issues such as potholes, broken streetlights, missed bin collections and flooding on a road can all be reported there.

For out of hours emergencies over Christmas, which includes major incidents or safeguarding concerns, you can contact 01635 551111.



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