Discussions happening on how Thatcham town centre can improve

Work is being conducted to find ways to improve Thatcham town centre.

The Thatcham Place-Making Strategy, formerly the Thatcham Town Masterplan, is a West Berkshire Council scheme looking at boosting the town’s economy post-Covid.

The initiative will explore how the town centre can develop in the future to remain economically competitive while playing to its strengths and unique character.

Design and architect company Hemingway Design has been appointed to develop the strategy for both Thatcham and Hungerford.

Members of Thatcham Town Council have praised the company for their observations and creative thinking after meeting with them to discuss the needs of the town centre.

In a recent town centre committee meeting, councillors recapped some of the suggestions that were presented to them.

Amongst the discussed ideas was the prospect of having facilities such as seating in the centre of the Broadway rather than parking spaces, the style of the A4 and the effect of reducing speed limits.

Councillors also looked at the general town centre ‘experience’ and explored the different themes, shopping trends and café culture.

Councillor Simon Pike (Lib Dem, Thatcham West) said: “I think the last thing we should be doing is telling them [Hemingway] what we want because that is the exact opposite of why they have been retained.

“It is to give their idea from the perspective of working in a broad ranges of places with a broad range of experiences and therefore they will come up with ideas that we won’t think of.

“We will be limited to what we know of Thatcham and what it was and not the various different things it could be.”

The council also hopes to secure meetings with the main supermarkets in the area, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, Co Op and Morrison’s.

A public consultation will be launched in order to help develop the strategies but dates have not yet been released for this.

West Berkshire Council will be working with town councils and stakeholders in order to take the initiative forward.

It hopes that the strategy will be completed by the beginning of March 2023.

This work is separate from the 30-year-vision which is being developed for the entire town as a part of WBC’s local plan review.