Blacklands Copse woodland management 2016 programme
Work will begin on the 2016 Blacklands Copse harvesting programme in July.
Please see the attached map showing the various parcels of timber to be worked. The felling of Cpt 9a will no doubt have the biggest impact with regard to noise & visual disturbance. Timings are somewhat weather/ground conditions dependant but the harvesting works should take in the region of 4-6 weeks and a further 1 to 2 weeks of further machine work to tidy compartment 9a & 7f of brash.
The fencing and planting work will then follow at some point next winter 2016/17.
There will be in the region of 1,500 Tonne of timber being extracted, so the stacking area and harvesting sites will be very busy with machinery. Please take notice of (conform with) all warning & instructional signs, as Health and Safety is of paramount importance.
If you have any questions please contact
Ralph Gascoigne BSc (Hons)
Wessex Woodland Management Ltd
01488 685 007 or 07818 417 824
Broadband Improvement Project - Sept 2015 update
The latest update from the Superfast project team at West Berks is that for phase 2 a contract has been awarded to Gigaclear to provide a fibre-to-the-premise (FTTP) solution across this remaining area before the end of 2017. This will therefore apply to large parts of Bucklebury that are still waiting for a superfast solution.
The project team is currently going through some detailed analysis of properties and postcodes and expect to have a high level roll out plan by the end of September 2015.
We will provide an update as soon as it is available and all information relating to Superfast Broadband can be found at: http://www.
Blacklands Copse woodland management
UPDATE: The Harvester is due to arrive at Blacklands Copse early in the week of the 4th August 2014 to commence work. As you may have seen the loading bay and stacking area is currently under construction and should be completed by the middle of next week.
A public meeting was held on Monday 23rd June at 2pm in The Oak Room for interested parishioners to understand the management plans for Blacklands Copse. Ralph Gascoigne from Wessex Woodland (who will be carrying out the work) gave a summary of the Management Plan and explained how the company works.
The Management Plan and associated maps are available below (note that the Hillfield Estate plan includes Blacklands Copse).
Broadband Improvement Project
West Berkshire Council has now signed a contract with BT on behalf of all the Berkshire district councils to provide broadband speed and coverage improvement across Berkshire.
The expected outcome for Bucklebury Parish as a result of the Superfast Berkshire project is as follows:
There are 869 premises in Bucklebury Parish and the table below indicates the broadband coverage before and after the Superfast Berkshire project.
Bucklebury Parish Broadband Coverage |
|||||||
| Basic Broadband (2 Mbit/s) | Superfast Broadband (24 Mbits/s) | ||||||
| Before Project | After Project | Before Project | After Project | ||||
| # of premises | % | # of premises | % | # of premises | % | # of premises | % |
| 799 | 92% | 869 | 100% | 455 | 52% | 588 | 68% |
The results in the table are subject to survey from BT and may yet change.
The project will be delivered in 5 phases, planning will start in December 2013 and rollout should complete in September 2015. Bucklebury is currently scheduled to receive broadband upgrades in phases 4 and 5.
As the project rolls out, there will be regular project updates on the Superfast Berkshire website.
If you have any specific questions about the project please direct these to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
State of roads within the parish
Update from West Berkshire Council Highways & Transport
We can confirm that at present, we have 7 officers inspecting the highway network and 5 dedicated gangs carrying out temporary and permanent pothole repairs on a priority basis across the network. We are endeavouring to carry out permanent repairs instead of the more traditional temporary plugging repairs but it is fair to say that this winter's flood and snow events have not helped in this respect.