Bracknell & district · Local news you can trust
Easthampstead Road shuts 8pm to 6am from Wednesday 23 to Friday 25 September. Nightingale Crescent then closes for a fortnight from Monday 28 September.
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Planning
Bracknell Planning: Six Objections No Longer Force a Vote
From 31 October, officers decide house extensions in Bracknell Forest however many neighbours object, and councillors lose call-in. What changes and when.
Motoring
Bracknell Waitrose Free Tyre Checks: Friday, 10am to 2pm
Free tyre checks at Waitrose in Bond Way on Friday 18 September, 10am to 2pm, from Merityre Bracknell, with free inspections at its garage all through October.
South Hill Park
South Hill Park Parking: £1 an Hour, First 30 Minutes Free
Charges began on 9 September: 30 minutes free, then £1 an hour, £3 up to three hours. Blue Badge holders pay too; a free council car park is five minutes away.
Bracknell Forest Council
Bracknell Forest Chief Executive to Leave for West Surrey
Susan Halliwell leaves at the end of 2026 to run the new West Surrey Council. The Bracknell post pays up to £207,812; a successor will be recruited this autumn.
Bracknell Forest Council
Bracknell Polling Stations: Buckler's Park Gets Its Own
Buckler's Park Community Hub becomes a polling place and Crowthorne East moves to the Morgan Centre. Councillors vote on Wednesday 9 September.
Fireworks
Bracknell Fireworks: Sandhurst Display Set for 31 October
Sandhurst Town Council has fixed its display for Saturday 31 October 2026. Bracknell Rugby Club has not announced its date yet, and Ascot is on the same night.
Christmas
Bracknell Christmas Lights: Sandhurst Set for 28 November
Sandhurst has a date, Crowthorne's late night shopping is 4 December, and The Lexicon has not announced its 2026 switch-on. What is confirmed so far.
Pantomime
Bracknell Pantomime 2026: Aladdin, 27 Nov to 3 January
South Hill Park's Aladdin runs at the Wilde Theatre from 27 November to 3 January. Prices, relaxed and BSL dates, adult nights and what the £11 ticket is.
Bracknell Forest Council
Bracknell Forest EV charging: 2,100 street sockets
The council has awarded a 15 year contract for 2,100 charging sockets in residential streets. It owns 52 today, and pays nothing towards the new ones.
Remembrance
Bracknell Remembrance Sunday 2026 Falls on 8 November
Remembrance Sunday is 8 November 2026. Crowthorne has confirmed its date; Bracknell, Binfield and Sandhurst repeat a fixed pattern set out here.
Bracknell Forest Council
Bracknell Forest parking: yellow lines on 7 roads
Seven parking schemes cleared their call-in on 4 September, in Binfield, Sandhurst, Crowthorne, North Ascot and Bracknell. The Ambassador scheme was abandoned.
Bracknell Forest Council
Bracknell Forest Council budget: £5.16m overspend risk
The council's own first quarter report flags a potential £5.16m overspend, £2.4m of it in children's social care. Scrutiny sees the figures on Thursday.
Bracknell was designated a new town after the war and built out from a village into what it is now, which is why so much of it is planned: the roads, the estates, the town centre that has been rebuilt more than once. Around it are Binfield, Warfield and Winkfield, and to the south Crowthorne and Sandhurst, tucked into the pines on the Berkshire and Surrey border.
Bracknell Forest Council has run all of it as a unitary authority since 1998, so planning, bins, roads, licensing, council tax and schools all sit with one body. It publishes the evidence for its decisions, and hardly anybody reads it. That is what this site is for. We read it and write down what it says, with a link to the document every time.
If we cannot point you at the source, we do not print the figure.