Speen Parish Council is considering selling part of the local playing fields to a developer for a new doctors surgery. Brackley Primary Health Care Property has a policy of approaching parish councils for spare land, and wants to build the new medical centre on Speen Recreation Ground. The site is owned by Sutton Estates, but parish councillors said they are “interested”.

Brackley PHP is spending £250 million on new surgeries across the country.

More voters emerge

An extra 600 new people have registered to vote in Newbury in the looming General Election. The new voters are a mix of people moving into the area and registering, and those who already live here and want to vote this time round, according to government figures.

Hundreds more are expected to appear on the final electoral roll, and with unknown voting patterns, they could prove interesting in determining whether local MP David Rendel can hold on to his 2,400 majority.

With more than 75,000 voters in the constituency, the boundaries will be redrawn next year, putting some villages into neighbouring Wokingham.

More than 1,000 Newbury voters will be balloting by post.

Shoplifting suspect

Manor Park resident Dean Robinson, 25, was arrested and charged with assault and shoplifting on Sunday morning. The Ingoldsby Copse man will appear in court next Thursday.

Unsolved crimes down

Newbury police are among the best in the Thames Valley at solving crimes, according to West Berkshire police chief Pete Oliphant. He told retailers and councillors last Friday that although shoplifting and violence was on the rise in town, detection rates had improved.

Previous police figures published by newbury.net revealed that four out of five crimes remains unsolved, and only police in Slough and Reading solved proportionally less crime. However, the police say that the higher crime figures for Tilehurst and Calcot skew the local figures.

Drugs charge

Newbury man John Munroe, 38, of Newtown Road was arrested on Sunday night for possession of cannabis and using abusive language. He will appear in court next week.