Newbury sits on the Kennet where the canal and the A34 cross, with the racecourse on one side and the downs rising north and south. Thatcham is next door and nearly as big, Hungerford is west along the canal, and the district runs out through Lambourn, Pangbourne, Theale, Burghfield and the villages of the Berkshire downs.

The Newbury Times covers all of it. West Berkshire Council has been a unitary authority since 1998, so planning, bins, roads, licensing and council tax are all decided by the same body. It publishes the evidence for those decisions in registers few people open. We open them and write down what they say, with a link to the document each time.

Try these

• News: the record, including planning applications in the towns and the villages.
• Local Info: bin collection days, parking and council tax bands.
• What’s On: what is on in Newbury, Thatcham and Hungerford.

If we cannot show you the source, we do not print the claim.