Our geography students carried out an urban study, looking at central Newbury, in particular investigating the changing nature of the central business district, some of the problems of the town including flooding and congestion, and key features of the inner city areas of the town including some of the grade 1 and 2 historical buildings, and, the affluence and changing face of the suburbs, in particular the loss of gardens for car parking.
The students looked at how the CBD is increasingly focused on leisure activities, especially restaurants and coffee shops. How also the long term loss of residential accommodation in the town centre is being reversed as office accommodation is increasingly converted into flats. We also looked at transport links in and out of town, where empty retail units sit, the air quality issues and the impact of the Vodafone headquarters, and the importance of junction 13 on the M4 to the town’s prosperity and how electrification of the mainline railway connection may boost again the town’s economy.
