About Newbury Constituency

Newbury Constituency is a large rural constituency in West Berkshire.

It covers the market towns of Newbury and Hungerford, the Lambourn Valley with its strong horse racing connections, the newer settlements of Thatcham and the large rural areas of the Downlands, and the many rural villages between Newbury and Reading. The Lambourn and Kennet rivers run through the constituency and a very large part of it is made up of the Downlands Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The Ridgeway path runs through the north of the constituency.

Newbury constituency makes up the main part of the West Berkshire Council (previously Newbury District) area. David Rendel served as a councillor for eight years. The Council was controlled by the Liberal Democrats between 1991 and 2005. The current make up of the Council is:

• Liberal Democrats 24

• Conservatives 27

• Independent 1

Labour 0

Currently there are 19 Liberal Democrat and 14 Conservative Councillors in Newbury constituency. This includes one Conservative Councillor for Sulhampstead, which falls between Newbury and Wokingham constituencies.

The economy of Newbury is very strong. It currently has an unemployment rate of about 1%. There are more jobs than people without work to fill them. The Newbury area is home to many large companies such as Vodafone, Quantel and Bayer.

The constituency is served by rail services from London Paddington operated by First Great Western. It is also crossed by the M4 and A4. The Kennet and Avon Canal runs through the constituency

The Newbury bypass opened in the winter of 1998. Before then Newbury was one of the four worst traffic hold-ups in the country. The bypass has made a marked difference to the life of Newbury and has also removed the only single-track piece of road between Scotland, the Midlands and the ports of Southampton and Portsmouth.