The council will decide the future of Rubra 2, The Cowshed's rent-free home, in November. Its leader says the charity cannot stay. What happens next.
Wokingham Borough Council expects to decide in November what happens to Rubra 2, the council-owned office building that crisis charity The Cowshed has used rent-free since July 2023. The council’s own answers point one way. Its leader has written that the charity staying there “is not possible”.
The Cowshed gives clothing and household essentials to people in hardship, from its head office at Rubra 2, Mulberry Business Park, Fishponds Road (The Cowshed).
What the council said on 17 September
Three residents asked about The Cowshed or Mulberry Business Park at the full council meeting on Thursday 17 September. The answers are in the draft minutes (Wokingham Borough Council, draft minutes, 17 September 2026, items 37.2, 37.4 and 37.8).
The executive members for finance and for resident services said:
- The Cowshed has occupied Rubra 2 since July 2023 on a three-year, rent-free lease, support the council values at about £1.2 million
- both sides understood it to be “a short-term measure”
- the council bought Mulberry Business Park for about £10 million in 2018, and its current financial performance is “unsustainable”
- the options include “potential disposal or alternative council uses”
- “No decision has yet been taken on the future of this site”
- the Executive will weigh “both financial and social value” when it meets in November, in “what is likely to be a difficult decision”
The resident services member also cited “the acute shortage of social housing and specialist social housing in the area” among the factors. The same answer added: “We have now given them as much notice as possible of the move.”
What the leader wrote two days later
Council leader Stephen Conway’s column, published on the Wokingham Liberal Democrats website on 19 September, goes further (Wokingham Liberal Democrats, 19 September 2026).
“The Cowshed wants to stay in Rubra 2. Sadly, that is not possible,” he wrote. He said the council was “currently considering plans to repurpose the site”.
He also said the council had reminded the charity three times that the building was temporary: in summer 2025, in March this year, and about two months before he wrote. It offered The Cowshed the use of its commercial agent to find new premises.
The charity’s side
The Cowshed’s own website says it has supported more than 50,000 people across Berkshire in eight years. It handles 100 to 125 referrals every week and gives out more than 150,000 items a year (The Cowshed).
Residents’ questions at the council meeting put its reach at more than 10,000 people a year. They argued that council services refer people to the charity, and that losing it would push costs on to children’s services, adult social care and housing. One asked whether the council had calculated “the true cost of losing The Cowshed”. The answer did not give a figure.
A petition on Change.org asks the council to recognise “the full value” of the charity’s work before deciding on Rubra 2. It had 4,119 signatures when we checked on 29 September (Change.org petition).
The Cowshed’s website does not carry a statement on the review. We will add the charity’s response if it gives one.
When the decision comes
The petition expected a decision at the end of September. That has not happened. The council’s calendar shows:
| Meeting | Date |
|---|---|
| Community and Corporate Overview and Scrutiny | 1 October: cancelled |
| Community and Corporate Overview and Scrutiny | 21 October, 4 November, 24 November |
| Executive | 29 October and 26 November |
Source: Wokingham Borough Council meetings calendar.
The council told the meeting that the scrutiny committee and then the Executive would consider the site. The only Executive meeting in November is on Thursday 26 November. No report on Rubra 2 or Mulberry Business Park has been published yet, and the item does not appear on the Executive’s published forward programme, which runs to 31 December (Executive Forward Programme 2026-27, August update).
What it means for you
- The Cowshed is still operating from Rubra 2. Nothing the council has published sets a date for it to leave.
- Residents can put questions to the Executive. The council’s calendar sets a deadline of 10am on Tuesday 17 November for questions to the 26 November meeting.
- Watch for the report. Executive papers must be published at least five clear working days before the meeting. We will report what it recommends when it appears.
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