I'm happy to see changes that improve on the old, but I cannot see an advantage with the new look. It to me seems pointless and it breaks some navigational rules for good website design. I see this one as being poor because I can see that I am less likely to explore the front page than I did with the old 'simpler' design. I am also very surprised that someone hasn't done an off-line test to check for some of the snags. Quite amateurish in that respect.
What Facebook are doing stinks and I hate the time line view. There's no such thing as free, and many people have invested a lot of time on that site, and for them to force changes like the time line is out of order. Like with the NewburyToday home page, it make navigating more tedious, not to mention the inability to filter old posts so readily.
The thing I wish the NWN would improve is the old news search function. It is hard to find some old news stories.
BTW - The BBC have also changed the look and feel of their website, and equally: it is rubbish. At least they haven't made it worse, as it was rubbish before!