John Redwood MP writes: Wokingham Borough Council is wrong to be cutting spending on litter, grass cutting and environmental maintenance. Wokingham is a pleasant place to live, with the green environment around our homes and shops an important part of the attraction. I urge the Lib Dem led Administration to think again.
The Borough Council is also wrong to pursue a vendetta against vehicle use, closing roads, narrowing carriageways, worsening junctions, increasing car parking charges and aiming to fine and charge the vehicle user more. Many people need a van or car to get to their jobs in people’s homes or commercial premises. Many families need to take children on the school run, and need a car to get to work. You cannot go shopping for a family on a bike or take all your tools and equipment for jobs on a bus. If we want a flourishing town centre people need to be able to drive there and park easily , otherwise they will drive to somewhere more friendly. The potholes need filling promptly before the task of repair becomes much larger and dearer.
Liberal Democrat Councillors are now pleading that they do not get grant from the government to do these things. They say they are the worst financed Council of any. The latest independent IFS figures on Council finances shows a different picture. Wokingham comes second amongst local Councils for spending power per head, above Reading, Windsor, Bracknell and Hampshire. I have myself made the case for better funding for some key areas. I was pleased with the large uplift in social care grant awarded for the current year. There was an increase of 73%. I had made the case for some time, without any help in the form of supporting facts and figures from the Council. The Council like others gets large sums for schools from the National Funding formula, and we have recently been awarded extra capital for two new SEN schools where extra places are needed. The Schools grant has recently gone up to £107 million. Wokingham qualified for an extra £1.1m of Funding Guarantee Grant this year. Lib Dem councillors never seem to mention any of this money.
Meanwhile the Council seems to find plenty of money for traffic mismanagement schemes and more vehicle surveillance and is still wanting to extend its investment portfolio into an expensive renewable energy project where there is little prospect of connecting to the grid this decade to sell the power.
Managing a Council well is about listening to what most people want and choosing the right priorities for the money you do have. It also works better if the Council works alongside the MP and they make a joint case for additional funds or for a particular project where government financing is involved. Which of these simple ideas will the Wokingham leadership adopt first? It would be good if they gave it a try.
