Cllr Pauline Jorgensen: I want to take this opportunity to explain how we would do things differently if the Conservatives were in control of the Council.
First, we would listen to residents. Far too many petitions and consultations have been, not only ignored, but undermined by the Liberal Democrat leadership, such as the petition of 1779 residents against the move to fortnightly waste collection, which was described as “spurious” by one Executive Member.
The other significant difference would be that we would not cut frontline services.
To help make these things possible, we would have made different choices in how spending is allocated. The Liberal Democrats have poured money into paying for expensive high-end consultants, unnecessary increases in back-office spending, and communications. Had we been setting the budget in February, the Conservatives would have redirected spending towards delivering on residents’ real priorities.
On top of the savings we proposed at the Budget Council meeting we would look to review duplication in Council departments to make the services more efficient, increase the digitisation of the Council, and reduce the practise of employing expensive consultants. This is where residents want the Council to make cuts, not to services like litter bins.
An independent report last week from the Institute for Fiscal Studies showed that, taking into account all sources of funding including council tax and grants, last year Wokingham Borough had more money to spend per head than our neighbours Slough, Reading, Bracknell, and Windsor and Maidenhead. Yet the current administration is failing to provide the most basic of services residents expect by proposing cuts to litter bins and grass cutting.
Since the Liberal Democrats took over, car parking charges have doubled and Council Tax has gone up – all while the Council delivers less value for you. Under a Conservative administration, parking charges would only rise once the local economy has recovered, and all fees and charges would increase by no more than the rate of inflation. We know how much the new increase in charging hours during evenings and Sundays are hurting local businesses. As a result, we would scrap charges for evenings and Sundays.
If you drive in the Borough, or cycle, you will have noticed that the pothole repairs budget has been cut in real-terms, with funding reduced to tackle congestion. Had we been setting the budget in February, the Conservatives would have increased spending on road repairs and invested to reduce congestion on our roads. A Conservative administration would deliver new cycling routes where residents want them, and would continue to provide funding for bus services.
Despite clear public opposition, the Liberal Democrats are pressing ahead with scrapping weekly bin collections from your homes. At the same time, they broke Council rules to scrap a number of public bins and reduce collection of others without consultation. Thanks to intervention by the Conservatives, they’ve now been forced to consult. But had we been in charge, weekly waste collection would be here to stay, and we wouldn’t have proposed scrapping public bins. We would also provide more blue bags to families with young children, as we recognise they have more waste to dispose of. We believe these are basic services residents pay a lot of tax for and expect to be provided.
The Liberal Democrats have delayed for more than a year on producing a Local Plan, opening the Borough up to a string of lost planning appeals. A Conservative-led Council would complete the Local Plan, providing protection against developers. Where the Liberal Democrats have made no progress, the Conservatives would build on our previous success of halving our housing targets, and continue campaigning to cut the number to a sustainable level.
After nearly sixteen months of Liberal Democrat leadership at the Council we now have a much more distinct sense of what this means for our Borough: higher charges, higher tax, and worse services for you. The Conservatives know that you want a Council that listens and would deliver in your interest. The choice is clear.
