By Cllr Stephen Conway
For many people, local elections are an opportunity to deliver a verdict on national government.
Unsurprisingly, many disillusioned Conservatives are moving over to the Liberal Democrats, as are voters of other parties.
But local elections are also about who runs your borough council, which has important duties to perform, such as providing social care for the frail elderly, adults with learning difficulties, and disabled children, and negotiating with academy trusts to secure access to suitable schools for the young people of the borough.
In short, local councils and who run them matter.
I want to take this opportunity to put the case for your supporting the Liberal Democrats to continue to lead the council as it negotiates the many challenges that lie ahead.
We have shown over the last two years that we have approached the task of running the council in a consensual way, trying the build agreement across party divides.
Of course, it takes two to tango, and unfortunately, the Conservative opposition has preferred at every opportunity to attack and undermine rather than engage constructively. Sometimes, in a completely opportunistic way, they have even criticised measures that they themselves initiated when they controlled the council in the 20 years before May 2022.
Our willingness to work with others has extended beyond the council itself.
We have sought to create constructive partnerships with the voluntary and charitable sector, businesses, other councils, the NHS, the police and emergency services, educators (including the University of Reading), faith groups, and the Youth Council.
All of these groups have contributed to our work on the ‘Community Vision’, which will set the priorities for the council and its other authors in the years to come.
This is a truly bottom-up and collaborative approach to setting priorities, which differs markedly from the ‘council-knows-best’ approach of the past.
Consensual and collaborative though we are, we are not afraid to take tough decisions in the interests of the long-term financial viability of the council and the long-term interests of the public we are here to serve. While others have pretended that those tough decisions are unnecessary, and have shied away from them, we have always faced up to our responsibilities.
We have weathered the storm of high inflation, high-interest rates, and increasing demand for services. The challenge remains very great, as Wokingham receives so little core revenue support from central government.
But our council is in a better shape financially than many other councils, some of whom have effectively become bankrupt. We have kept our head above water only by making the tough decisions that we have made.
Running a council is a serious business that requires commitment, clarity of thinking, a willingness to take tough decisions, and a long-term perspective.
We have shown that we can provide all of these necessary attributes over the last two years, and, with your help, we will continue to provide them in the years ahead.
Cllr Stephen Conway is the leader of Wokingham Borough Council and standing for re-election for the Liberal Democrats in Twyford
