In the last few weeks there has been much about the new Labour Government’s first hundred days in office. Having been elected in July, despite their promises of change, not much has happened – and what has been delivered has not been good.
So far, their main achievements seem to be scrapping the winter fuel allowance and doubling the number of homes that will need to be built in Wokingham Borough.
Nationally, there is a need for new housing, something all the major political parties agreed on at the General Election. However, our Borough has built its fair share of houses over years, and while ours is doubling, strangely Labour have decided London should build fewer.
Labour have said that they want to see house prices become more affordable. Clearly by that logic, London, the most expensive place in the country to buy a house, should be building more. Yet, at the same time rents are going up as landlords exit the private rental market put off by the threat of tax rises ahead of the budget and a promised increase in red tape.
Under the Liberal Democrats the Council’s housing companies, created by the previous Conservative administration to provide much needed council housing, have been allowed to drift, not delivering their full potential.
So far building more homes has not prevented house prices from continuing to rise in Wokingham Borough and across the country, even during the recent period of high interest rates.
When the Conservatives ran the Council, we worked with the then-Conservative Government to introduce a more sensible and sustainable target for new homes for the Borough.
That’s why at Full Council this week my Conservative colleague Cllr Charles Margetts has put forward a motion calling on the Council to launch a campaign to reduce housing numbers. We also want to see the Council to write to the Government setting out the case for why Wokingham Borough’s housing target should be lower.
What must be baffling for residents is that the Council’s Liberal Democrat administration isn’t doing these things already. Time and again, it’s been left to the Conservative Opposition to press for action when none is forthcoming from the party in power.
It’s not just in the area of housing development where we’re seeing a lack of urgency on the part of the Liberal Democrats. At this week’s Council meeting, I have a motion calling on the administration to raise awareness locally on financial support available to pensioners impacted by scrapping the winter fuel payments for most older people. I’m also asking the Council Leader to write to the Chancellor ahead of the Budget, urging her review the decision on these payments, which will affect 28,075 in Wokingham Borough.
The Liberal Democrats running the Council should be offering leadership. Instead, all we get is dither.
Where the Liberal Democrats choose not to act, your local Conservatives will. These housing numbers will affect the future of our Borough. The Liberal Democrats need to act now and they need to do more than respond to statuary consultations.
When it comes to winter fuel payments, we will continue pressing local MPs, including the Labour MP for Woodley and Earley, to go back to the Government and tell them to think again.
Someone needs to stand up for Wokingham Borough, and your local Conservatives will do just that.
Pauline Jorgensen is the leader of Wokingham Borough Council
