This week children across the Borough will be returning to school in shiny shoes and pressed uniforms with a new academic year ahead. A fresh start.
Children at Emmbrook School in Wokingham should be returning to a new purpose-built building that was scheduled to be opened this September.
This is just one in a string of examples of how the Liberal Democrat leadership of Wokingham Borough lets down residents time and again.
In 2022, the Council asked the school to take extra pupils and agreed to fund a new Sixth Form building by September 2025 to make this possible. The school upheld its end of the deal; the Council has not. Students are being taught in temporary classrooms, with no confirmed timeline for new facilities – damaging both education and public trust.
Wokingham Borough Council recently announced enabling works to preserve planning permission and a delayed timeline aiming for completion in September 2027 – two years late. With housebuilding set to increase across the Borough, school infrastructure must keep pace.
Earlier this year 2,287 residents signed a petition urging Wokingham Borough Council to honour its promise to Emmbrook School.
At July’s Full Council meeting, my colleague Cllr Charles Margetts proposed a motion calling for immediate funding, but the Liberal Democrat administration used its majority to water it down. During the debate, they cited a “letter of intent” as proof of commitment – but this letter hasn’t been shared with councillors or parents.
During the meeting, Liberal Democrats made nonsense accusations of “politicking” – their go-to attack when faced with legitimate criticism – with scant regard for the real concerns of parents and the wider school community. The Liberal Democrats don’t like to be told they are doing something wrong.
This mirrors past broken promises from the Lib Dems, including delays to Bohunt School’s Sixth Form, where the new building is over two years late. This is despite a commitment in 2022 to expansion from the Liberal Democrat Executive Member for Schools and Children’s Services who said three times that she was committed to the expansion of Bohunt School
It’s not just in education the Liberal Democrats are letting you down. They scrapped weekly waste collection despite a petition of nearly 2,000 signatures to keep it. They more than doubled car parking charges despite 4,000 residents opposing the increase, and refused to back down when Conservative councillors demanded a rethink.
Liberal Democrats have also reneged on their promises to residents to protect the Borough from development, including Hall Farm. We all remember their then-leader, now MP, being photographed – placard in hand – opposing this development. Conservative councillors have represented the residents opposed to the Liberal Democrats’ broken Local Plan that was unsustainable for transport and our countryside, including almost 4,000 new homes at Hall Farm.
These things show the Liberal Democrats’ blatant disregard for the promises they make and the wishes of residents. And it demonstrates a party that prides itself on its supposed compassion has no concern for the parents and pupils it keeps letting down.
We make no apology for representing the concerns of residents. Leadership is measured not by words, but by action – and by keeping promises made to our community. That’s what you will get with a Conservative administration.
By Cllr Pauline Jorgensen
