THE Conservatives are wary of scrutiny of its new budget, according to Wokingham’s Liberal Democrat leader.
Councillor Prue Bray, who represents Winnersh on the borough council, has hit out at the timing of the release of the new budget, saying that her party only got to see it at the same time as the public and was only aware of the £2.1m transitional grant after reading about it in The Wokingham Paper.
She added that given that as the papers are being released so close to next week’s Council meeting it gives opposition councillors little time to explore the issues raised by the documents.
Cllr Bray said: “We received notification of the budget papers at the same time of the public, and have not had any information from the council about any additional transitional funding, although we have become aware of it through reading about it in the media.
“We had already organised a briefing from officers for Thursday morning so that we can raise any questions we have.
“In organising their press briefing so soon after the publication of the budget papers, the Conservative administration are clearly eager to feed the press their line on the budget and wary of allowing the opposition time to scrutinise the detail.”
And the Liberal Democrats have also expressed concern at the rise in council tax rates – from April Band D will be £1,295.31, a 94p/week increase and a 1.94% rise.
“This high increase is what we would have predicted, given the very large cuts to local government funding announced by the national Conservative government,” Cllr Bray said. “Wokingham’s Conservatives campaigned hard to get a Conservative-only government, and so this outcome is of their own creation.
“The Liberal Democrats have every sympathy for Wokingham Borough taxpayers, who are being asked to pay more for the same, or fewer, services. The contrast with the council tax freezes offered by the Coalition government, of which the Liberal Democrats were part, could hardly be more stark.”
And the party is promising to explore the budget fully ahead of the council meeting on Thursday next week.
“We will respond in detail to the budget at the full council meeting on February 18,” Cllr Bray added.
