WOKINGHAM BOROUGH COUNCIL needs to change its culture over the coming year – that was the warning from opposition leader, Cllr Lindsay Ferris.
He made the comments during his speech made at the annual council meeting held at Shute End on Thursday, May 20.
“It is only now that we can start to look to the future and what we can expect from this Council. We on the Liberal Democrat side believe there is much to do,” the Lib Dem leader said.
“One area we would have liked to have addressed is the culture that still unfortunately exists in a number of areas within the Council.
“There are disappointingly still areas where there is a view taken that ‘they (the Council) can do no wrong’ and how some of our residents have been treated leaves me speechless.
“Throughout this year we will be pressing to change this viewpoint.”
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Cllr Ferris also spoke of the impact that coronavirus had had.
“This last year has been the most difficult many of us have ever encountered in our lives,” he said.
“I would not only like to remember our fellow citizens who have sadly lost their lives to Covid-19, but to those who have been impacted by and remain so by the pandemic.
“In addition, many local people have had delayed or cancelled hospital appointments and have tragically passed away or are still struggling with their illness.
“They are the unseen casualties of this pandemic.”
He took time to praise council officers for their work on the frontline, and to the council giving support to many local businesses through grants.
“Hopefully, we are nearing the end of this Pandemic, but we still have to be cautious, despite so many having had their vaccines,” he said.
