Back in February, the Liberal Democrat/Labour administration running Wokingham Borough Council rounded out its year in power by planning to do less fixing of our roads.
They justified this by falsely claiming that they were spending just as much as the Conservatives.
The Conservatives increased the road repair budget for the last three years we were in office, from about £2m to £6m per annum.
The Lib Dem/Labour budget for 2023/24, on the other hand, is proposing what amounts to a real-terms cut in money for road repairs compared to rising costs due to inflation. This is the same administration that has deliberately reduced the spending on fixing potholes in the year since they took control of the Council, as they admitted in their own Revenue Monitoring Report in January.
And yet despite the Conservatives increasing spending on road maintenance year-on-year and the Lib Dem/Labour Coalition cutting spending in real terms, Cllr Paul Fishwick claimed in his recent column that it was the previous Conservative administrations who had underinvested in Highways.
Curious.
He then claimed in full council that the roads were improving as the number of potholes reported has reduced, he just needs to get out more.
People tell us they have given up reporting potholes because nothing happens!
He also claimed that Central Government has underinvested in roads despite a council press release being issued five days after his column welcoming the “financial boost” of £589,200 from none other than Central Government.
So, which is it, Paul?
The Liberal Democrats and Labour aren’t even performing better on the actual repair work carried out. The previous Conservative administration repaired almost 700 more potholes in the six months from May to December 2021 than the Lib Dems did under their administration from May to December 2022.
If this wasn’t bad enough, the Liberal Democrat/Labour administration is also planning to cut funding to reduce congestion. They wrongly believe that just by building cycleways and walking routes – building on projects already started by the Conservatives – people will just stop using their cars, removing the need to do something about traffic on our roads.
All this comes at a time when the administration is clobbering vehicle owners by doubling car parking charges and introducing evening and Sunday charges.
Either the Liberal Democrats and Labour don’t understand that there are thousands of households in the Borough that need to use their cars – or else their policies are driven by an anti-car ideology. It’s for them to explain to residents which it is.
So, while Cllr Paul Fishwick flips hither and thither, tying himself in knots, I’ll set out the Conservatives’ plan.
When we set out our alternative Budget in February, we demonstrated how we would spend an extra £1 million on a Road, Pavement, and Pothole Fund.
We would fund this from the £2 million of savings we would make from the Lib Dem/Labour budget. We can do this by reducing proposed increased spending on back-office staff, removing expensive interim posts, and cutting a massive £341,000 extra spending from the Council’s PR machine. These are all areas where residents want to see the Council make savings, not spend more.
The Liberal Democrats and their Labour allies come out with the same old story: it’s always someone else’s fault, never theirs. They get more money from the Government and they hike parking charges, but cut spending on roads while funnelling money into propaganda and pet projects which still have no business case, like weekly waste.
You deserve better.
If the Conservatives are in control again after the local elections, we’ll take responsibility, we’ll put your priorities front and centre, and ensure that our roads get the investment they need.
Cllr Pauline Jorgensen is the leader of Wokingham Conservatives on Wokingham Borough Council and ward member for Hillside. Her seat is not up for election this May.
