By Cllr Norman Jorgensen
In recent years, Wokingham Borough has been repeatedly voted among the best places to live in the country.
Good schools, access to green spaces, and thriving local high streets, it’s not difficult to see why.
Over the last 12 months the average house price in Wokingham was £665,000. People are clearly prepared to pay more to live here.
But you also pay more in Council Tax than neighbouring areas including Windsor and Maidenhead, Bracknell, and West Berkshire.
Despite the fact that in Wokingham you pay more, Liberal Democrat councillors have complained that they can’t charge more.
Unfortunately, under the Liberal Democrats, supported by Labour, you pay more money in, but get less out of the Council.
Since the party took power in 2022, services have been scaled back that have a real impact on you and your household.
Having doubled car parking charges, implementing fortnightly waste collections, and scrapped free caddy liners last year, the Liberal Democrats budgeted no increase for road maintenance which means real terms cut as a result of inflation.
Any driver or cyclist will tell you that our roads are in a terrible state of repair this year. Yet instead of getting on with the job and fixing them we have seen chaotic mismanagement like the resurfacing of Finchampstead Road where the Council’s highways contractor applied the new surface treatment to the road before potholes and cracks were fixed.
Now the road will need to be closed again for the potholes to be fixed and the treatment re-applied – clearly a waste of money and symptomatic of the Liberal Democrat’s mismanagement.
They continue to progress plans to move to fortnightly bin collections for general waste and non-food recycling despite a petition and consultation where residents indicated they wanted to retain weekly collections.
Public litter bins, road cleaning, along with grass cutting and weeding are among the most basic services residents can expect from their Council. They keep our area clean, tidy and, importantly, safe.
When Councils cut back on this, it creates a mess that costs an awful lot more to clear up. It is a false economy.
We only have to look at Brighton, where the Green Party stopped weed killing and cut back on grass cutting. The result? Overgrown and dangerous paths that a new administration is now having to tackle.
Brighton’s Environment Committee Chair has explained that they have had to put in place a new weed management policy “with a view to deploying resources much more effectively… to ensure our streets, pavements and environment are safe and accessible for residents and to limit damage to highway infrastructure…”
You, the taxpayer, are the customer. You pay, and you deserve to have a say where it’s spent. The Liberal Democrats in Wokingham Borough seem to have forgotten that.
When local people have answered consultations saying that they want the Council to have fewer costly elections – in line with most other local authorities – and keep weekly bin collection, they are ignored.
The Liberal Democrats, and their Labour apologists, believe they know best how to spend the taxes you pay.
Councillors should listen to residents and respond to their wants and needs.
The Liberal Democrats stopped listening as soon as they got their foot in the door.
If a Conservative administration is in place after next year’s local elections, we will make it our top priority to focus the Council’s spending on what really matters to local people.
In the meantime, we urge the Liberal Democrats to get a grip, listen to you, and make sure that money is going towards important services.
Cllr Norman Jorgensen is the Wokingham Conservative member for Maiden Erlegh on Wokingham Borough Council
