By Cllr Andy Croy
Apart from some celebratory beer, the first things I purchased after I was elected in 2016 were some gardening gloves and a long-handled pruner.
These items, joined by a little tool and gardening box, still sit in the boot of my car, ready to spring into action at a moment’s notice.
Being a councillor in a marginal ward involves spending a lot of time knocking on doors.
As a consequence one develops what I call “councillor-eye” – this is the ability to see the streetscape through the eyes of local residents and to identify local issues which may be of concern only to residents of that street.
Often, doorstep conversations are about the hyperlocal things which people see every day rather than grand political issues and given the influence councillors actually have, that is probably just as well.
Not all residents are the same.
Some will not be happy with vegetation encroaching on a footpath obstructing pedestrians, others will be more concerned about potholes and the danger these pose to people on bikes.
Councillors are not allowed to tell officers what to do – that would lead to chaos – and beware any councillor who tells you otherwise.
Councillors have to use the same website for reporting issues as everyone else in the Borough. This imaginatively named page on the Wokingham Borough website provides a host of problem-reporting options and is well worth a visit: www.wokingham.gov.uk/report-problems
With the best will in the world, no one expects the council or more likely one of many private contractors, to react instantaneously.
So for some smaller issues it is quicker for councillors to take matters into our own hands and fix the issue ourselves – hence the mini-gardening kit that lives in my boot.
Of course, councillors are not the only people who take things into their own hands.
The Borough Council supports a number of local Adopt-a-Street schemes (both Earley Adopt a Street and Woodley Adopt a Street operate in my ward) and individual residents who want to do a little bit to keep their community looking tidy by doing some litter picking.
Often councillors will organise their own litter-picking sessions with residents – these are a familiar sight in Norreys ward for example – while in other areas we will be pitching in with local residents’ associations to help clean and maintain community assets such as open spaces and footpaths.
I have even known local Labour councillors grab a couple of party members and form an impromptu ‘action-squad’ to go and tackle an issue in their area.
The Community Speedwatch Groups in which councillors of all parties participate, are born of the same spirit – that there is a problem and something needs to be done to try and address it. Ideally, people would not behave in such a way as to cause a problem (via speeding or littering) and ideally the state, or local government should deal with the issue.
The chronic underfunding of local authorities, and the inability of our Conservative MPs to talk any sense into the Conservative governments of the last 12 years and restore some funding to Wokingham Borough, has made the council’s ability to react to local issues harder than ever.
The council’s work trying to ensure care for adults and children who need it must always be the spending priority.
On fundamental issues of poverty, senior council officers see their role as coordinating volunteers rather than the direct provision of services. It perhaps explains why, under Conservative rule at Shute End, some emergency poverty funding available to residents has been poorly administered in such a way that seemed to guarantee low uptake.
From uncleared pathways to hunger, these issues are linked.
One can moan, one can try to make change locally and one can try to get rid of these economy-crashing-austerity-inflicting Conservatives.
I do all three.
What about you?
Cllr Andy Croy is Labour ward member for Bulmershe and Whitegates on Wokingham Borough Council
