By Cllr Paul Fishwick
Wokingham Borough Council, like many councils across the country, is struggling against a background of some the worst economic pressures that have been experienced in the last 40 years and there is no end in sight with the situation appearing to be getting worse.
Wokingham is not alone; this situation is extremely difficult for many councils.
The Labour-run council in Slough and the Conservative-run council in Thurrock are both in special measures because of their financial situation and others may follow.
All our services are under severe pressure due to significantly rising costs, and we are therefore looking very hard at everything we do to see if we can make any savings this year and in future years and where we can raise more revenue.
We need to do this to ensure we have enough money to protect the most vulnerable in our community.
The previous administration set the budget for the current financial year 2022/23 and to balance the budget used £2.2m of funding taken from the reserves.
Income from our car parks, including the Park and Rides is forecast to be somewhere between £600,000 and £800,000 lower than the budget set by the previous Conservative administration and this has added to the forecast £2.2m estimated deficit this year, that we are trying to cover.
Taking funding from the reserves, like the previous administration did, is not an option open to us as the reserves are now low and we cannot allow this authority to be placed in the hands of central government like Slough and Thurrock as the consequences would be devastating.
The Council also cannot just raise its Council Tax to cover the deficit as we are capped at raising it by 1.99% per year, which doesn’t even start to cover the significantly increasing costs, including inflation.
What has exacerbated the higher increase is that there hasn’t been an increase in car parking charges in Wokingham for nearly five years. Had there been then the increase would not have been such a shock.
Unfortunately, the previous administration failed to deal with it, and we are now picking up the consequences of their lack of action – not just on car parking but on the green bags, the buses, and even Special Educational Needs.
Conservative-controlled Bracknell Forest Borough Council increase their charges on an annual basis and have planned to do so again.
Their leader Cllr Bettison also took aim at the previous Conservative run Wokingham Council, explaining that due to the administration trying to keep costs down, the new Liberal Democrat administration, “being responsible”, is having to double their charges.
They are not the only ones. I am aware of several authorities locally that are reviewing their car parking charges as a means of partly overcoming rampant inflation and reducing government grants in order to protect vital services. If the previous administration had increased car parking charges in small steps, then we would not be faced with the difficult situation that we are faced with today.
The income collected for off-street parking is essential for covering the cost of the service and therefore helping to fund the maintenance of the Council’s roads and footways to ensure they are of high quality and safe for all users.
Residents expect their roads and footways to be surfaced and maintained to a high standard, but we can only do this if we have the funding available.
We are all in an emergency financial situation and urgent action and decisions are necessary to recover income. The Council cannot operate with a deficit in its budget.
However, residents and businesses will be consulted on the proposed car parking charges through a draft Traffic Regulation Order where they can feedback their views. Without these proposed increases the Borough Council will be losing around £45,000 per month and we cannot afford to keep them where they are with the unprecedented financial pressures that this council is now under.
Cllr Paul Fishwick, is the executive member for active travel, transport and highways, and ward member for Winnersh
