Your local Conservative councillors are committed to listening to what you, our residents want, and delivering on this.
As Wokingham Borough’s current Opposition party, a vital part of what we do is to challenge the Liberal Democrat administration where they are unable or unwilling to hear what you think is right for your area. Two recent examples have demonstrated the Conservatives stepping in to represent local communities.
Back in March, I led a debate at a Council meeting on introducing a pedestrian crossing outside Crosfields School in Shinfield. When I’d first raised the issue of the danger to parents and children trying to cross a busy road to reach the school, the response from the Liberal Democrat Executive Member for Highways was “accidents do happen”. Nonetheless, my Conservative colleagues and I tried to persuade the Liberal Democrats, and the Labour councillors who they depend on to stay in power, that a crossing was urgently needed.
We produced many testaments from residents about just unsafe the road was.
The Liberal Democrats wouldn’t listen. Instead, they made it so that a crossing would only happen when it met ‘technical assessment criteria’. Liberal Democrat and Labour councillors portrayed anyone supporting a crossing as trying to make decisions based on ‘emotional’ reasons.
It turns out the Conservatives were right to press the issue raised by residents. The very next day after the Liberal Democrats said it wasn’t a priority, officers went to the road to reassess the level of safety. The Council has now written to local campaigners to admit that the nearby school means that a crossing is necessary. And officers acknowledged “representation regarding this issue prompted us to conduct further surveys during February and March” which led to the change of view.
Conservatives listening to residents and representing their views has also yielded another recent success. Last year, I was one of the Conservative councillors raising concerns about the proposal for St Crispin’s School to take over the nearby leisure centre. For many residents, including older people, the centre has been the only location close enough for sport and leisure activities. It was also used by The Ark Trust, a charity which held a weekly social event for people with learning disabilities and autism.
Presented with a poorly written report and Liberal Democrat Executive Members who couldn’t answer basic questions, Conservative councillors raised concerns voiced by residents that they would lose access to the leisure centre once it was run by the school. Lead councillors were sent away to rewrite the report and bring it back.
Through questioning and exploring what the school wanted and needed, we were able to extract a guarantee that residents would continue to have access to the leisure facilities once the school it over. Next week, the facility will reopen run by the school’s Academy Trust, but with local people still able to use sporting and other facilities at select times.
These are just two examples of what Conservative councillors in Wokingham Borough can deliver for you. Listening to you, and representing your concerns and needs, is at the heart of what we are in politics for.
We want a Council that delivers you priorities and offers taxpayers value for money. Our constructive opposition led to these results. But we will continue to work hard to make the case for how we can deliver even more effectively as the next administration for Wokingham Borough Council.
By Pauline Jorgensen
