Cllr Clive Jones
Since the Liberal Democrats took over the administration of Wokingham Borough Council in May we have uncovered some very difficult financial issues.
One of these has been the charges for car parks within the borough.
Unlike other councils around us, such as Reading and Bracknell, there haven’t been any increases in Wokingham for nearly five years.
This has been poor management of car park revenue by the Conservatives.
It is widely known that they considered increases in car parking charges roughly at the same level we are proposing, this time last year.
They shied away from this difficult decision because they feared the political consequences.
In these very uncertain economic times, the Lib Dems cannot, and will not, do this.
If there had been small increases in charges in each of the last five years an increase this year would not have been necessary.
The decision not to keep our charges in line with other towns in the county was a mistake by the Conservatives.
They also had other problems with their budgeting of car park charges. It is estimated that the revenue income shortfall will be nearly £800,000 this year. This money has to be found from somewhere.
On top of this, we have had to deal with bus services that were not budgeted for properly. So far, this has cost us in excess of £450,000.
There is an overspend on the Winnersh Park and Ride extension of £1.3m that was ignored by the Conservatives for more than six months and now has to be dealt with.
We do not like having to increase car park charges in the borough, but the worsening condition of council’s finances dictate that we have to.
Inflation was 5% in January when the budget was set, it’s now 10% and is forecast by many to be 18% next year. We cannot ignore these massive increases in inflation.
Residents will know that costs everywhere are going up, and they are going up for the council as well.
We have to act responsibly to ensure the councils’ budgets are properly balanced and we will take the difficult decisions to do this.
Cllr Clive Jones is the leader of Wokingham Borough Council and Lib Dem member for Hawkedon ward
