Councils and councillors are not universally loved. On social media, particularly, they come in for a lot of criticism.
While some of the attacks may be justified, many more are based on limited engagement with councils and councillors.
In the case of Wokingham Borough Council, the areas of responsibility familiar to most people are waste collection and road maintenance. Less apparent to the average resident is statutory provision of social care for vulnerable adults and children, which accounts for two-thirds of the council’s total expenditure. For members of our community that receive social care, this area of council spending makes a real difference to the quality of their lives.
Once social care costs are met, we have less than a third of our income left to cover all the other areas of council responsibility. Wokingham Borough Council, as a unitary authority, has a duty to provide the full range of council services, which are not limited to waste collection and highways, but also include planning (determining planning applications and formulating a local plan to meet central government’s housing targets), social housing, leisure facilities, country parks, libraries, licensing, environmental protection, and assisting the academy trusts that run most of our schools with capital contributions to enable them to expand their buildings to meet demand.
Councillors, for their part, act as representatives for their wards, helping residents with local problems and trying to ensure that the interests of their communities are taken properly into account. But they also have responsibilities for the whole borough and are required to make difficult decisions on behalf of current and future residents.
Councillors give up many hours of their time, often having to attend meetings in the daytime and then again in the evening, when most people can rest and relax. They receive very little financial reward; in most cases, their basic allowance, when divided between the hours they spend at meetings and helping their communities, equates to considerably less than the minimum wage.
These reflections on councils and councillors owe much to the death of three prominent councillors over the last few months. Paul Fishwick, my Lib Dem executive colleague and friend, died before Christmas. In the last weeks, we have lost two more councillors – Norman Jorgensen, a leading local Conservative, and Gary Cowan, who stood down in May 2024, after a long stint as councillor for Arborfield. Between them, they helped many hundreds – probably thousands – of residents across the borough.
Paul worked incredibly hard for his Winnersh constituents and as executive councillor responsible for Active Travel, Transport, and Highways. I greatly respected Norman and always listened to him carefully – he made many important contributions, both while his party controlled the council and lately as a member of the opposition. I knew Gary the longest, first as an opponent, then as an independent councillor and friend. He served on the executive in several roles but will mainly be remembered as a great champion of his ward.
Their lives of public service are a timely reminder of what a difference a good councillor can make.
Cllr Stephen Conway is the leader of Wokingham Borough Council
