We live in a worrying world. It can be very easy, when you see the seemingly unending catalogue of bad news stories, to feel bewildered or even despairing.
We could all do with some good news, so I thought it might help if I listed just a few of the borough council’s recent successes.
Travelling by bus has become easier, with more frequent services and extended hours for disabled pass-holders and their carers to allow them to travel at peak times, and so go to work, adding to their independence and their income.
While other councils have been closing many of their libraries, we have opened a new one and extended the hours of opening in others.
A record 98% of children applying for secondary school places have been offered one of their choices – a tribute to the successful negotiations between the council and the academy trusts that run the schools.
We have begun to plant a Covid Memorial Wood, which will add to the number of trees in the borough, helping our climate emergency response, and provide a place of quiet contemplation for those who lost a loved one during the pandemic.
Our new Local Plan, now at the planning inspectorate for examination, identifies over a hundred new green spaces, with a level of protection the same as the green belt in the open countryside, as well as larger areas of landscape value, where development will be limited; the Local Plan also proposes bold new energy efficiency standards for new homes, and more much-needed Affordable Housing to help those priced out of the housing market.
The council has worked with its voluntary sector and business partners and the wider public to form a Community Vision, which sets out ambitions for the borough for the next ten years and will shape the council’s priorities.
We have formed a strategic partnership with the University of Reading, which is giving us access to the latest research on matters such as climate emergency and ways of helping the local economy thrive.
Working in partnership with the other Berkshire unitary councils, we have established a Berkshire Prosperity Board, which is advised by a Business Board, composed of local business representatives.
We have embraced the Marmot Principles of public health – which encourage a whole-council approach to reducing health inequalities and improving the health and wellbeing of people in the borough by emphasising the importance of prevention and early intervention.
Users of our services have been given a bigger say through Social Care Futures, which helps us to target spending on those areas that residents receiving social care see as the most important for their lives.
The council has received external validation for innovative projects to deliver more temporary accommodation (to avoid use of costly emergency accommodation for the homeless) and more specialist housing for disabled members of our community.
Impower, a consultancy specializing in measuring the performance of councils, has recently rated Wokingham as the fifth best in the country (out of more than 150 comparable councils) in terms of efficiency, measured by outcomes achieved per pound spent.
There is much more that I could mention, but I hope this list gives a flavour of what has been achieved by a council committed to making the borough an even better place to live and work.
Cllr Stephen Conway is the leader of Wokingham Borough Council
