Given the very challenging financial position of the borough council – we are in the first of three years of reductions in central government support for our services, which will amount to a whopping £43.3 million cumulative cut by 2028-29 – much has been achieved over the last four years that the current administration has been in place.
Let me remind you of some of the successes over that period and some of the things we are expecting to deliver soon.
– We have extended the hours of operation of bus passes for the disabled and their carers to help those disabled residents take up employment opportunities
– We have improved bus services in the north and the south of the borough.
– We are investing an extra £5.5 million in the borough’s roads.
– We have been working with GWR and other interested parties to increase car-parking capacity, bus connections, and easier cycle and pedestrian access to Twyford station.
– We are building new sixth-form buildings at Emmbrook and Bohunt schools and adding capacity at the Piggott school.
– A record number of our young people have received an offer from their preferred schools.
– We have added considerably to the number of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) places available in the borough, in both special schools and SEND units in mainstream schools.
– We are establishing a new post-sixteen SEND hub.
– Whereas other councils have reduced their library services, we have opened a new library and extended the opening hours of our main library in Wokingham.
– Wokingham Borough Council has secured more Homes England grants to deliver much-needed affordable homes than any other Berkshire council.
– We have increased specialist housing for young people leaving care and with disabilities.
– We have opened new children’s homes and new care homes for the elderly.
– We have submitted a new local plan for government inspectors’ examination, which has bold new approaches to protecting green spaces and areas of landscape value, cutting-edge policies on energy efficiency in new homes, and pushes the boundaries on affordable housing targets.
– We have given land for a Covid Memorial Wood to provide a place of quiet contemplation to those who lost a loved one in the Pandemic and to help meet our Climate Emergency ambitions.
– We are bringing new community hubs to Arborfield and Woodley, allowing residents easier access to services offered by the council and our voluntary and charitable sector partners.
– We have launched a successful Community Lottery to help local good causes raise money.
– In a bold exercise of community empowerment, we have supported residents to produce a Communities Vision 2035, setting out the broad strategic ambitions for the council and our borough for the next decade.
– We worked more collaboratively with business, the voluntary and charitable sector, other councils, and the University of Reading, giving us access to greater knowledge, data, and resources to help tackle some of the borough’s challenges.
– In recognition of our efforts to improve efficiency, the council has been rated in an independent assessment as the second best in England (out of 150) for outcomes achieved per pounds spent.
There is much more that we would like to do, resources permitting, but I hope this account of some of our successes reveals that the current administration has not given up on ambition, despite the highly unfavourable financial hand we have been dealt by central government.
By Cllr Stephen Conway, leader of Wokingham borough council
