With the resignation of Angela Rayner as Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary, we find ourselves with a new minister in charge of housing, communities and local government. This presents a golden opportunity for Steve Reed, the new Secretary of State, to correct the mistakes of his predecessor and implement some positive changes. Here are some of the things local Conservatives believe the Housing Secretary should do differently.
For starters, Mr Reed should abandon Labour’s plans to allow cities like London to build less but force leafy areas like our Borough to build much, much more. Angela Rayner was proposing to almost double housing targets for Wokingham, to an undeliverable level, at the same time as reducing targets for London and other major cities – coincidentally areas that have Labour mayors, councils and MPs and that have not delivered on their previous commitments.
When the Conservatives ran Wokingham Borough Council, we worked with the then-Conservative Government to halve our housing targets to a sustainable level. Labour’s proposals would undo all that good work.
The new Housing Secretary should ensure that housing targets truly take account of local context and need.
Similarly, he should scrap Rayner’s proposals to drastically reduce the powers of councillors to scrutinise and make decisions on planning applications. Not only are Planning Committees made up of elected representatives, but they know their area far better than any government minister or Whitehall mandarin.
Conservatives would also like to see the Housing Secretary urgently address his predecessor’s plans for local government finance. Wokingham Borough Council has already had its funding from Central Government cut by £1million this year, and Labour’s current plans would see our Council losing even more, as well as most of the rates collected from local businesses. All this money will be taken by the Government, and spent in other areas of the country. With current estimates that the Council could be nearly £50million worse off over the next three years, this means that Council Tax and fees and charges will go up – not to improve services, but simply to plug gaps in Government funding.
We would like Mr Reed and his ministers to look again at the funding formula for councils. There must be greater recognition that our Borough, like other areas, has to provide services, and demand for schools, roads and Adult social care is not directly linked to affluence.
I would also propose the Secretary of State immediately halt plans for forced reorganisation of local government, including an extra layer of unnecessary bureaucracy in the shape of a regional mayor. Angela Rayner’s policies will see Wokingham Borough forced to join with many other areas, swallowed up by a monster council that is remote from local residents. We’re not opposed to areas combining to create larger authorities if that’s what they want. But don’t force it on Wokingham Borough where we previously successfully fought to abolish Berkshire County Council because it was expensive, remote and an unnecessary extra layer of government
Your local Conservatives will be reaching out to the new Housing Secretary to urge a fresh start for his department. The theme that unites many of our requests is this: it’s time the Government recognises the importance of ‘local’ in local government.
By Cllr Pauline Jorgensen, leader of Wokingham Conservatives
