By Cllr Stephen Conway
Elections are about choices.
Above all, they are about you, as an elector, choosing who you want to represent you and your community. In these local elections, you will be deciding who you want to be your local councillor and who you want to run the borough council.
But if the most important choice is yours, political parties have choices, too. They can choose to fight elections on a negative or a positive platform. They can choose to play on people’s worries and fears, or they can appeal to people’s positive instincts – their compassion, their kindness and their community spirit.
We have chosen to fight a positive election campaign, making clear what we have achieved over the last year as a minority administration at Wokingham, and setting out the direction of travel that we would like, with your support, to follow.
That positive campaign reflects the way we have tried to run the council over this last year.
We have shared with you the challenges the council faces in a time of double-digit inflation, rising demand for services, shortfalls in anticipated income, high interest rates, and very limited core funding from the government. Despite these considerable challenges, which have driven many councils to the brink of bankruptcy, we have eliminated the in-year budget deficit we inherited and have set a sound, forward-looking and compassionate budget for 2023-4.
About 70% of our spending has to be devoted to statutory responsibilities – adult social care and children’s services. The remaining money we have has to cover everything else. We have sought to focus our limited discretionary spending power on helping those who most need help in these difficult times. The cost-of-living crisis is affecting many families here in Wokingham borough, and we have been doing all we can to offer support.
We have been fortunate to work with many impressive people in our community who devote their time to helping others. Working with our partners in the Hardship Alliance of local charities and voluntary sector organisations has increased our reach. By working together, we have been able to pool money, person-power, resources and information to maximise our ability to help.
We have also embarked on a new and more constructive relationship with the borough’s town and parish councils. The knowledge and expertise of the towns and parishes has not been sufficiently recognised by the borough council in the past, but we are now trying to establish a new partnership of equals. The aim is again to maximise the good we can do for the communities that make up the borough by more joined-up work.
I could give you many examples of where we have made a difference to those who need support – such as our successful bid for funding for two new Special Educational Needs schools, which will transform the lives of many families in the borough; or saving eighteen bus services from the threat of closure; or coming in with a rent increase for residents in council-owned housing below the government cap; or providing money to enable children who receive free school meals in term time to be supported in the school holidays.
I could also give you instances of where we have sought to help the community more generally – such as our successful negotiations with schools that have meant that 96% of children will receive a place at one of their preferred schools in September (a record); or the designation of part of the Rook’s Nest Farm site for a Covid Memorial Wood, which will provide a place of quiet contemplation for families of the victims of the pandemic as well as help the council meet its climate emergency goals and save a much-loved green space from the threat of housing development.
But the way most people will judge us – and our opponents – is by values, not specific policies.
So let me tell you what motivates us. We believe in doing all we can to create conditions in which every member of our community – regardless of their background – can achieve their full potential and lead happy and fulfilled lives. That will not only benefit every individual; it will also benefit the community as a whole, as it will make our society more creative, more productive, more enriched, and more prosperous.
This is the vision that inspires us. If it inspires you, too, I hope you will support us in carrying on our work to make Wokingham borough a better place to live and work.
Cllr Stephen Conway is the deputy leader of Wokingham Liberal Democrats and their candidate in Twyford
