MICHAEL GOVE has told the new leader of Wokingham Borough Council that he will pay a visit to discuss housing numbers.
Cllr Clive Jones spoke with him on Tuesday at the Local Government Association meeting in Harrogate, and the minister for levelling up committed to the meeting at an unspecified date.
It came after he addressed the conference, in a wide-ranging speech looking at the potential future for local government, introducing a two-year financial settlement for the grant sent to councils, and how working together has helped reduce rough sleeping.
“No-one has a monopoly on all the necessary solutions or tools to achieve this,” Mr Gove told the conference.
“We need to work together.
“That is why I want to see local government – whatever the political colour of its leadership – empowered and strengthened.”
Cllr Jones was pleased that Mr Gove has committed to coming to Wokingham.
“The first thing I did when I became leader of the council was to write to him to ask him to come and talk to us,” he explained.
“As soon as I had the opportunity to see him face-to-face, I asked him. I’m very pleased he is going to come, as he has a very busy schedule.”
The meeting at the LGA conference was agreed to after Mr Gove’s speech.
“I bumped into him, and we sat down,” he said. “I said I was from Wokingham and Mr Gove knew I had taken over from John Halsall.
“I asked him to meet with us, and he said yes, we will meet up. I then asked if he would come to Wokingham or if we should meet him in London, and he said he would come to us.
“There is a lot to about about on the subject of housing numbers.”
This includes explaining the borough’s need for one-, two-, and three-bedroom homes, plus bungalows, rather than four- or five-bedroom homes which Cllr Jones says developers favour.
Cllr Jones said that Mr Gove was then ‘whisked away’ but reiterated his commitment to visiting.
“Yes, yes, I’m coming to Wokingham,” Cllr Jones said Mr Gove told him, adding he would get his office to confirm the meeting.
“I looking forward to seeing him. He is going to find time to come to Wokingham and I’m very grateful. It’s something other parties have not been able to do.”
Cllr Jones was also appreciative of news that the settlement grant, sent from central government to local authorities to help run services, would return to a multi-year set-up from next year, and there would also be a simplification of the various grant funding pots that councils can apply for.
Mr Gove told the meeting: “We hope that this will allow you to plan ahead with a greater degree of confidence and really focus on the delivery of great public services that represent value for money.”
“The government has been talking about this for the last four or five years and not doing it. Instead we’ve been getting one year at a time,” Cllr Jones said. “Next year will be a two-year settlement.
“They will also streamline funding for pots of money to make it simpler. It’s something that everyone agrees with.”
