THE NEW leaders of Wokingham’s Liberal Democrats have said they have an experienced team, who would be good for residents if they voted them to run the council.
Last week, Cllr Clive Jones became the group’s leader and Cllr Steven Conway was made its deputy after Cllr Lindsay Ferris stepped down. He had led the group for five years, seeing the number of councillors grow from five to 18. In next May’s local elections, there is a possibility that the party could gain control of the council if residents elect more councillors.
Cllr Jones paid tribute to his predecessor: “He completely transformed the way the Liberal Democrats work. We now have a very strong and united group. Trying to fill his shoes is going to be a big task. I’m excited and pleased to be given the opportunity.
“There was a huge majority in the group voting for Steven and myself, so we’ve got the confidence of them.
“I think we would do an extremely good job running the council – we have a lot of every experienced people, who have gained their experience from their working lives. It would be good for the residents if we had the opportunity to run Wokingham.”
One of the maxims of Cllr Jones’ opposite number – Conservative and council leader Cllr John Halsall – is that the council only exists to serve residents. It’s something that Cllr Jones agrees with, but feels isn’t followed through by the Conservatives.
“He’s telling residents that he and his group know best, and if you ask any difficult questions you’re just being awkward,” Cllr Jones said. “He is the sort of person who doesn’t want any scrutiny, who doesn’t want to be held to account and he doesn’t want open, democratic debate.”
As an example, Cllr Jones said that the Lib Dems would seek to find ways of increasing the number of council meetings and extending their running time to include debating motions. “(The Conservatives) are more interested in finishing the meeting as soon as possible and then popping over to the pub,” he argues. “We would put motions above pints to ensure we were able to get to the majority of motions at every council meeting.”
He also cited the financial picture of the council, something that the Conservatives take exception to as they feel the Lib Dems are misrepresenting the figures.
“We take seriously our responsibility to ensure the finances of the council are handled in a proper way, we’re very committed to good, sound financial management,” Cllr Jones said. “That’s evident from my wanting proper scrutiny of some of the big spending decisions that Conservatives seem to make in a very cavalier way.
“We really do want transparency. We should have been able to look at the budget for the solar farm, which started off at £5 million. When it came to full council, there was absolutely no explanation as to why it’s gone up four times. When we try to ask questions we just get shouted that we’re being difficult.
“The Conservatives just don’t want to be held to account; they don’t want to be transparent.”
Cllr Conway said he felt “very privileged” to be deputy leader and the Cllr Jones was “an excellent person to be leader”.
“My role will be to support him. He knows the council very well, he knows council officers very well and he has got vast experience running his own business,” he added.
There is a stereotypical Lib Dem – all beards and sandals – but Cllr Jones feels that this was out of date by the 1980s, let alone the 2020s. “It’s not something that is recognisable in the Liberal Democrats,” he said.
“We are an extremely credible alternative (to the Conservatives). We’ve got a lot of experience: experienced councillors who have been around a long time.”
