We told you so
We mere mortals hate to say “we told you so”, but w ell, “we told you so”.
Many of the findings of the recent independent report on the redevelopment of Market Place had been forecast by residents and political opponents and ignored by Wokingham borough and town councils from the very outset.
Had their views been taken into consideration, then some of the cost and a good deal of the disruption could have been avoided.
As for the much-vaunted new Peach Place, that we were led to believe had numerous businesses clamouring enthusiastically to, in which to take spaces as part of an exciting and bustling “continental style” shoppers’ paradise, is in reality with construction work still in progress, just two retailers occupying the 16 units available, two more named (Cook and The Leafy Elephant) and now, following a series of change-of-mind dates on the part of the council, the remainder ambiguously forecast to be revealed “sometime” later this year, in spite of council-backed inducements’, standing empty behind no-so pretty pink window screening. It is something of a damp squib.
It really is about time, after lavishing an alleged £12 million on the project, that Wokingham Borough Council stopped prevaricating and came clean about just exactly whose these newcomers are and when they will be taking up residence. It is, after all, tax payers’ money.
Finally, if I may, be permitted to acknowledge and make brief response to Cllr Philip Houldsworth’s selective comments regarding my letter to The Wokingham Paper (January 24). No councillor, I do not “have a thing” about Wokingham Borough Council per se. I do, along with I am sure others, “have a thing” about arrogance, bullying, pomposity and gratuitous secrecy.
J W Blaney, Wokingham
EU wants to hold on to the cash we send them
May I respond to the letter from Sean Moriarty regarding the Backstop Blues?
I will ignore his comment about uninformed public and start on his comment that the UK is delaying the exit and the EU just wants us to go. Wrong.
The EU is trying to keep us in because they need all the billions we send to them to prop up their failing edifice, and they are helped by some MP’s who have not accepted the result of the Referendum.
With regard to the Irish border, the Irish Premier appears to be the intransigent one as the UK Government has made suggestion about soft border controls, including quoting the Swiss/EU electronic controls that appear to be working very well.
Eire would suffer more than the UK if a No Deal Brexit goes ahead and hard border controls have to be implemented.
The EU is the one that has made hard statements about no special agreements with the UK so would
be the one to initiate those hard controls.
He then goes on to talk about the Irish dissidents setting off a bomb in Northern Ireland. His comment carries a veiled threat to democratic Northern Ireland and the UK.
These threats are similar to those issued from the EU about punishing the UK if we try to leave. Later in his letter he is suggesting that terrorism will return if there is a hard border. So much for his ideas of Democracy.
In the 60’s and 70’s during the troubles, terrorists bombed Britain and Northern Ireland. These acts of terrorism were perpetrated by people, some of whom were given a safe haven in Southern Ireland. Things have changed in the intervening years and terrorism is treated differently in the world these days (e.g. Afghanistan and Pakistan).
Wokingham and Northern Ireland voted to remain in the EU, but the overall majority of voters wanted to leave. That was a democratic, not a coerced, vote. If it is overturned then can we expect a second local council vote in May this year if we don’t like the results of the first?
Can we expect protests for a second General Election if we don’t like the results of the first? I don’t think so.
We may not like some of the democratic decisions in this country but we live with them.
Theresa May and her negotiators have made a hash of the Brexit negotiations but the majority of voters want to leave the EU so that is what we should do, threats of terrorism notwithstanding.
When I voted in 2016 I knew that my pension would be at risk, that there would be some turbulent times and that it would be unsettling.
I also knew that it was easier to accept the status quo, and the punishment that the EU would
want to inflict on us, rather than to accept change, but the former would be an act of cowardice, a fear of the unknown.
Columbus and Drake didn’t know what was on the other side of the world when they set sail, but they went anyway. Don’t we today have the same courage?
Derek Harding, Wokingham
The Forum
Our Editor provides a Forum for readers – let’s call it ‘‘Forum Wokinghamus’. It works because he prints letters without prejudice, so different from the national Press with their bias.
We associate forums with the Roman era, but certainly when I lived in Italy in the ‘70s, many small towns in my experience still had forums – in the town centre piazzas after working hours, many locals met for a chat almost every day.
I especially remember Verona where I lived and Sassari in Sardinia, both having very large Piazzas, and large crowds that gathered every evening.
That introduction leads me to a ‘forum style’ subject – Sean Moriaty’s detailed and interesting letter in last week’s Wokingham Paper in answer to mine of the week before. Thank you Sean for that excellent letter.
May I just make a few observations in reply?
Firstly on the subject of Ireland as a whole, I have visited both Eire and Northern Ireland on business on more than one occasion, and have difficulty understanding the continuing separation of the two.
I am aware that religion may still present a problem.
I also feel, in keeping with many young people in this country, concerned at its treatment of other peoples e.g. in Elizabeth I’s reign. Our history is not a good one, until perhaps when Women got the Vote.
The Partitoning of Ireland was crudely political, coloured by religious hatred of The Catholic Church, and follows (I think I am correct) the terrible treatment by this country of the Irish that drove so many to America to escape. It is no wonder that the Irish still dislike us, but that being said, is it not possible given today’s society’s less rigid ‘hang-ups’ that Ireland can be reunited?
Secondly, that leads to the Border – I do not disagree with Sean but maybe an EU/UK border as required by the EU for monetary and power reasons, should be our national borders excluding Ireland.
Why cannot a Referendum be held for the peoples of Ireland to decide, especially if they want to stay in the EU?
On visiting Dublin and the south years ago, I found the people more friendly and helpful than I had experienced anywhere else in life – lovely people, and our country has
been blessed by many lovable characters who have stayed with us and provided the benefits of their relaxed culture.
Regarding Northern Ireland, apart from business contacts, I am unable to comment, but they seemed friendly – perhaps a ‘little up-tight’ like us?
Back to our Piazza!
Reg Clifton, Wokingham
Thank you Evendons
I just want to say a huge thank you to the voters of Evendons ward. I am over the moon and still in a state of shock.
Over these last few weeks it has been a pleasure meeting and talking to so many of you and I feel privileged to be able to represent you.
The messages of support and confidence from the community have been wonderful, and many residents have been out helping me and the Liberal Democrat team with the campaign.
This was an incredibly emotional election. Helen Power fought so hard for her seat last May, and in her short time as a councillor, has made a massive impact on the community.
I am so grateful to her for everything she has done.
I feel privileged to be her friend, and honoured that she asked me to carry on the work she started.
I got to spend some time on election night talking to Daniel and Tim, the Conservative and Labour candidates, and they are such lovely, genuine people.
They are both a breath of fresh air. It’s not easy sticking your head above the parapet, especially in the age of social media, and I would like to thank them for a friendly campaign.
Now the work begins and my promise to you all is that I will do my best to represent you. I will never forget that you, the residents, have given me this opportunity, so a huge, heartfelt thank you.
Cllr Sarah Kerr, Liberal Democrat councillor for Evendons ward, Wokingham Borough Council
Local Plan questions
I have just returned my partly completed local plan update questionnaire.
Wokingham Borough Council (WBC) is asking it’s residents a set of misleading questions which can be interpreted in several ways hence my reluctance to complete all sections .
Given previous experiences I have no confidence that anything residents say will be taken into account .
In Shinfield parish alone the number of homes and sites allocated in the 2010 core plan for south of the M4 has been completely ignored and exceeded.
Meetings held out of the public view have resulted in Sites and further homes reaching well above those originally approved or needed .
Shinfield, Arborfield, Spencers Wood and Three Mile Cross are sinking under the weight of concrete being laid.
There are no fields in Shinfield and Arborfield that are not under threat, there’s no wood left in Spencers Wood and Three Mile Cross is faced with daily traffic queues.
Will WBC sometime in the future launch a further consultation of how to deal with the water issues which are already presenting themselves or on sewerage and pollution issues which will effect public health, placing even more stress on our already over stretched GP practices and hospital.
Perhaps a consultation on renaming our villages would be a start .
Shin and Arbor with Out fields
Spencers – no- Wood
Three – Mile – Queues
Given how they seem to waste the public purse on less than meaningful consultation WBC will probably jump at the chance.
I fear a mass exodus of long term residents of these villages in the near future, even those new to the area are beginning to realise they have been miss sold the country scene by developers.
We recently experienced homes for sale signage on a field awaiting planning approval, that’s how confident developers are of our councillors listening to them rather than its residents .
Well WBC it’s time to put your residents ahead of Landowners an d Developers and act in the communities best interests .
Before the mounting anger amongst residents results in a vote of no confidence in WBC and its planning procedures is bought to the council ,after all it’s us who fund your actions .
Resident and supporter of S.O.S. Shinfield
On biodiversity
The CLA (Country Land and Business Association) has submitted its response to proposals within a Government consultation to make biodiversity net gain mandatory within the planning system.
This would mean that developments would be required to produce a net increase in biodiversity, either by mitigating any harm caused, or compensating for it by creating additional wildlife habitats either on or off the development site.
The CLA has long been supportive of biodiversity off-setting because it encourages new markets for the delivery of net environmental gains, which landowners are often best placed to deliver.
If the Government’s net gain policy is well-designed and implemented, through the planning system, it could provide many benefits by contributing to its ambitions to reverse the loss of biodiversity.
It could also help to stimulate public support for environmentally friendly development of housing and will provide much needed certainty for developers.
However, there is still a lot of detail and complexity to work out to ensure the policy delivers for all involved – landowners, developers, the environment and the public. It will be important for local authorities to have the capacity and capability to cope with the process.
Our response to the consultation makes it clear there should be an exemption for small development sites of 20 houses or less, especially in rural areas, to avoid suppressing much-needed rural housing.
For more information about the CLA and its work, visit www.cla.org.uk/your-area/south-east/regional-news and follow @CLASouthEast on Twitter.
Tim Bamford, Regional surveyor, CLA South East
Understanding care
I read, with interest, the letter – Positively Dangerous (February 7).
This belief – that major services are only safe – if under statutory control – is very widely held, and I think it likely that more people agree with Paul Farmer, than with me. Nevertheless, facts disprove it!
Looking back, over decades of failure, Maria Colwell, Jasmine Beckford,Tyra Henry, Victoria Climbie, and Baby P., were not safe with statutory social services – nor were Dr Harold Shipman’s patients safe – with the, highly regulated, medical profession.
But the myth persists. I recall that, 30 years ago, when our members voted, unanimously, to ban all mental health professionals from our Association, and then set up our self-help crisis house, a social worker from the local, statutory, mental health service, came to see us.
He said, ‘It is stupid to think that you can run a crisis house with no professional support, at all. Crisis intervention is a very highly skilled branch of social work!’
This belief in professional ‘magic’ is widespread. The worried relative of a mentally ill person, will say, with relief, ‘She has an appointment to see a social worker!’ But, frequently, all it amounts to, is precisely that, seeing a social worker! We are never told what it is, that a non-medically trained professional can do, in a mental health crisis, that a sensible, experienced, volunteer cannot – because the answer is ‘nothing’, and all that even a medically trained professional can do – is prescribe medication!
Some people who have worked in the local voluntary services, agree with my views.
Bob Wyatt, for instance, a person of vast experience, who gave decades of, excellent, voluntary welfare service, to Wokingham, has expressed sympathy for them.
Of course, we, as a voluntary organisation, have safeguarding policies in place, and aim to be as protective as we can. But where you have human beings, nothing is ever one hundred percent safe, and there is no ‘magic’ in mental health.
I have known mentally ill people to sit around for decades – waiting for the statutory mental health services to sort out their lives for them, and it never happens!
Medication, counselling, befriending, and support, may help you along the hard, and stony, path, but the only person who is going to sort out your life for you, is yourself!
It is good to have Paul Farmer’s support for the crisis house. A number of Reading people are now using our services, and, while we love having them, we are also supporting them in their own, current, initiative – to set up a voluntary mental health centre, in Reading, itself.
On another subject, wasn’t it good to see Alan Turing pip them all at the post – as the most iconic figure of the Twentieth Century?
Having saved millions of lives, he was reviled, and rejected, because of his homosexuality, and died as a mentally disordered suicide.
One of our members expressed the view, that, had Alan Turing been royalty, or, at least, upper class, he would have avoided arrest. So again, ‘It’s not what you know; it’s who you know!’
But millions of people owed their lives to what Alan Turing knew, and, at last, he has received our recognition, and gratitude!
Pam Jenkinson – The Wokingham Crisis House
Petitions
Having dealt very badly with two petitions on housing numbers to date along with the Lollipop Ladies and Clive Chafer’s petition on highways all ending up in the long grass.
The biggest one set to come from the Northern Parishes the ruling Conservative Party at Wokingham Borough Council, which has a huge distaste and distrust for its residents came to a conclusion that the present system was not democratic.
They have now come up with a cunning plan (Blackadder beware) to allow the petitioner to submit the first motion on completion of the debate. Wonderful to see democracy actually working or is it?
The cunning plan insists that the motion is submitted to the council 10 days in advance of the Council discussing the petition which makes it impossible for the petitioners to listen to the debate and then form a motion based on the outcome of the debate.
It follows that the ruling Conservative Group has 10 days to get their ducks in a row. The long grass beckons.
Having made that sacrifice to their idea of democracy they came up with a cunning plan number 2.
That is to allow the motion to be amended. The motion to amend with a seconder will be debated only by the proposer and seconder of the amendment along with petitioner.
No one else will be allowed to speak. They will just vote.
No doubt the Conservative Mayor will ensure an establishment only motion is taken as his track record has shown to date that Conservative Party Loyalty comes first before residents.
There was an example of this type of amendment at work at a previous Council meeting where Cllr Keith Baker amended a Lib Dem motion asking for public access to Wokingham Town Centre expenditure.
His amendment meant it would be a drip feed of the requested financial cost information.
Sheeplands’ legal fees was another request for costs information that went the same way. The Conservatives love secrecy it seems.
New Conservative Leader but the same old executive. You could not make it up. Roll on next May.
Cllr Gary Cowan. Independent Borough Councillor for Arborfield
Stand up Tom
The Labour party is rife with anti-Semitism and, to top it all, bullying Jews MPs and British Jewish people.
Most of it comes from the leader and front bench, though Tom Watson says and acts that he did not want it in the party.
He should know that if he stands up to these anti-Semites he will be deselected too.
Victor Rones, Bracknell
