What if we want to give our blue bags away?

Your news item ‘Top up your bin bags here’, while informative, makes no mention of the fact that some residents have a complementary issue – a surplus of blue bin bags.

I have several rolls leftover from previous years but it appears Wokingham Borough Council does not allow residents to freecycle them or even give them to neighbours.

By banning redistribution of bin bags WBC is only encouraging people to use them for waste that ought to be recycled, such as blue bin bags.

The council should provide an incentive to residents to dispose of their surplus bags responsibly by offering a cash payment for unused rolls which can be claimed at the locations where the extra bags can be bought.

I have been told that they can be exchanged for Green redeem vouchers but for many people these are of limited value and not worth the hassle of taking them to the centres.

A greener Wokingham will only be achievable by a more clear-sighted approach by the council to domestic waste management.

Malcolm Inglis, Wokingham

Bike power

I was pleased to see the extensive coverage in last week’s paper on facilities for walking and cycling in the Borough. It is rare that an opportunity like this comes along where a small shift in resources could benefit so many different aspects of our community.

More of us getting around on foot or by bike will reduce road congestion, improve mental and physical health and wellbeing, slow down climate change, improve air quality and encourage footfall with local businesses. All while saving money for those who do it.

To do this efficiently we need to understand where people need to travel and how best to enable them to do so, not just make changes on an opportunistic basis. Routes need to be direct, continuous and safe if we expect them to be used, and for people of all abilities. Motorised traffic, cyclists and pedestrians need to be properly segregated where the hazards dictate.

It is good that Wokingham Borough Council says it will develop a Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan (LCWIP) for the whole of the Borough in 2021. Writing the plan is just the start – we need in parallel to look at rebalancing investment towards implementing it. The much welcomed £6m which the Council has spent since 2014 equates to less than 2% of the roads and transport budget – £6 per resident per year – less than half that targeted elsewhere in the country.

Some might see this as a competition between motorists and non-motorists. It is not – most of us are or can be both. Every child who walks or rides to school, every worker or gym-goer leaving the car at home, makes space on the road for those who cannot. And lockdown has shown us how even a small reduction in traffic reduces peak time congestion.

If we do this, we all benefit.

Adrian Betteridge, via email

Thanks Wokingham.Today

I wanted to thank Wokingham.Today for its recent coverage of the need for more safe cycle routes.

Cycling and walking are not only a convenient way to make short journeys, they also offer significant benefits to the environment, by helping to reduce pollution and congestion and they are also a simple way to help people improve their health.

I am pleased to be working with both Reading and Wokingham Borough Councils and the Government to help improve the network of local routes and I look forward to working with individual residents and community groups.

I would like to thank a number of community and environmental groups for their interest in improving the range of safe routes for cyclists and pedestrians.

This initiative has real potential to help those who have to drive by reducing congestion.

To fill in my cycling survey, visit: mattroddamp.com/content/cycling-survey-1

Matt Rodda, MP for Reading East

Human rights

I have, for many years, thought the Human Rights Act was to protect us against dictatorship among other evils. I am frequently wrong, of course.

Why is it that churches are having to pressurise the government for consideration of their right to provide religious nourishment to the people?

The experiences of this year have manifested a considerable gulf between self-interested politicians and the public – examples being old people and the promised care system.

It has led me to question why we still have MPs – rather like local councillors who are out of control once elected – when a group of ‘gauleiters’, (still a valid description of political self-aggrandisement), has taken control of our society.

I think we need to note how the Chinese are inviting us to the beautiful area of Wuhan for a China holiday – what a thought, until one sees that they have not any cases of community virus transmission since May.

I can offer the reason they have “killed it” – just discipline the public.

Sadly, as confirmed when I was out walking on Saturday, among the persistent bunch of non-distancing transgressors, we stand no chance of clearing out the disease, subject perhaps to good results of vaccination/s when and if we get same.

I turn now to the issue of cycleways and the incredible waste of money they are, just like Smart Motorways – both killers in their own right.

May I comment first on the declared policy by, I believe, Grant Shapps – it is a good idea to get cars off the road, coupled with the intent to force the sale of electric cars onto the public.

The road system was always considered the main vital communication system in the country. As technology advances, we may have an integrated movement of vehicles that may be powered by radiation, microwave or whatever transpires.

That needs good roads.

Any idiot who wants cars off the road, should first look at how people will get around, the growth of the population and inadequate public transport – just imagine all the new estates around Wokingham, not designed for buses, but cars.

The award of cycleway monies to Councils is always welcome. As I learned a few years ago, Councils can allocate such free gifts to ‘anything’.

This week introduces a new pedestrian hazard – that of hoverboard scooters – the pair of wheels one stands between, and hopefully balances on the little platform.

What is important, is whether such devices are to use cycleways, and not pedestrian walkways.

Reg Clifton, Wokingham

Spending cash

Let’s say you are putting aside money every month, saving up to buy a new kitchen that will cost £8,000. So far, you have saved up £7,000 in your kitchen fund, and it is in an interest-earning account, even better.

You dream of that new kitchen in a few months’ time. Wow, it will be fab-u-lous.

You happen see a car that you like, it’s a great price, £6,000. You need £2,000 for a deposit and then you can purchase the car with a loan of £4,000 from the car finance company.

You think, “A-ha, I can just borrow the money for the deposit from my kitchen fund, I can have my cake and eat it too. I get the car now, and I can continue to put money aside for my kitchen.”

You buy the car, and you are happily driving around when a month later, all of a sudden, there is a serious water leak in your existing kitchen. Oh no!

Your insurance covers the basic repair, but you urgently need a new kitchen. Hmmm… you no longer have the kitchen fund that you need to replace the kitchen. You are very sad, looking at the soggy kitchen cupboards.

You cannot sell the car to replace the kitchen, because you need it to travel to work. You are going to have to save up again for the new kitchen.

Well, this is how the Wokingham Conservatives are managing Wokingham Borough Council’s Finances. They have taken out lots of borrowing. The council also has lots of assets, but they cannot sell them because they need them to run the council. Having assets does not mean that the council will have the money when they need it and still have to pay off their debts at some point.

The Conservatives say that internal borrowing is not really borrowing, because it is all the council’s money anyway. They say the loans from banks are fine because the council has assets worth more than the loans. Is this complacency justified? What are the effects of internal and external borrowing on the council’s finances?

What happens if you already have lots of borrowing and something unexpected happens?

Under the direction of the Conservatives, Wokingham Borough Council has borrowed from its kitchen fund, and it calls this ‘internal borrowing’. They are planning to have internal borrowings of £201 million, and external loans of £476 million in March 2023. That’s a total of almost £700 million borrowings in two-and-a- half year’s time. Using the internal borrowings for current projects costs £2 million in lost interest and the annual finance cost of the external loans this year is almost £8 million. They are big numbers.

This is fine so long as there is not an unexpected event. Your unexpected event was the water leak. The council’s unexpected event might be the financial hit from Covid-19.

If it loses income, how will it pay the interest on the loans from banks, how will it replenish its ‘kitchen fund’, and how will it repay the loans from the banks and elsewhere? These are the questions you need to ask your local Conservative councillor.

Cllr Imogen Shepherd-DuBey and Cllr Maria Gee, Shadow Lead and Shadow Deputy Lead for Finance, Wokingham Borough Council

Failure

How Wokingham Borough Council’s ruling Conservatives serves (fails) its residents has been a concern of mine for many years.

I raised this issue with the leader of the council last January who replied that he shared my views. To progress my concerns I took a motion to council and after three attempts, over a six-month period I eventually managed to get it discussed at a council meeting last week. Success at long last last?

The motion to council was as follows; The continued failure of council meetings to conclude the agenda business suggests that the existing democratic process has failed.

As a direct result of this Wokingham Borough’s Residents and their Borough Council elected Members have been let down very badly. To correct this serious democratic failure and get the Council back on track this Council must immediately programme in as many additional Council meetings as is required to get Council business up to date.

My third attempt was partly successful but before a full and proper debate could be completed the meeting was terminated which would also suggest the existing system is nor fit for purpose.

It is so obvious that the current way the council does business has failed. We can do better and our residents deserve better but it seems that serving our residents better is not a Conservative aim.

Simply put I was suggesting that we hold additional council meetings now with restricted agendas to deal with the backlog while at the same time instruct the Council to review its current procedures. Once that has been set up the work on how business in a modern council should be conducted can be looked at in detail

As there was insufficient normal time to fully debate my motion the Conservative Councillors insisted the meeting could not be extended.

They then voted to reject the motion while at the same time they tried to stop a recorded vote designed to identify who voted for/against by name. They failed.

Earlier that evening the same councillors also voted to prevent a record of Councillors attending committee meetings if they are not on that committee being kept. The outcome is residents will have no idea how active their elected councillors have been in representing them.

After 20 years of Conservative rule, perhaps the time has come to use the only thing they truly understand – where to put their X on the ballot paper next May. Anyone but a Conservative is something they will understand as nothing else seem to matter to them.

Cllr Gary Cowan, Independent Borough Councillor for Arborfield at Wokingham Borough Council

Council tax exemptions

Over the last year I have been calling on the Conservatives to make care leavers exempt from Council Tax until the age of 25.

In September’s Council meeting I was told this was not the time to be “messing around” with such a change. However, I am pleased to say the Executive have finally announced they will be making this change.

Young people leaving care face significant challenges, currently exacerbated by Covid-19. Since 2018 the Council has been legally obliged to support care leavers up to the age of 25.

Yet, in Wokingham, until now these same care leavers currently have had to pay Council Tax as soon as they turn 21, on top of learning how to manage a household, job, studies and other bills, and often without the support of family or other networks.

They can easily find themselves struggling to cope with their personal finances.

It is disappointing for these young people that this decision to exempt them fully from Council Tax was not made back in 2018 when the law changed, particularly as the cost of the exemption is not material for the Council, but could be life-changing for the individual.

Sadly, this announcement will be too late for many care leavers.

I have been calling for the Conservatives to make this change immediately – and not leave it until next year. With Covid-19 there are many young people struggling – and removing the worry about escalating council tax debt for all our care leavers is the least we can do.

Cllr Rachel Burgess, Labour member for Norreys on Wokingham Borough Council

Lights fantastic

How lovely it was to see the Christmas tree and lights in the town centre looking bright and sparkly.

Just what we need to cheer us up in these strange coronavirus lock down days.

Wendy McLean, Wokingham

Cancer care

Around 10,000 people are diagnosed with the pancreatic cancer every year in the UK and around 300 will be from the Thames Valley.

Tragically more than half of people with will die within the first three months of diagnosis. Pancreatic cancer hasn’t stopped because of Covid-19.

We know that during the first lockdown people were reluctant to go to their GP, that’s why during this year’s Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month we’re doing all we can to raise awareness of the symptoms and, urging anyone whose systems persist, to use the NHS.

There’s no time to wait.

If more of us know the symptoms – which include tummy and back pain, indigestion, itchy skin or yellow skin or eyes, unexplained weight loss and oily floating stools – it could lead to more people being diagnosed earlier.

Crucially, this could increase their chances of being eligible for life-saving surgery.

I urge your readers to find out more about the disease and if they are worried that they have the symptoms of pancreatic cancer they should speak to their GP as soon as possible.

We’d like to make sure people living with pancreatic cancer and their loved ones across the UK (NI/Wales) know that Pancreatic Cancer UK is here for them. Our free and confidential Support Line is run by Specialist Nurses, my colleagues and myself.

If you would like to speak to a Specialist Nurse you can call 0808 801 0707 on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday 10am- 4pm and Wednesday 10am – 6pm, or email [email protected]

Thank you.

Dianne Dobson, Pancreatic Cancer UK Specialist Nurse

Help raise £300,000 for 30,000 children this Christmas

Over 12,000 children are admitted to hospital every day in the UK and it has never been a scarier time for them. With unfamiliar wards, health professionals in additional PPE, only being able to have one parent with them, and no visits from their brothers or sisters during the pandemic, it can be very worrying and lonely.

That is why play and distraction services in hospitals are now more vital than ever. Having access to toys and entertainment, when recovering or waiting for treatment, or using play as a distraction for procedures can help to alleviate pain, aid recovery and bring joy back into children’s lives. At the children’s charity Starlight, thanks to our supporters, we provide hospitals with boxes, filled with toys, games and puzzles to be used on wards.

This year, Starlight’s fundraising income has fallen due to many cancelled events, which is why we have started our Time to Play campaign. Our goal is to raise £300,000 before the end of the year to help 30,000 children get access to play in hospital and limit the negative effects of illness on their childhood.

It’s easy to support and our website has fun ideas of how to take part, including our Stream for Starlight fundraiser for computer gamers. Or if you are able to, please considering making a simple one-off donation. However big or small, it will help Starlight to continue to be there to support children and their families this Christmas.

I’m hoping your readers will join together and help support Starlight, to bring back joy into the lives of the 98,000 seriously ill children living in the UK’s lives this Christmas.

Please visit www.starlight.org.uk/time to help us.

Thank you.

Cathy Gilman, CEO of Starlight Children’s Foundation, Hammersmith

The British Heart Foundation needs your support

The UK’s leading heart charity, the British Heart Foundation (BHF) needs the support of the local community now more than ever.

Following the Government’s announcement of a second lockdown, we were forced to close our shops in the South East until Thursday 3rd December. We expect the current shop closures across England to cost us millions of pounds. This adds to the already devastating impact of the coronavirus on the charity’s income. Our funding for new research is expected to be halved by £50 million next year, which could limit future funding and delay important scientific breakthroughs that could help save lives.

Our charity shops run purely on the support of the public, which is why we are urging the local community to support us, either by shopping online or donating smaller items via post.

Our eBay store remains open for those looking for quality, unique preloved items and our online shop is the ideal place to find Christmas cards, accessories and festive gifts. You can also support the BHF by donating smaller, quality items to us by post – as part of essential shopping trips – such as branded clothing, jewellery, vinyl records and cameras.

Each year, heart and circulatory diseases kill around 20,700 people in the South East and currently 960,000 people in the region are living with them. The support of the local community – whether it’s donating unwanted quality items or buying a festive gift for a loved one – will help us continue to fund research that saves and improves lives in the South East.

For more details on how you can support the BHF please visit www.bhf.org.uk/shop

Louise Harbour, Regional Director for the South at the British Heart Foundation

What do you think? Send your letters to [email protected]

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