FRIDAY, DECEMBER 14 is an historic night for Wokingham borough – and its council.
It is expected that councillors, at an extraordinary meeting, will approve a new chief executive and a new leader of the council.
It will be a new chapter in our lives and a new opportunity.
Cllr Julian Sumner-McGhee has had positions of responsibility within the council for a while, and Susan Parsonage has a wealth of experience, including driving regeneration projects.
Whatever has gone on within the local Conservatives group in the past 18 months or so, now is an opportunity for a fresh start.
The whispers coming from their Rose Street HQ are of fresh new faces poised to stand in May, while there will be a new Executive team and new policies.
But the task facing Cllr Sumner-McGhee will be challenging and difficult.
He will need to have the wisdom of Solomon as he seeks to bring unity across a fractured group, heed former leader Cllr Haitham Taylor’s warning of being an old boys club in the days of a Me Too era, and present an engaging vision to residents.
It is a big task. But it starts with being willing to communicate, enter into dialogue and not shy away from difficult conversations.
The regeneration of Wokingham town has been a difficult moment for the borough, not least for the regions that have seen little or no investment.
Now is the time to show the way forward – and to shout about the future that awaits us.
Good luck Julian, you’ll need it.
