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WOKINGHAM Conservatives have released their manifesto, and are promising continuity should they be running the council after the local elections.
Their pitch to voters ahead of the May 5 is based on eight priorities.
The first is finances. The Conservatives warn that where councils fail to manage money properly they can go bust.
“We recognise it is not our money, it is yours,” the manifesto states, saying that over the past 20 years the council has been “financially prudent” and not had to cut back on services.
It aims to deliver balanced budgets, make no cuts to services, deliver value for money and make the council less dependent on tax for income. It will do this through investments.
Conservative leader, Cllr John Halsall, said: “We’ve had three turbulent years with covid, and there’s been a very steady hand on the tiller. We’ve navigated through it carefully and successfully, we’ve minded our finances very carefully.
“We’re now facing similar pressures going forward and we will navigate through those as well.
“We have an experienced team, a very good team. It’s really no time to experiment with novices.”
During covid, the council was instrumental in setting up the One Front Door initiative which helped bring together community groups and charities to support the vulnerable. The Conservative manifesto aims to do more of the same.
The measures have been previously announced, with pledges to issue grants to residents and businesses who are struggling and need help. This includes maintaining the council tax reduction scheme, and building on its anti-poverty strategy.
The party also pledges to freeze car parking charges to encourage people to shop local.
On the economy, the party wants to encourage investment from businesses that will create jobs.
It also says that there should be investment in infrastructure and regeneration of towns and villages.
The manifesto notes that these will be to ensure “ensuring that there are the best roads, public transport, parks, green spaces and sites for offices and shops”.
These will be paid for partly through contributions from developers, who will be made to pay their “fair share” towards these projects.
And the party wants to ensure housing goes to the right place.
The manifesto notes: “Over the past couple of years, we have successfully fought off attempts to impose housing targets on Wokingham Borough which would have doubled the number of homes that developers would build in our area.
“Our borough has delivered more than its fair share of development. However, we also recognise that in some areas there is a need to build more affordable and social homes to help younger people get on the housing ladder and help less affluent people to stay here.
“At the same time, we must ensure that homes are built in the right places with the right infrastructure.”
The Conservatives pledge to invest £57 million to modernise and build social and affordable housing, specifically to help younger people so they are not priced out of the borough.
The party also promises to build 300 social homes a year.
It will continue to challenge the government over the housing numbers imposed on them so it can be reduced further. At the same time, it aims to fight speculative developments.
“Social homes, the homes that we are delivering, will be wholly owned by housing trust,” Cllr Halsall said. “The biggest the biggest short-term deliverer (for the numbers) will be Gorse Ride, it will deliver a huge number of social houses.”
He added: “I’m committed, by hook or by crook, to delivering an increased number of council homes. The reason is self-evident: if house prices are maintained in Wokingham borough, there will be a sector of society that will not be able to afford houses. We need to provide them.”
He promised that the council would be pushing developers to deliver more one- and two-bedroom homes, rather than executive homes.
On education, a Conservative-run administration would pledge to build new schools in the right places. This includes new special educational need schools, investments in secondary schools and older primaries.
It will also increase spending on adult social care to £61 million, with a focus on individual need.
The decision to bring the public protection partnership services back in house at the start of April forms part of the Conservatives plans for keeping Wokingham as a safe and healthy place to live.
Its manifesto pledges to “deliver low crime rates and reduce anti-social behaviour”, as well as investing in more greenways, cycleways and leisure centres.
The party also aims to improve air quality and reduce noxious emissions.
As part of this the Conservatives will continue work on a smart traffic system which it hopes will ease traffic congestion.
And the party pledges work to tackle utility companies digging up roads close to existing road closures.
The environment forms the final policy in the manifesto.
The Conservatives are pledging to maintain the weekly waste collections, fight fly-tipping, plant 250,000 trees and continue work to create four solar farms to provide green energy.
Summing up, Cllr Halsall said: “The reason we’re here as a local council is for our residents.
“The central mission is to make them safer, more secure and happier. Everything we do must be for that.
“I’m really privileged to find myself in this position as leader, and it’s been an honour to have been appointed. Hopefully I’ve laid a platform for that central mission which will endure after me, and that if the good residents of Wokingham consider that I’ve done a good job, then it will be an honour to continue to do it.”
He added: “We have some very good candidates and I’m looking forward to working with them.”
