Suggestions that a Wokingham community and educational project is a “waste of taxpayers’ money” have been vehemently denied.
Wokingham’s Labour group has suggested that the £500,000 being spent on the Forest of Imagination project at Dinton Pastures should have been spent bolstering the educational side of the park.
Over four days this month, Wokingham Borough Council will welcome a team from Bath Spa University and the House of Imagination for the event at Dinton Pastures in Hurst.
It includes educational and artistic activities based around nature and the climate emergency.
The first two days are for pupils from the borough’s schools, while the final two days are open to the wider community.
The Labour group on Wokingham Borough Council has several concerns about the project, not least over the cost to stage it.
In a statement, a spokesperson said: “While the £516,817 funding has come from the government’s UK Prosperity Fund, the group feels this money could have been used to enhance and develop the existing educational areas of Dinton Pastures.
“To add to the insult, the Forest of Imagination organisers are appealing for companies to sponsor the work for £5,000.”
The group noted that a study by Bath Spa University showed that in 2024, the Forest of Imagination’s project worked with just nine schools and 262 pupils, meaning the project reached just 2% of primary school aged children in the greater Bath area.
“While the sessions have laudable aims such as thinking about biodiversity, the climate emergency and deforestation, these are topics already being taught in schools and in homes.
Councillor Marie-Louise Weighill, from the Labour group on Wokingham Borough council, added: “Many schools already have outdoor learning areas or are close to parks where similar activities can be set up as part of the normal curriculum,
“Dinton Pastures already has its own environmental educational activities programme developed by people who know the park the best – the rangers who work there.
“It is disappointing that Wokingham Borough Council has chosen to shun them in favour of expensive environmental consultants from another county.
“The money would be better spent improving these offerings so they can benefit families and schools all year round, not just for a four-day jamboree at taxpayers’ expense.
“The event is meant to be a celebration of nature, imagination and the arts, and all of this can be provided by the people who live and work in the borough.
“Half a million pounds would go a long way to supporting Wokingham.”
In a robust response, Cllr Mark Ashwell, executive member for the arts, sport and business development, told Wokingham Today: “I believe Labour should be celebrating our borough’s investment of £500,000 which was prised from the previous Conservative government, to reach the more vulnerable in our community.
“I think our Labour councillors have had a charisma bypass.
“We have navigated a way to put people before politics by winning an award from the UK Prosperity Fund.
“We thought outside the box to team up with the Bath Spa University to create Wokingham borough’s Forest of Imagination 2025
“This is substantial funding for an arts and culture project that targets the harder to reach in our community
“This work, which has happened over the course of more than two years, leads up to a four-day celebration later this month by creating a legacy that will endure for years to come
“This will also showcase our wonderful Wokingham borough to a national audience.”
Following on from two days of exclusive school access, the free-to-attend Forest of Imagination event will be open to the general public at Dinton Pastures in Hurst on May 24 and 25.
