Last week I visited the Council’s Covid Memorial Wood at California Country Park in Finchampstead.
I was joined by the Borough Mayor Cllr Adrian Mather and the Leader of the Council, Cllr Stephen Conway.
I was delighted to see this come to fruition, having originally proposed the idea whilst I was the Liberal Democrat Environment spokesperson and Deputy Leader of the Opposition on Wokingham Borough Council towards the end of the Covid Pandemic.
When I became the first Lib Dem Leader of the Council for 20 years in May 2022, I was able to ensure land was earmarked for the Covid Memorial Wood and I spoke with the Woodland Trust to get funding for the tree planting. I thank my successor Cllr Stephen Conway, who now leads the Council, for making sure that the Memorial Wood has been delivered.
I was delighted that Bridgette from the Woodland Trust was able to join us on our visit to the new wood. I want to thank all the volunteers that helped to plant the 6,794 new trees during the last few weeks, the best time of the year for planting trees.
In years to come this will be a wonderful, tranquil place for local residents to enjoy and a place where the difficult days of the covid pandemic can be remembered, particularly those who were tragically lost in those very difficult circumstances of a few years ago.
The land where the wood has been planted had been destined to be a housing estate by the Conservatives and I am pleased that our new Liberal Democrat administration was able to preserve it for the Covid Memorial Wood.
British Steel and the Emergency Sitting of Parliament
There was a rare Saturday sitting of MPs and the Lords on the 12th April when we were recalled to Parliament to consider emergency legislation to take control of British Steel. It was the first Saturday sitting of Parliament since the Afghanistan crisis in 2021.
It had become clear that the relationship between the government and the owners of British Steel, Jingye, had broken down and there was a danger that the blast furnaces would be shut down.
Jingye clearly had no intention to keep the blast furnaces working and, once allowed to cool down there would be no possibility of restarting them. Our capability of producing virgin steel in the UK would be gone and we would be dependent on importing steel, most likely Chinese in origin. This would pose many issues for our national security, especially in these difficult times with conflict and increasing uncertainty in so many parts of the world.
The Steel Industry (special measures) Bill cleared both houses in several hours and, as front bench trade spokeperson, I was one of many Lib Dem speakers in the debate.
In my speech I spoke about the 2,700 people working at the steel works and some 35,000 families whose livelihood relied in some way or another on the plant continuing to operate. Closure would affect workers at the plant, in the local supply chain and customers or businesses in the local community including shops, pubs, restaurants and small businesses.
I also asked the government to confirm that British Steel had not been asset stripped by Jingye prior to the company being taken over and that pension funds and other assets had not been moved to other companies or offshore. I am waiting for the reply from the government.
The whole house seemed to be in favour of saving British Steel, with both the Reform Party and the Conservatives u-turning on their previous positions.
I hope that this urgent legislation passed at this Saturday will help to provide a secure future for British Steel and the critical UK industries which depend on it.
Contact me if you need any help
The staff in my office and I continue to help many Wokingham constituency residents to overcome issues and problems. If you need our help, please contact me by email.
Clive Jones is Liberal Democrat MP for Wokingham
