THE DEPUTY leader of Wokingham’s Liberal Democrats has demanded an apology from the leader of the council over allegations made in Wokingham.Today.

Cllr Clive Jones is calling for Cllr John Halsall to publicly apologise for blaming the Liberal Democrats for what he says is a non-existent delay in approving a solution for wet recycling.

In the front page article of our August 13 edition, Cllr Halsall said the Lib Dems’ decision to call-in the executive’s vote to fund recycling sacks would delay the purchase of the sacks and cost the council £15,000 to £20,000 a week, leading to extra costs of around £100,000 or more.

Cllr Jones, the Liberal Democrat environment spokesperson, led the call-in, questioning whether the executive committee had followed council procedures correctly.

He told Wokingham.Today: “At the call-in we proved that the decision to finally approve the change of systems was put off by the Conservatives after the Lib Dems highlighted that funding had been approved without a business case.

“The final decision would therefore be taken at the executive on Thursday, September 24.

“Approval of spending above £50,000 must have a full business case and the lack of a business case at the Thursday, July 30, executive meeting means that the delay which Cllr Halsall says will cost the council £15,000 to £20,000 a week was entirely due to the Conservatives’ incompetence.

“They should have ensured that the report going to the executive on September 24 was ready for the July 30 meeting.

“If it had been there would have been no delay in implementing the Conservatives’ scheme.

“Blaming Lib Dems for the delay is quite ridiculous and Cllr Halsall should apologise to residents and to the Lib Dems.

“Conservative councillors who gave evidence to the call-in confirmed that the sacks were never going to be purchased until after September 24, completely contradicting Cllr Halsall.”

He added: “I have written to Cllr Halsall asking for an apology and I expect to get one.

“Misleading residents in this way for the sake of petty political point scoring is not acceptable.”

Cllr Halsall replied to Cllr Jones’ open letter, saying that the council will probably not be able to procure the sacks ahead of the wet weather season.

He said: “The annual cost of doing nothing is estimated at £600,000 per annum; that cost is incurred during the wet months which are usually during the winter so £15,000-£20,000 per week.

“I expect that we shall incur much of this cost this year due to the delay unless we can short circuit the lead-time.”

Cllr Halsall added: “There are many concerns that I have with the call-in, which will be addressed in due course.

“However, I believe that in these straightened times the council must do everything in its power to reduce unnecessary expenditure.

“The penalty of collecting wet waste circa £600,000 per annum should have been facilitated by all parties.”

Cllr Halsall also accused Cllr Jones of political point scoring within his letter.

He added: “Now that the call-in has been confirmed and supported the executive decision, we shall do everything we can to ensure that the implementation is speedy and efficient.”

Cllr Clive Jones’ letter

Dear John, I am writing on behalf of the Wokingham Borough Council Liberal Democrat group of Councillors.

In the Wokingham Paper on 13th August you have claimed that the Liberal Democrat decision to Call-In the council’s Executive decision on 30th July to purchase plastic hessian sacks will cost the council £600,000. It’s the headline on the front page of the paper.

There are many numbers in the article and they don’t seem to me to add up. You claim that the cost per week is £15-£20,000. This suggests a 7 month delay?

You specifically say, “The Liberal Democrats’ Call-In means we won’t implement the solution between now and Christmas, the solution will launch in January so the delay is calculated to cost us short of £300,000.” Already your headline figure has been cut in half!

As you know at the Call-In, your Executive member for the Environment acknowledged that the plastic sacks would not be purchased until after the business case for this project had been agreed at the Executive meeting on the 24th September.

This confirms that the Call-In is not responsible for the delay of the project and the extra costs to the council, probably of the region of £100,000.

The delay is down to your group not ensuring that a business case for this project was available for the Executive on 30th July.

The misinformation that has been spread in the newspaper article is not acceptable and we believe that you owe our residents in the Borough an apology for misleading them. Firstly for exaggerating the cost of the delay and secondly for suggesting this delay was caused by the Lib Dem Call-In. An apology is also due to our group.

I mentioned this to you on Saturday so that you might have some time to reflect on this before you received my letter requesting an apology. I hope that you will do the right thing and apologise to both our residents and to the Lib Dem group.

Best wishes, Clive Jones, Deputy leader of the Wokingham Liberal Democrats

Cllr John Halsall’s letter

Dear Clive, Thank you for your kind letter of 31st August 2020.

I have reviewed the article in the Wokingham Paper, which is consistent with the high level of journalism I expect of it. Nevertheless, I am not able to influence the content and I suggest that you need to review your context.

We are still in the midst of a pandemic, the difficulties of recovery, budgetary issues, the need for the Council’s business to operate as usual and a severe threat of our housing numbers more than doubling? I have asked all members to use officer time and council resources sparingly, please observe this in the interests of all our residents.

You are aware that a call-in suspends a decision until that decision is ratified.

As the lead-time for the purchase of the waterproof recycling bags is long, we shall probably not now be able to procure them in time to avoid the wet season this winter.

The annual cost of doing nothing is estimated at £600,000 pa; that cost is incurred during the wet months which are usually during the winter so £15,000 – £20,000 per week. I expect that we shall incur much of this cost this year due to the delay unless we can short circuit the lead-time.

There are many concerns that I have with the call-in, which will be addressed in due course.

However, I believe that in these straightened times the council must do everything in its power to reduce unnecessary expenditure.

The penalty of collecting wet waste circa £600,000pa should have been facilitated by all parties.

Your letter is disappointing in that it continues to address the political points that you wish to score rather than the substance.

Now that the call-in has been confirmed and supported the executive decision, we shall do everything we can to ensure that the implementation is speedy and efficient; I look forward to your support in doing this,

Kind regards, John Halsall, Leader of the council