Minutes:
A resident of Hawkedon ward has asked me why the Council has paid for a party political letter to be posted to residents. They were, of course, referring to the letter which was sent out by you, with your home address and your home phone number, indicating where the letter had come from, not the Borough Council. Was the letter and its design approved by the Council’s Local Plans Team? I assume that they were not involved in the drafting of a political letter. Were the Council’s Communications team involved in the creation of the letter? Again, I assume not because of the political nature of the letter, but I would like confirmation of this.
The letter also refers to the Liberal Democrats supporting a target of 800 new homes in the Borough each year locally. You know this is untrue. Liberal Democrats have consistently, for five years, talked about an absolute maximum of 600 new homes each year in the Borough.
Will you apologise for these errors and will you confirm that the costs of this party political letter are being borne by the Conservative Party and not by the Council Taxpayers of Wokingham.
Answer
No. The letter was drafted by the Local Plan Update team in conjunction with the Communications team and it is and was to ensure that we got a good response to the Local Plan Update consultation. At the time that we wrote it, the consultation was quite thin and now, I am pleased to say, the consultation is quite adequate, so it will pass muster at the Inspection in Public.
It is quite interesting how you are able to extract stuff which is not there. The Liberal Democrat manifesto, and I believe that you Lib Dems are part of a national party, or have you disassociated yourselves from that as well, said that 300,000 houses a year. So the statement which is that the Government has set a national target of 300,000 homes within its manifesto and the Liberal Democrat manifesto, per year, is absolutely correct. So, I am absolutely baffled by the question.
As Leader of the Council I do represent the Council and it is all the Council. I am perfectly entitled to put my name to documents which come from the Council and I should put my name to documents which come from the Council, because I take responsibility. Interestingly enough, the Lib Dems don’t because they keep on abstaining from everything which requires responsibility. If you are in this seat Clive you have to take responsibility. You cannot avoid that. I don’t and yes I am responsible for the Local Plan Update consultation and yes I have done everything I can to ensure that the response to the consultation is sound and will pass muster.
I think that you should do me the courtesy of listening to me instead of talking to someone else.
Note: Under Paragraph 4.2.13.14 of the Constitution, Clive Jones raised a point of personal explanation. Councillor Jones stated that the question had not come from him. It had been asked on behalf of a resident in Hawkedon ward. Councillor Jones understood that other residents were also asking about this issue.