Minutes:
Madam Mayor,
I would like to start with an item of agreement. I too would like to thank all the officers for their help and hard work in producing this Budget. I would also like to thank the Executive Members for answering lots of questions in Scrutiny, which was very useful. Also the supporting officers, but…
In April Liberal Democrats promised residents they would “offer financial competence and compassion.” They have done neither.
Failing to deliver Bohunt Sixth Form, allowing building costs to spiral and telling teenagers in July they will need to find alternative Sixth Form places for September, is not competence or compassion. Telling businesses it is “too easy to blame Wokingham Borough Council” for a fall in shoppers when the Council has doubled parking charges and funded free Christmas bus travel to take shoppers out of the Borough is not competence or compassion. Letting flats at Carnival Hub sit empty and half finished, allowing building costs to increase is not competence and failing to finish these flats for people trying to get on to the housing ladder is not compassion. It is…
• failure to act,
• failure to take responsibility,
• failure to put Wokingham Borough residents above short term political opportunism.
Liberal Democrats are all talk and little action. Many successes, they’ve claimed come from work by previous Conservative administrations, with the Lib Dems always trying to claim the credit. Every poor choice, and Lib Dems blame everyone but themselves. They repeatedly warn the Council is on the “brink of bankruptcy”. Yet last year, the Council’s Chief Financial Officer’s report said that the Council’s Finances were in good shape under the previous Conservative administration. In 2020, under the Conservatives, Wokingham Borough was rated in the top 20 for financial sustainability by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance & Accountancy.
When the Conservative Group left office, the Council’s Core Spending Power was £151 million. The Council’s Core Spending Power for this coming year is £174.8 million thanks to Council tax payers and increased government grants.
With an extra £23.8 million the Lib Dems tell us they still don’t have enough.
While we receive less revenue support grants than other areas, it’s fiction that Wokingham Borough Council has less money than other councils to spend on services. Our Core Spending Power per household is more than any other Council in Berkshire apart from Slough, and more than most Unitary Councils in England.
It is right for any administration to lobby Government for their area, but it is shameful to misrepresent the Council’s financial position to residents. And it is not right to cause alarm to residents and staff by peppering communications with references to bankruptcy and redundancy.
Despite having more money to spend than other councils, the Liberal Democrats can’t live within their means. They have lost control of the Council’s finances and are plugging the gaps by taking from reserves. Lib Dems made a big fuss about reserves when they were in opposition – now they plunder away. Last year to pay for their wheelie bins and this year to plug yet another budget gap. This demonstrates more than anything else that reserves were at a healthy level under the Conservatives, and the Liberal Democrats know it.
Over the last two years, the Liberal Democrats have made it clear where their spending priorities are, and they are the wrong priorities. Not surprising when this administration actively chooses not to listen to local people when they express a view. As Lib Dem Executive Members see it, in their words, “a consultation is not a referendum”.
How do Lib Dems ignore residents? Let’s recount the ways:
Consultation supporting all-out elections which would have cut costs significantly – IGNORED.
Petition from over 4,000 residents against doubling of car park charges – IGNORED.
Businesses crying out for a reversal of the parking charge increase – IGNORED.
Petition from over 800 residents to stop redevelopment of California Crossroads – IGNORED.
Consultation on bin collections, where only 24% per cent agreed they like fortnightly waste collections – IGNORED.
Petition from over 1700 residents on Hall Farm – IGNORED.
Petition of nearly 2,000 residents to keep weekly bin collections – IGNORED… and branded spurious.
Petition for a pedestrian crossing outside Crosfields School, delivered to the Council nearly a year ago - IGNORED.
And, in response to my question about a crossing after an accident, instead of acting, the Liberal Democrat Executive Member said “accidents do happen”
The administration gave the game away about their approach to our roads when the Executive Member for Highways said that they wanted to stop “inappropriate journeys”. Leave aside the breath-taking arrogance in thinking that councillors and officers have a right to decide what an appropriate journey is. It makes it plain for all to see that the Liberal Democrats are driven by an ideological obsession with stopping people from using cars and we see more of that tonight.
That’s why the Liberal Democrats doubled car park charges, despite clear opposition from residents. The refusal to change course demonstrates that this administration doesn’t care about the negative impact these charges have had on businesses or jobs. We’ve already made clear that a future Conservative administration would reverse these increases. The Liberal Democrats have also consistently underfunded road repairs, despite receiving about £1m extra from the Government to fix potholes this year. Under a Conservative administration, we would again increase spending on road repairs as we did when we had control, maximising available grants and renewing a focus on reducing congestion.
On waste, rather than investing more in enabling recycling, the Liberal Democrats have instead reduced household waste collections to every two weeks. It’s not a better service for residents, it’s not an efficiency because the lorry is coming every week without collecting all the bins, and it’s not guaranteed to produce any savings. A Conservative administration would reinstate weekly waste collection and expand the range of items included in recycling.
We also saw the farce last summer of the Liberal Democrats’ attempts to scrap some public bins and reduce collection of others. Of course, the inevitable result was rubbish blowing across our streets and parks and heaps of discarded dog poo bags. The administration only stepped in to put a stop to the ridiculous situation after the Conservatives forced their hand. But this Liberal Democrat administration has such contempt that it tried to claim that no decision had been made – even though bins across the Borough were earmarked for removal and covered over to prevent public use.
Two years on from the election of this Liberal Democrat administration, and where is your local plan? Failing to deliver a Local Plan is opening the Borough up to speculative development, and it’s costing taxpayers money to defend appeals and handle the consequences of inappropriate development.
We’re glad to see that this budget finally includes reductions in some HR costs, which we called for in last year’s budget, as well as a reduction in the use of consultants. However, it’s clear from the budget papers that where one use of consultants goes down, another increases for the resident’s parking zones project.
In the months following the elections in 2022 and 2023, the administration announced and implemented disastrous policies that they conveniently forgot to tell the public about before residents had their say at the ballot box. Increasing parking charges, scrapping public litter bins, and bin collection moving to fortnightly, were all absent from the Liberal Democrats’ manifestos and election literature. So if the Liberal Democrats are still in charge of this Council after the votes have been counted in May, what horrors will they have in store for summer 2024?
Ultimately, this Liberal Democrat Budget can’t be passed without votes from Labour councillors. Labour’s support for this Liberal Democrat administration may not be a formal coalition this year, but it is no less necessary to drive through unpopular policies which ignore residents’ wishes and stoke up people’s fears. Next time Labour try to distance themselves in a leaflet or on the doorstep or in this chamber from another Liberal Democrat disaster, remember that it was Labour that made it all possible.
Madam Mayor, last year’s budget was a poor offering for residents. This year little has changed. It is less for more.
• Bins will be collected less often
• another real terms cut in road maintenance, despite an increase in Government funding
• cuts to street cleaning and grass cutting
• Loss of one leisure centre and failure to deliver Arborfield Swimming pool
• And a Local Plan they are too scared to show residents before the election.
In return, people will pay 4.99% more Council Tax, and fees and charges will rise by an eye-watering 8% - double the rate of inflation. The people of this Borough, the residents outside this building who daily have to live with the consequences of this Liberal Democrat administration, deserve better. In May, residents will get their chance to elect a Conservative administration that will always put the community first, will restore sound administration of the Council’s finances, and will deliver the best for Wokingham Borough.