To receive notification from the Leader of his Deputy and the remainder of the Members appointed to the Executive; the scope of their respective portfolios; the terms of delegation to them; and Officers if applicable.
The Leader of Council/Executive Members will be permitted to speak for up to ten minutes in total.
The Leader of the Opposition will be permitted to speak for up to five minutes.
Minutes:
Leader of the Council, Councillor Stephen Conway:
After yesterday’s announcement of a General Election on 4th July, I expect many councillors’ minds will be elsewhere. One of our number, the Leader of the Opposition, is herself a candidate, and two former colleagues who recently stood down as councillors will also be campaigning to become MPs, Clive Jones in Wokingham and Tahir Maher in Woodley and Earley. Even so, I hope, perhaps a vain hope, we can refrain from firing the opening shots of the General Election in the Chamber this evening and focus instead on the Council and our responsibilities as councillors.
The Council’s Executive is smaller this year than the last. Executive responsibilities have been redrawn in places, as you can see from the paper before you. There is considerable continuity in personnel. Rachel Bishop-Firth, Prue Bray, Paul Fishwick, David Hare, and Imogen Shepherd DuBey remain in post. The most significant change is that two new colleagues are joining the Executive – Mark Ashwell as Executive Member for Economic Development, Sport, Leisure and the Arts, and Jordan Montgomery as Executive Member for Environment and Climate Emergency. I am delighted to have them on board, and I know that they will make a major contribution. I should also explain that as Lindsay Ferris stood down at the election, I decided that it would be unfair to ask somebody to take on the Planning Executive role, when we hope to bring the new Local Plan to Council for approval as soon as July. I have therefore added Planning to my own portfolio, at least for this year.
I want to take this opportunity to thank council officers at all levels of the organisation for their hard work and commitment. We councillors owe them a great debt of gratitude. They are one of the Council’s greatest assets. I hope all councillors will always in their language and in their actions, respect officers’ professional judgement, even when they dissent from it.
We have just been through a hard fought and tense local election campaign. While my preference, and I think that of most voters, is for a positive approach, there is no denying that elections usually involve pointed attacks on opponents and generate discord rather than harmony. My appeal to the Opposition is that we put the local elections behind us, and try after 4th July, if not before, to work together for a better Wokingham that we all want. I know from personal experience over many years, that opposition can be deeply frustrating, but the Opposition can play an important role, a noble role, especially if Opposition councillors are willing to engage with the ruling group, positively, responsibly and constructively.
The Council lost some very dedicated councillors of all parties in these recent elections, but it also gained many new councillors, 27 of them in fact, who will bring a fresh perspective and new ideas, and I welcome that very much. As Leader of Council, I will do all I can to create conditions in which councillors of all parties can play a meaningful part in policy making. I want to call on all the experience and all the talent available to help us make the best decisions for the benefit of the people and the businesses of the Borough. I hope that the Council’s overview and scrutiny committees can build upon the successes of last year when they played an important role in changing policies proposed to the Executive. Early involvement of the overview and scrutiny committees was key to their playing a constructive part, and I hope to see more of that in this coming year. I will try, as I did in the last municipal year to work collaboratively with councillors of other parties, and in that spirit, I have offered Chairs and Vice Chairs of various council committees to the Labour and the Conservative Groups. I have also sought to establish a new principle in the allocation of Outside Bodies representation. In the past this has nearly always been on a winner takes all basis. I want to allocate places on Outside Bodies in a fairer way. When an Outside Body is associated with a specific geographical area that is represented on the Council by one party only, then that party should have the right to nominate the Council representative.
My own priorities are ones that I hope councillors of all parties can sign up to. First, sound Council finances, without which the Council can do nothing positive in the years to come. There will be more work to reduce future budgetary pressures through prevention, early intervention and invest to save measures, such as increasing in Borough provision for Special Educational Needs, which will cut our future home to school transport costs. We will also be pursuing new ways to create extra income, such as our own solar farms. The new one in Barkham went fully operational and will produce nearly £3million of revenue a year to use on services for residents and businesses. Second, focusing help on those who need it most, such as the frail elderly, adults with learning difficulties, and children with disabilities, as well as those experiencing acute hardship. Third, working with others in the voluntary and charitable sector, faith groups, business, education, health care and the Youth Council, and different local authorities to pull knowledge, experience, and resources to tackle the challenges we face, together. To give just one example, we hope to call on the Henley Business School and the new Berkshire Prosperity Board to help us to formulate a Town Centre Strategy. The days when the Council could do it all on its own have gone. Constrained finances are encouraging us to do what I have always felt we should do anyway, embrace the opportunities that working with other can bring. My vision is of a greener, and more prosperous Wokingham where everyone, whoever they are, can play their part. Just as we need to tap the talents, all of the talents, in this Council Chamber, so we need to tap all of the talents in our community. I will work with anyone who shares this vision.
Leader of the Opposition Councillor Pauline Jorgensen:
At our last Council we said goodbye to a number of councillors standing down. I would like to add to that, my thanks to some of the councillors of all parties who work really hard, and lost their seats in the elections, for various reasons. The electorate is an interesting beast, and you can never guarantee the result of an election. So, I would like to thank all the hard working, experienced councillors that we have lost in the last election. I would also like to say I have the happier task of welcoming new councillors. In the Conservative group, I want to welcome Joseph, George, Yusra, Moses, Rohit, Kay, Vishal, Dave and Sèona. Well done in your elections and I look forward to working with you.
I would also like to thank Beth, the previous Mayor for her service. I really clearly remember her having her head shaved in Woodley Precinct not long after she became Mayor. I think she has done a very good job in the community, and I would like to thank her for her service and her efforts.
And finally, I would like to thank the High Sherrif for a fascinating speech. I have learnt more about High Sheriffs than I ever thought I would hear. And of course, Emma Cantrell, who does a fantastic job with First Days, and I would really encourage all the councillors to take her up on her offer. I have been to speak to her. I have tried to help, and I think it is a really great charity. I encourage people to go along and see what they do.
Despite the new ward boundaries, the Conservative group still remains by far the second largest in the Council. Across the Borough our vote share went up last year, and for the third time Wokingham Borough voters have delivered a council with no overall control, despite much anticipated predictions that the Liberal Democrat administration would gain a majority. Indeed, we understand that Ed Davey had to relocate his last-minute election rally away from Wokingham when it became clear that the Liberal Democrats would not win a majority.
Over the last two years the Conservative group has voiced its concerns about the Administration’s policies. We have called for action on stopping unsustainable development, and for the Liberal Democrats to publish their draft Local Plan. We have opposed the introduction of fortnightly bin collections and have successfully reversed the reduction in the emptying of public litter bins. We have called for greater investment in road repairs and have repeatedly represented the views of residents who oppose the punishing hikes in parking charges. This was reflected in the outcome of the election.
In Earley where residents were concerned about fortnightly bin collections and the state of the roads, we gained two seats. In Woodley where residents were most concerned about the cost of parking and the state of the roads. In Barkham and Arborfield, the local people were concerned about the lack of action on development and reacted angrily to the Liberal Democrat and Labour cynical decision not to publish the draft Local Plan until after residents had voted. Residents there, and in Earley, do not want the development at Hall Farm, and we have been clear that we will oppose it. Finchampstead residents told us that they were worried about development as well, but they were also outraged about the incompetence of the removal of local litter bins last summer, and also for that matter, about California Crossroads. The Liberal Democrats have previously insisted that bins were collected weekly, under their new policy, when they knew full well that household waste and non food recycling, which most people class as bins, will not be taken away every week, and residents know this too. We won all three seats in Finchampstead.
The Liberal Democrat Administration and the Labour group, whose councillors provide them with a working majority, must recognise that they need change direction. I believe the Borough needs a majority Conservative administration, but while the Liberal Democrats remain in power, our duty as Conservatives is to try and push the Administration on the right course that delivers for residents. We will continue to offer robust scrutiny as we have done. Over the last few years, the reaction of Liberal Democrats to questioning, challenges, and representation of residents’ concerns has been confected outrage, deflection, and attempts to reduce questions. They tried to remove 150 litter bins without consultation, and then claim no decision had been made. Petitions from residents have been ignored or branded as spurious. Legitimate criticism has been called ‘fake news,’ and in July 2022 they admitted that they want to be able to control the debate. Even when this Council voted to overturn fortnightly bin collections, the Executive simply dismissed it and ploughed on anyway.
As a responsible Opposition we also believe in providing support, and working together where we agree. This Council needs to continue pressing for housing numbers that are sustainable for Wokingham Borough. We had success when we were in power in reducing the housing targets, and we will support future efforts, even though my offer was ignored by the previous Leader. I am sure Councillor Conway may have a different approach. We are deeply concerned about Keir Starmer’s proposals to roll back protection on the Green Belt, effectively overriding local planning decisions, and what that may mean for Wokingham. Residents are the best judge of what housing is needed in their area, not Ministers and officials of any persuasion in Whitehall. I am also happy that a Conservative Member will become Vice Chair for the Licensing an Appeals Committee.
The Conservatives believe in putting residents at the heart of Council policy. What we want, and what local people want, are strong finances, action on planning, working with communities, ensuring people are free to choose, not forced to meet ideological whims of politicians. We will continue to fight for this in Opposition, building on our work in the last two years of being the voice of residents on the Council, and we will continue to put forward a positive plan for making Wokingham an even better place for residents, local businesses, and future generations.