The last month has led us to seriously wonder: who, if anyone, in the Liberal Democrat Group is in control at Wokingham Borough Council?
First, we have a press release from the Executive Member, Cllr Ian Shenton, that announced some bins were to be removed and others emptied less. This decision, which was incorrectly made, we were told lead to people being made redundant.
Following intervention by Conservative councillors, the Liberal Democrat-led Council have been forced to hold a consultation after failing to follow proper process. The consultation proposes removing 150 bins – though a Liberal Democrat councillor bizarrely told us that 235 were on a list they’d seen. Despite being told by the same Earley councillor that only 18 bins in Earley were on the list, actually on the consultation, about 37 of the 150 targeted bins are in Earley and a similar number in Woodley. What list did they have and where had it come from?
We were told the bins were selected because they weren’t being used or that there were too many bins in an area. Of the Earley bins only one is identified as ‘rarely full’ – many of the others are selected because there are other bins close by. In my experience, bins are put in places, like parks and play equipment, where there is a lot of litter and they often fill up. Hence there is often more than one bin nearby. But if the bin map is to be believed, the centre of Wokingham Town has the densest collection of bins in the whole Borough – yet none are selected for removal!
So, the information on the number of bins and the reasons for removing them are completely confusing. If the Liberal Democrat Councillors don’t even know what they are actually proposing how can they make decisions?
Now we move on to the consultation on the future of St Crispins Leisure Centre. The lead councillor in charge of the Council’s finances has admitted she doesn’t know how many people are using the leisure centre or even why St Crispins is faced with closure. Legitimate questions from the public about the consultation have queried what data the Liberal Democrats were using to make the decision. In emails to residents and all councillors, we were told by the Executive Member for Finance “it is less about costs but more about conflicting demands for space”, adding “We have limited resources and just cannot carry on as we were. What is clear is something has to change with St Crispins Leisure centre”. When pressed further by a resident who asked why it was clear something has to change, the Liberal Democrat councillor said she was “aware it would require some maintenance and investment” but she was “not clear what that would involve” and finally capped it all with the admission she doesn’t “have the leisure centre usage numbers” as “it is something she would also like to see”.
So, in the last month or so we have seen the following:
1. Bins being taken out of use and jobs being lost without proper approval or a business case showing the impact on other costs;
2. Bins being suggested for removal without any apparent logic or consistency of treatment;
3. Lib Dem Borough councillors being unaware of what is being proposed and working off secret lists that seem to be quite different from those in the consultation; and
4. A consultation on the future of a leisure centre where the ruling Lib Dem Executive can’t explain what the problem is they are trying to solve, and what the usage of the facilities is.
Is this really how our Borough Council should be run?
