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Council leader David Lee says people need to pull together with tough times ahead
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Council leader says people need to come together with more tough times ahead

By Jon Nurse
March 05, 2013

The leader of the council rallied people to work together with a budget speech anticipating more tough times.

Councillor David Lee called for Wokingham people to continue to rise to the challenge at Thursday’s budget meeting, but opposition leader Cllr Prue Bray warned council risk-taking could lead to serious problems.

Cllr Lee said: “Everyone knows the challenges we face.

“We can no longer put our heads in the sand and demand everything free and constantly say ‘someone should do something’.

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“We all are that someone – we all have responsibilities to one another. We can, by all working together and playing our part, get through this period.”

Millions will be spent on education, housing, the town centre regeneration and easing traffic congestion over the next three years, while children’s centres and the borough’s youth service will see funding slashed by £570,000 a year. Job losses at the borough council will save £500,000 a year over three years.

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Cllr Lee commended residents for ‘rising to the challenge’ of the new waste collection service through its teething problems and pointed to its £1 million savings per year.

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Cllr Bray used her budget speech to question whether Conservative councillors understood the dangers.

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She said: “Boy, are there risks. One of those risks arises from putting all your eggs in one basket in the regeneration of Wokingham town centre.

Town centre plans could be 'poisoned chalice' say opposition

“Not just because it might go pear-shaped, but because of the effect your exclusive focus on Wokingham town centre is having everywhere else.”

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Cllr Lee said: “When completed our revitalised town centre will generate some £3 million annual rental income, will be a town fit for the 21st century and will satisfy the wishes of our residents.

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“It will also and most importantly give us the ability to raise the capital we need to invest in our major towns and villages like Twyford, Woodley and Earley.

“We have always said in our vision that Wokingham is only the start.”

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Work harder, work faster, never see your kids, keep consuming, upgrading, rebuilding and taking on debt so that more people have something they can work harder and work faster at.

Complete folly with only one outcome.

Every wonder why technological progress has not resulted in people needing to work less?

The profit is going offshore and being lent back to you with interest.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/dec/28/protests-tax-havens

28th August visit GoogEgg.org.uk to put an end to it.

Kaz4Wokingham, Wokingham
06/03/2013 at 23:35

@Earley_Man - I believe they keep then rental of business units too. He may also have been thinking of rentals of council houses, which the local council do not get to keep.

mavdo, Wokingham
06/03/2013 at 17:13

@Damiano_Tommassi

Local Authorities keep the Council Tax they collect (except the smaller precepts for Police, Fire and town/parish councils). You may be thinking of business rates.

Earley Man
06/03/2013 at 15:26

@LarryS - I work as an IT consultant. I know of no installers or developers or even architects on six figure sums. In fact most of us haven't had a pay rise in six years or more. And we're all having to do the jobs of 2, 3 or 4 people, or having our jobs being shifted to India or Eastern Europe. There are a few executives and senior managers who don't deserve their place or wage, and that's the same in the council too. They aren't the consultants doing the actual work.

My job is highly stressful and very thought intensive. I do it because I have the skills to achieve results for clients who are asking for solutions to very complex problems, and the industry is highly competitive. If we don't do it at the best value price, someone else will. We've no gold plated salaries, and we certainly don't just install broken out of date software, despite what you may glean from a few press stories.

@Cllr Lee- how about responding to your residents when they make a serious allegation that your own workers are not following your own rules designed to save money. Your employees were witnessed literally throwing money away more than once. And more than once you've completely ignored it. You don't represent anyone properly and you won't get my vote ever again.

mavdo, Wokingham
06/03/2013 at 00:01

"Do less with more" is the current standard...... Doh!!!

Really should not post late at night... meant to post..

"Do more with less" is the current standard......

Anyway.. no more comments from me... there really should be a limit to the times you can post here..

Local Woky, Wokingham
05/03/2013 at 23:39

@LarryS wow! struck a nerve did I... sorry... I think you will find most industries people are doing the jobs of 2-3-4 people these days... your not special.

"Do less with more" is the current standard.

The part of my post which was cut was about waiting for a Cllr to rebuke... :)

Local Woky, Wokingham
05/03/2013 at 23:11

We need to stop chasing growth in a way that consumes national resources faster than they regenerate.

We need to stop getting into debt.

Need to stop wealthy using that wealth and to buy assets up and renting them back to the many at inflated rates especially when they are necessities such as shelter.

There is nothing the council can do to fix it. This is a global issue. But consumer more take on more debt and work harder for less is not part of the solution.

You get to help solve it when you vote next time.

When people talk about growth then think about what it means.

Google. gdp is only useful when

Kaz4Wokingham, Wokingham
05/03/2013 at 20:53

GuyG-I agree, there have been very few staff redundancies in Wokingham compared to other Councils, but only because Wokingham didn't have many public sector jobs in the first place.

I wouldn't trust Union leaders, they are happy to take money off ordinary union members and use this only for themselves, not for the benefit of the union and the general public. We need unions where there are no leaders, but where everyone has an equal say, we need democratic unions.

We need to change the system so there is no Central Government and instead there is all power to local Councils whereby we, the people, govern ourselves hence this is a society of REAL democracy. After all, why should we, the people, always be at the mercy of the elite?

wokinghamworker, Wokingham
05/03/2013 at 17:13

OK LocWok - let's start with all the IT consultants earning six figure sums doing really important jobs like selling/installing soon to be out of date software. Or our marvellous bankers earning annual bonuses and salaries that would keep a medium sized charity from going under. Let's see how keen they are to protect their gold plated salaries. No - let's have another pop at the mugs at Shute End, the vast majority of whom earn a pittance and are now having to do the work of 2, 3 or 4. Much easier targets. Turnover 140 a year? I'm amazed there's any of them left.

LarryS
05/03/2013 at 15:22

I read this story as advertising for the council trying to brainwash the local people, same goes for the "interview" on BBC Berkshire this morning, many incorrect "facts" and mostly council point of view, not the community point of view of which they serve.

Like @Smiffy said :)

Let's pull together, i'm all up for that, let's also listen to each other, feel the pain of the raise in council tax and also take a pay cut to prove how much we are all in this together... ;)

Local Woky, Wokingham
05/03/2013 at 13:16

stig2 - the council tax and rent systems are similar; you pay X a month in council tax, or a social tenant pays Y a month in rent, and the money goes directly to central government. They then return a percentage of it to WBC. if the social housing stock is now Wokingham's, they keep all 100% of the rent to pay costs, repairs etc. Although I doubt they'll get any government repairs funding any more, so I wouldn't be certain that it'll turn out ot be economical.

guyg - "if a position becomes vacant due to someone moving on etc it is assessed as to whether it is needed and if it is judged by the team that they can make do with (sic) someone in that position it does not get filled" - the team? that's not how it was working over the last 3/4 years. The department is told jobs will be lost, and when people leave they will not be replaced. What's more, some employees have been told they're now doing 2 (or 3, or 4) jobs. it certianly hasn't been the case in my experience, or of those current workers that I know, that if a team loses a member the actual team is consulted. You're told. And there have been lots of redundancies; I think the staff turnover at WBC is something around 140 people in a year.

Damiano_Tommassi, Wokingham
05/03/2013 at 11:43

I have no problem with the concept of coming together, but that implies a two way partnership and I feel that WBC currently operate a one way partnership where they dictate what they think is right irrespective of any concern the residents have. I know the public can come up with crazy ideas, but they also have good ones and valuable feedback which the council should listen to sometime!

Smiffy, Reading
05/03/2013 at 11:07

Ok GuyG I will take the bait.... If I am spending £2.4k per year (council tax) and WBC become self funding apart from not getting anything for our money. Where is the money coming from to finance WBC? Is it likely therefore that the high spending councils (who get my money it seems) also move towards self funding? It seems that Cllr Lee believes that wbc will get the money from rents. Is this true? If so what rents after all the business rate money goes directly to the Govt anyway.

Stig2, Wokingham
05/03/2013 at 10:24

We all know times are tough and 'someone' has to pay for things. Waving the liability of a huge scheme that a commercial company will not touch and naming it 'regeneration' whilst berating anyone who asks questions about this silver bullet is not right. You could do so much more with fewer financial resources.

Beef Cake Argh!
05/03/2013 at 10:16

@wokinghamworker, actually having spoken with some of the unison reps at the council they are more in favour of the way WBC does things to the way other councils do things. There have been fewer redundancies at WBC compared to some other councils, the way we do it is if a position becomes vacant due to someone moving on etc it is assessed as to whether it is needed and if it is judged by the team that they can make do with someone in that position it does not get filled. and i disagree very much about doing what the govt says, usually the council is not doing what the govt says and campaigning against it as usually we seem to get hit worse than other councils by decisions. (recent removal of planning requirements for example) WBC has been cost cutting for years before 08 was when the processed started, due to WBC being very aware of how poorly funded the council is, it could reach a point in the future that apart from the schools & health grants WBC are the only self funded unitary authority in the country rather than the lowest funded.