Wokingham – the council budget

by Prue Bray on 26 February, 2013

As I posted last time, the Conservatives confirmed the Council Tax rise as 1.9%.

The other main message from the budget was that the Conservatives intend to spend the best part of £100 million on Wokingham town centre over the next 3-5 years.  The whole of the rest of the Borough has about 1% of that between them for their communities. 

Children’s Centres and the youth service are to be remodelled to save £570,000 a year.  There will be consultation on the changes we have been told.  No further details are available at the moment.

The Conservatives are still claiming they have saved nearly £1 million on the new waste collection service.   But that is only true if they look at it in isolation.  If they look at the knock-on effects of the new contract in costs for Wokingham Direct, fly-tipping and increased usage of the tips in Reading and Bracknell, the figure is much reduced.  And of course, they are not comparing like with like.  The council may be saving money, residents aren’t, in that they are now having to pay for green waste, which was previously a free service.

 

 

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