Here is a press release Wokingham Borough Council Lib Dem group has sent out after last night’s Council meeting.   Hopefully it speaks for itself.

At last night’s Council Meeting the Liberal Democrats were shocked when Conservatives voted down a proposal to bring in a fairer, more democratic and transparent process for appointments and payments to Councillors who sit on the boards of Council owned companies such as OPTALIS and Wokingham Housing Ltd.
Cllr Lindsay Ferris (Twyford ward) said “The appointment and removal of councillors as directors is currently a completely closed process in which effectively a clique of Conservative councillors is free to give each other nice little earners. This is completely unacceptable. I am really angry that the Conservatives see informing local residents and using tax payer’s money wisely as of such little account. We proposed a clear, open and democratic process with timely public reporting of what is going on. Instead the Conservatives opted to keep their ‘jobs for the boys ’system.”
Cllr Prue Bray (Winnersh ward) added “The Conservatives seem to think they can do what they like and that the normal rules of public life don’t apply to them. This was reinforced when at the meeting not a single one of the directors declared their interest in the companies when the proposal was discussed. I had to stand up and point out that councillors who had a financial or other interest should have disclosed this. Failure to do so is at best a breach of the code of conduct and could even be a criminal offence. We have asked the Council’s monitoring officer to rule on whether Council standards and any laws have been broken.
This is not the end of matter. We are determined to ensure a proper process is brought in, with the people of Wokingham given full access to how these appointments are made and which roles are being paid for with their money.”

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