Welcome to the second in this series that tries to explain the finances of Wokingham Borough Council!  So this time I am going to have a stab at starting to tell you about what the council spends its money on.  This is only about the spending – trying to deal with where it gets the […]

Wokingham Borough Council finances are a mystery to a lot of people – including, I have to say, some councillors.  The public don’t really understand how the council is funded, or what choices they have about how to spend the money and what it is compulsory for them to do.   They certainly don’t know what […]

After all the vegetation on the M4 embankment was removed as part of the smart motorway project, I contacted Highways England for some more information.  They have now replied.  They haven’t said much about measuring noise levels without the trees there, but have answered pretty much everything else.  The bad bit is that it looks […]

A lot of revisions have been made to the Winnersh Relief Road planning application.  Comments on them must be in by 24th September. The application is on the council website http://www.wokingham.gov.uk/planning/planning-applications/ Look for application number 180760.  The revised plans are at the bottom. A lot of the things I was lobbying for have been included.  […]

Some additional information has been submitted for the Winnersh Relief Road Phase 2 planning application.  Having read it, I have sent the following comments to the planning officer: “Whilst I accept that Phase 2 of the Winnersh Relief Road is a necessary piece of strategic infrastructure for the Borough, some aspects of the design that […]

Every election, some people tell me they haven’t heard from any of the candidates including me, and are therefore not going to vote.  In Winnersh the Lib Dems do try to knock on doors both at election time and outside election time.  This year there has been less of it than usual, because we were […]

These are my first thoughts on the plans.  I haven’t been through the Transport Assessment thoroughly yet, but I have looked at just about everything else.  I have sent a list of 14 questions in to the project manager and planning officer on things I have noticed as I went through.  At this stage I […]

Yesterday evening was the last full council meeting of Wokingham Borough Council before the local elections.   I submitted a motion about Elms Field and the town centre regeneration, criticising the Conservatives for the destruction of so many trees, and asking for them to involve residents in discussions about how the regeneration should continue from now […]

Sometimes being a councillor is immensely frustrating.  Here is an example of one of my current frustrations.  In the great scheme of things, not the most important issue ever.  It is routine, has a solution, and could be sorted out without the council spending any of its own money.  But nearly 5 years after I […]

Many, many thanks to residents who organised a public meeting on Tuesday night to discuss the application by Taylor Wimpey to build 250 houses on land behind Maidensfield, off Watmore Lane in Winnersh (application number 173656).  St Mary’s was full to overflowing and many people made excellent points and asked good questions. Over 80 people […]