I have been reading through the survey returns we have been getting from local residents. I have been particularly interested in the question about what change people would most like to see to improve our area.
The winner was to build fewer new homes. I agree and have been pressing the Council to produce a new local plan with lower development rates, and have worked with other MPs to persuade the government to allow greater local determination of building rates going forward if there is a new local plan in place.
In second place was the wish to see more police on the streets. This was coupled with some who wanted a police station in central Wokingham again. The government has supported Thames Valley Police in recruiting and training more officers, which we want to see reflected in Wokingham patrols.
In third place was unhappiness about what were seen as dangerous electric scooters and bicycles. There was considerable opposition to cycle lanes and some wish to see electric scooters banned altogether. If you added the comments on cycles and bikes to the comments on the wish to see better roads and fewer potholes that became a most important issue.
Several opposed the ending of weekly waste collection, wanted more surgery capacity to cope with more homes and people, and some wanted free parking for shoppers. No-one wrote in for higher parking charges, a worse refuse service or restrictions on getting to the town centre and parking. The Council should take note of these views.
April 8, 2023
Yes! We need a Conservative Borough Council again!
April 8, 2023
We would need fewer new houses to be built if we got control of immigration and brought the numbers into the low tens of thousands. No government can justifiably claim to be “conservative” if it fails to conserve beautiful countryside and fails to protect our borders.
April 8, 2023
Three residents have seen drug dealing in the pathway between Station Road and Park Avenue. I reported this to Pauline Jorgensen and have reported it to the email address she gave me. More CCTV in the Town Centre would be a good idea. Banning e-scooters would be a good idea, they roam erratically around the Town Centre and bicycles menace pedestrians on the pavement on the Aldi side of Wellington Road, which is too narrow anyway.
Any homes built should be affordable and have heat pumps and solar panels in order to get planning permission.
April 9, 2023
A very mild article by Sir John considering that, on the face of it, Wokingham Council’s policies directly oppose the top desires of its inhabitants.
April 9, 2023
Sir John
Thank you for raising this.
Having shielded throughout the covid pandemic, I had not been out and about for three years in any meaningful way.
I had cause to go to the RBH late on a Friday afternoon and my taxi driver took me out through Bell Foundry Lane and Embrook to emerge near the Bulldog Service Station.
I was shocked at the amount of new development I observed on that route. Homes, industry, a school and shops. All that open countryside gone.
It strikes me that stopping future development in Wokingham is akin to shutting the stable door after the horse has already bolted. The small Berkshire picturesque market town which we lived in has gone forever.
The bin policy is crazy, the Victoria’s knew that weekly collections were needed to prevent fly infestations because their gestation period is eight days. The new false religion has not only cut carbon but, more importantly, commonsense.
April 14, 2023
Does anyone actually take any note of these so called surveys, because the actions of the Council appear to be in completely the opposite direction.
Recent surveys by the LibDems in particular seem geared to promoting their own thoughts and agenda’s with carefully formed questions which miss the real point.
There would often appear to be a default agreement of any proposal within the selected tick box options provided.