I met around 50 members of the Wokingham Conservatives yesterday evening at a drinks reception. Much of the talk was about the leadership. There was no clear message about which candidates were most favoured, with plenty of questions about the past actions, current positions and likely abilities of those in the news.
It also gave me an opportunity to thank all those who had helped in the local elections, and to discuss with Councillors the immediate priorities for the two Councils.
I am asking the new Council leadership to consider how we can have a greener Wokingham.
I am suggesting the Council does more to cut its own energy needs by using more low energy lighting, raising standards of insulation in public buildings. improving heating controls, and studying building use to reduce the need to heat and light all parts of a building when use is more restricted.
I am also keen to see the Council identify and protect more open space at a time of considerable pressure for more development. We need to ensure sufficient landscape is preserved for farming, as green gaps between settlements, as water meadow to assist with flood management , and as space  for parks and for gardens.
I am consulting widely over who would be best as the final two candidates for members to vote on in the forthcoming contest. Nominations close on June 10th, to be followed by a short and intensive series of votes over the following days to reduce what might be a long list down to just 2 for final selection in a members’ ballot.
The idea is that as the Leader has the difficult job of  leading of the Parliamentary party it is best for MPs to get it down to two, so either will have a reasonable starting level of MP  support on election. I am happy to take advice from members, and to put worries of members to particular candidates. There are plenty of conversations going on between MPs already, before the contest proper starts. All the candidates are of course well known to me as we have been working together as colleagues for a considerable time. In an ideal world the MPs and the members agree on the best two, with the members then deciding between them.
I do not yet have one preferred candidate, so I am open to persuasion and advice. Some of them seem to me to be unlikely to attract much support and to lack the skills and or platform to be suitable. I doubt all the current would be runners will put in nomination papers.
A number of people are trying to place on my website claims about the result in Wokingham in the Euro elections. I will not be posting these claims as they are based on the false assumption that the result for Wokingham Borough Council which was declared was the same as for Wokingham constituency which was not calculated or declared.
For the record, my constituency contains some wards from West Berkshire and some from Wokingham. In West Berkshire the Brexit party topped the poll, and in Wokingham Borough (which includes wards in Maidenhead, Bracknell and Reading East Parliamentary constituency) the Lib Dems topped the poll. In each case the top performing party only got 34% of the vote. This compares with the General election when the Conservatives got almost 57% of the vote in the actual Parliamentary constituency of Wokingham.
My job is to keep to the promises I made to electors in the 2017 election, and to seek to deliver on the mandate I received with a majority of the vote in that election.
I had a good meeting on Friday with Councillor Pauline Jorgensen of Wokingham Borough Council and her officers dealing with roads and traffic. She has ideas to  to cut congestion, improve safety and get the traffic flowing more smoothly. These things do take some time to design, plan and put into the budget.
I talked to  her about various ideas for junction improvements as much of the delay and danger occurs at road intersections and where people need to cross the traffic as pedestrians. She is keen to make a difference to her portfolio as Executive member for roads and transport.
I would be interested to hear from constituents their ideas for how local roads and junctions could be improved, both by short term fixes and by longer term more substantial improvements. I have passed on some specifics to the Council for consideration. The general ideas that might help include
Short term/lower cost changes
Change light priorities to give more prominence to main roads with heavy flows
Change traffic light sets with single direction flows into sets allowing both direction flows for more of the time
Introduce good traffic sensors on all light sets, allowing reversion to main road as green for off peak, with red on the main road only when there is traffic on the side roads coming into the junction, and allowing flexed times for busy routes proportional to traffic.
Change road painting to allow segregated right turn lane where space permits
Indicate left turning on red by filter light where possible
Extend two lane queues where space permits rather than one lane
Ensure there is plenty of parking, avoiding parking on main roads in ways which impede flows. .
Encourage schools to make safe arrangements for car drop off and pick up of pupils off the main road
Short term dearer proposals
Replace light sets by roundabouts where possible
Create safe bike and pedestrian routes off the main highways
Have sufficient safe pedestrian crossings geared to light phases at light controlled  junctions.
Longer Term proposals
Extra road  bridge over east west railway line in Wokingham as on the current plans
Improved capacity on Earley peripheral and at Loddon roundabout
More by passes of villages as with Shinfield, Arborfield and Winnersh.
Completion of a good east -west vehicle route for local traffic
Extra capacity on A 329M/A3290
Whilst I have been out and about in the Town centre yesterday and today, several people came up and said they thought it was now looking great and worth all the effort and disruption. I was pleased to see so many people about in the cafes, using the shops and visiting the market stalls around the Town Hall. We do all now need to make the best of it and give some business to all those who are venturing for us, to provide new goods and services in an improved environment.
I was invited to St Peter’s Church Earley on Sunday afternoon. The local clergy and the Bishop of Oxford led a service of thanksgiving and commemoration of 175 years of community involvement by the Church. Quite early in its life it helped launch the popular St Peter’s School next door. Pupils were present at the service and sang to the congregation.
I thank all involved in organising an excellent service and tea party, and am grateful to the Church and its helpers for all they do for the local community.
I presented the Wokingham petition against Post Office closure to the Minister on Tuesday. She promised to share it with the Post Office management. She plans to meet them next week.
She listened carefully to the case I set out about the growth of Wokingham, the extent of demand for counter services already and the likely increases, and the worries that the WH Smith provision will not be sufficient or easy to access. I stressed that we had both lobbied about the decision in principle to move and about the nature of the replacement service proposed. I explained that opposition is widespread and people do not think the management has been listening to them over their concerns.
I will keep you posted when I hear of what happened in the Minister’s meeting with senior management, and will post the Minister’s response to my meeting when it is available.
Yesterday again in Wokingham the Post Office was busy, demonstrating insufficient counters and the need to open up the other part of the current building to provide more service. Instead the plans to close it and slim it down in W H Smith continues as if this demand did not exist.
I at last have a meeting with the Minister to put the case against closure again to the government. On Tuesday I will meet her at the Department. I will take that opportunity to present the Petition against closure. I thank the local Labour party who did a lot of the work organising it and collecting signatures during inclement weather in the Town Centre, and to the Conservative Councillors who also supported it.
The petition has over 6000 signatures. It says
“We oppose the plan to close Wokingham Post Office and to franchise the service to WH Smith. The move will damage the provision of services to customers, with a less accessible building, longer queues and waiting times, the loss of experienced staff and will be another blow to Wokingham’s historic character”.
I will explain to the Minister my own views of the problems this plan causes, and set it in the context of an expanding town with more demand for services from the new residents who will soon be moving in.
I would like to thank all Councillors who stood for re election but who lost their seats yesterday. I am grateful to you for all the hard work you put into your roles and for your service to the local community.
Many electors wanted change, both national and local. Much of the criticism of the Conservative party was about the failure to resolve the Brexit issue in a timely way. The government was criticised by both Leave and Remain voters for their draft Agreement and for the failure to secure a deal more could accept. Labour too suffered from criticism of its changed stance on Brexit compared to the General election and its role in the current impasse in Parliament.
There were also a number of important local concerns. Many relate to congestion, the disruption of our streets by utility works and the construction of new homes, and to the cumulative impact of substantial development on services and facilities. I am willing to work with the Council to help shape a new Plan for the future based around lower housing targets, and to help the Council resist extra development over current plans. I am also keen for the Council to do more to improve junctions, upgrade our road network, help provide more school places and surgery capacity for the NHS and promote the new Town Centre in Wokingham.
I also congratulate all the new Councillors elected and look forward to working with them in the interests of our shared constituents. There is an important role for an informed opposition to criticise where things can be improved and to support where common cause is in the interests of our community.