Are they really providing facilities for all?

There is a certain irony in the headline "Providing facilities for all" which appeared above an article from Wokingham Borough Council's lead on Leisure in last week's

This council has just built a multistorey car park at Carnival Place having heavy manual doors which cannot be used by anyone in a wheelchair or with weak muscles.

They will not install a push panel to operate the doors, as “this would be vandalised”, a statement made to me when I rang the Council about this issue.

Furthermore, Wokingham Library is to be relocated to a new building which will have no disabled parking spaces immediately outside.

At present the nearest disabled parking will be in the multi-storey car park mentioned above. Even if a disabled library user can get the doors open, the distance to the library entrance is further than many disabled people can walk, especially when burdened with heavy books. However, according to statements from Wokingham Borough Council reported in your paper, this is acceptable because benches are provided for people to have a rest partway, in rain, blistering heat, strong wind, bitter cold, or any of the other vagaries of our weather.

Facilities for all? I think not.

The nasty party

Cllr David Chopping’s letter in

last week made very interesting reading. David is one of the councillors whom I have the greatest respect for as he is one of the most dedicated and hard working councillors I know. He is a credit to Wokingham Borough Council.

What a shame he allows the NASTY party DNA to come to the fore when in an attempt to defend the indefensible he puts the boot into every Borough Councillor in Wokingham Borough who are not part of the nasty Tory Party.

What he fails to say is he belongs to a Conservative Party with a massive majority that rules in secrecy and uses threatening bully boy tactics backed up by the three line whip to bash all their back benchers into line as history clearly shows.

When the opposition try to hold them to account and they have no defence they just put the boot with personal attacks. Sadly they know of no other way to behave when in very simple terms all they had to do to right the wrong and atone their past errors on Councillors pay and allowances was to support the motion submitted by the Lib Dems designed to ensure Councillors only got one extra allowance payment but they voted it down.

What this means is the Leader of the council and her “chosen few” can exercise huge patronage and so keep

their snouts in the trough by the retention of a system of Councillor pay that is not open or transparent.

The Conservatives also miss that point that no matter who gets what it’s you the council taxpayer who pays.

The Prime Minister wants business to be open and transparent in its wage structure and all the other Berkshire Councils only pay one allowance per member but Wokingham's Conservatives prefer to do the complete opposite by keeping it secret and retaining a system that secretly just looks after themselves.

Parliament operates a system where MP’s pay is not the subject of debate as it is fully independent and accepted by all. Wokingham Conservatives prefer a system where they can overrule the Independent Remuneration Panel (IRP) recommendations, as they always do which kills their independence. Perhaps this explains why the panel have all resigned twice in the last five years. I wonder how long this IRP will last when whatever they recommend the Conservatives will just overrule them.

As for David putting the boot into me I would add that all monies I get

from the council is fully declared and listed on the council’s website. How many Conservatives can honestly say the same.

Sadly the NASTY Conservative party is still alive and well and living in Wokingham Borough. Roll on next May. I very rarely feel sufficiently vexed to put quill to vellum to write to the public prints. However, your normally excellent publication, has in recent weeks driven me into such a state of choleric indisposition that I feel have no alternative but to write to you and complain in the most uncertain terms.

I refer of course to the suggestion that Wokingham Borough Council’s attitude to Christmas at Hare Hatch Sheeplands is like that of a bunch of miserable Scrooges.

This attempt to blacken the reputation of a well-loved and important institution, especially at this Christmas Season, is quite intolerable and must cease immediately!

The institution to which I refer, is of course the late great Mr Ebenezer Scrooge.

The tales of the celebrations of his wake are still legendary.

Mr Scrooge left this life a muchloved public benefactor, celebrated as someone who possessed the good grace to admit to the error of ways and also be open to the popular mood.

I am sure that were Mr Scrooge alive today he would be attempting, possibly with supernatural assistance, to take over as head of WBC.

I think his platform would be sound finances, peace and goodwill to all humans, especially at Christmas time and a helping hand to the less fortunate.

I Remain Sincerely Yours, I followed the Sheeplands story with interest.

Nobody, without hidden agenda, could want to prevent a popular garden centre from selling

Christmas trees! If a Council deliberately victimises anyone, it can be