What price democracy?

What price democracy at Conservativerun Wokingham Borough Council?

Once again a Council meeting at Wokingham failed to complete its agenda. Sadly once again lots of good intentions has been kicked into the long grass to join all the other good stuff from residents in the past.

With the next meeting in September, a repeat of this shambles will be the order of the day just like all the past Council meetings.

As a result of this Conservative-run Council incompetence, residents and members issues/concerns have just disappeared in a cloud of dust never to be seen or heard of again. It’s as if the Conservatives are rigging the meetings to suit their own ends .

Frustratingly the key debate was about the Climate Emergency Action Plan designed to create a net-zero carbon Borough by 2030. The concept is excellent but it has many flaws.

The debate was generally supportive but before it concluded the Mayor – not in line with the rules of debate – put a guillotine on after only 30 minutes, so denying many Councillors their right to comment.

Climate Emergency is such a big issue that will have ramifications for all of us, our children and their children’s children yet Wokingham’s Conservatives just ignored the constitution and pulled the plug on the debate. Later in the meeting the leader of the council withdrew all the Conservative questions to its own Executive but promised written answers. I was later informed that as the Leader withdrew the questions written answers will not be provided nor will they be included in the minutes. Once again the public are denied answers for many very important wide ranging questions. Why did the Conservative leader want to gag his own members questions? Did they embarrass his party leadership I wonder?

My simple question on the Government’s scheme to pay £1,000 per patient to help pay for additional care home costs incurred so Covid-19 patients coming from hospital into care homes was answered with gobbledygook only then to be denied my right to a supplementary question.

My member question to the leader did not even get a reply.

In addition all the executive and nonexecutive directors reports were withdrawn to save time yet four motions were never debated when the meeting closed. What a shambles or was it a careful choreographed scheme to control the meeting and deny their opponents any say? It stinks of the latter.

Why do the Conservatives fail to understand that if every time a meeting is held but the business is not concluded then something is wrong? Would extra meetings and a rethink of proceedings be a good idea or is it a calculating and deliberate ploy to kill all opposition off?

With the next meeting on September 17, there is enough time to right these wrongs. Why has democracy no place in this ideologically driven Wokingham Conservative run council?

I hope Wokingham’s residents will remember this next May as without any doubt it's the residents who pay the price when democracy plays second fiddle to democracy.

Cllr Gary Cowan, Independent Borough Councillor at Wokingham Borough Council for Arborfield