‘We should have been investing’

Opposition figures at the council have reacted with fury over the proposed 2020/21 budget.

Cllr Lynne Jones (Ind, Old Windsor) accused the council of installing ‘stealth taxes’ but said she was not surprised.

“Residents should be absolutely furious at the way the Conservative administration over the last eight years has managed its finances.

“Years ago we should have been looking at how we could generate revenue, at what we could invest in, but we have just been selling off all our assets.”

Cllr Simon Werner

(Lib Dem, Pinkneys Green) was equally dismayed by the budget proposals.

Referring to the scrapping of the

Cllr Lynne Jones Advantage Card discount, he said: “They are not going to get the revenue they expected because less people will go out to Maidenhead and Windsor. It’s another nail in the coffin for Maidenhead town centre.”

On the cut in the number of community wardens in the area – something Cllr Werner

Cllr Simon Werner introduced when the Lib Dems were in power – he said: “The reason we had the wardens in the first place was the town centre was looked after by police but the residental areas were ignored and the wardens filled the gap.

“Now they are reducing the number of wardens, all these suburban areas are getting stuffed.”