Libraries, parking and lack of detail concerns

Last month, RBWM full council voted on the Royal Borough budget for 2024-25.

Credit where it is due, this followed a lengthy consultation period where they offered the chance for residents, businesses and other stakeholders to comment on the proposals: 391 of us took the time to respond.

RBWM’s own summary of ‘themes emerging from comments’ mirrored my personal concerns.

The first point they highlight is resident support for continued funding of the Royal Borough museum, libraries, and Windsor’s

tourist information centre, the second is ‘concern about the wider impacts of increasing parking charges’ on our town centres, the third ‘concern about lack of detail in some proposals’, the fourth a short-sightedness and a lack of ambition and imagination in generating revenue, the fifth a concern that the increase in charges are not falling equitably.

This consultation followed a similar month-long exercise in which residents were consulted on changes to parking fees and charges in which 905 residents responded.

In that consultation, 74.8 per cent of people said they disagreed with increased car parking charges.

Local government across the country has difficult choices to make, and some of these proposals may very well be judged necessary, but there is no point at all in consulting the public if you totally disregard the 1,296 responses, all of which must have taken some time.

In that instance, I might suggest that the £300k per year the Borough proposes to spend on its communications team would be better spent shielding Windsor and Eton town centres from excessive car parking increases and ensuring the Royal Borough’s Museum continued to be supported in our famous and historic Guildhall than disregarded consultations.

JACK RANKIN Conservative Prospective Parliamentary

Candidate for Windsor