Residents would see a difference if Greens ran the council says its party leader

IF READING elected a Green-run council, people would see the difference, according to its leader Cllr Rob White. He said that the Labour-run council has become complacent.

“They don’t listen to residents,” he continued. “People say they only see their Labour councillors at election time.

“In Reading, poverty is going up, Labour isn’t getting to grips with climate change, and they’re failing on bread-and-butter issues like flytipping and graffiti.

“Greens are working hard all year round. We’re knocking on doors, we’re talking to residents to improve the local area.”

And this, he said, has led to some successes: “We have already achieved much as a small group. We’ve got the council to become a living wage employer, to develop a climate change strategy, and we’ve been standing up for residents against destructive schemes like Labour’s plan to build a road by the Thames.”

But he says there’s more to be done, such as an insulation scheme to cut energy bills, and protecting green spaces.

The party has turned Park Ward into a Green stronghold in recent years, and is currently the thirdlargest on the council, overtaking the Lib Dems.

Cllr White acknowledges that the party is unlikely to win overall control of the council in this year’s election, but hoping to overtake the Conservatives and become the main opposition.

“The Green Party is growing,” he said, adding that he felt the party had a “realistic chance” of seeing it take at least nine seats.

“I see us as a party that’s holding Labour to account and improving their decisions,” he said. “I would love to see us running the council.

“Our manifesto is an indication of our priorities … We will keep working for a greener, fairer town.”

One of the ways the party would seek to do this is by “pushing to sort out the financial mess the council is in”.

“The council has hollowed out the financial team,” he said. “Trying to unpick that and get the accounts signed off is a big job. We can move forward and stop throwing good money after bad.

“Councillors wasted over

£1m on accountants to try and sort this problem. That’s money that could have been spent on children’s centres, improve roads, or insulating housing. That money has been wasted.”

Cllr White’s desire for more Green representation also stems from the way in which he feels Labour conducts itself in council meetings.

“Anyone who’s ever attended a Reading Council meeting will probably have seen a fair amount of rudeness and abuse dished out from Labour councillors. I don’t think Labour listens,” he said.

“I think they have a very arrogant, we know best attitude, and they steamroller through the things they want to steamroller through. However, the more Greens we get elected, the more they have to listen, the more they see that people are fed up with their ‘we know best’ attitude.”

There are 12 pledges in the Green party’s manifesto. Among them are sections devoted to housing – but with Whitehall dictating policy, how feasible is it to be able to fix it?

“It’s definitely an uphill challenge when you’re up against the government,” he said. “We need to be making the case for more affordable and more council housing, because those are the challenges we have in Reading.

“I speak to people all the time that are unfortunately having to move away from the town because they just can’t afford the housing that there is.”

He wanted the council to revert to its previous policy of

50% affordable housing for new developments, rather than 30%.

“We think the council needs to keep making the case to the government and developers to fight tooth and nail for our residents,” he said, adding that the council’s legal team needed to be well resourced to tackle developers with large resources when they lodge planning applications, adding this means “they can put up more of a fight and get the best deal for residents”.

He added: “A Green-run council would do our best to make sure there was affordable housing for our residents.”

For rented accommodation,

Cllr White wanted landlords to be licenced.

“The council has been talking about this for years, but every year they talk it’s delayed,” he said. “We think it needs to be brought in as soon as possible because there are many, many rented houses in Reading, some of which are of very poor quality, some of which create problems in the community and local area.

“We think a landlord licencing scheme is a way to drive up the quality of rented accommodation in Reading, it would be a win for people who are renting, a win for the communities.”

The Green party acknowledges that residents do need cars, but more needed to be done to tackle jams.

“Anyone who lives in Reading

Watch all four interviews in our exclusive election videos at rdg.today

knows you have traffic jams all day long,” Cllr White said. “That’s cars and other vehicles kicking out loads of pollution, which people are then breathing in. We think the council needs to invest more in alternatives – in walking, cycling, in public transport.”

This includes giving pedestrians priority at crossings, joining up the cycle network so it was less fragmented, and making public transport more affordable.

“When you’ve made the alternatives to the car more attractive, then more people will use those alternatives,” he said.

For cars, he wanted to see more electric charging points rolled out, especially in terraced streets where residents did not have access to a driveway.

“Unfortunately, the council has been wasting time on schemes like a car park by the Thames,” he said. “They’ve been wasting money on the road by the Thames - the East Reading mass rapid transit scheme. Hundreds of thousands of pounds have been spent on that scheme, which local people and Wokingham Council objected to. That money is down the toilet.”

He said that cash could have been spent on turning parts of Reading into a low emission zone.

“We could have that it could be happening now, it could be discouraging polluting vehicles from coming through Reading. It could be raising money for the council. But the council has been prioritising the wrong schemes, unfortunately,” Cllr White said.

On the cost of living, the Greens want to help by insulating more homes. This, the party feels, would really help reduce energy bills.

“There are already 7,000 homes living in fuel poverty, having to choose between heating and eating,” Cllr White said. “The council admitted this number could be tripling if the correct policies aren’t put in place.”

And the party thinks insulation is better than installing solar panels or heat pumps as “it’s got the best return for your pounds spent … you need to insulate your home first or you’re just sending that heat or energy back out your doors and windows.”

Other priorities for the Greens include investment in local shopping areas. In Park Ward, Wokingham Road is, for example, clogged up with overflowing bins.

“The council needs to be investing more in the district shopping centres rather than just prioritise the town centre,” he said.

As to why people should vote Green in Reading on May 5, Cllr White said: “We’re out knocking on doors all year round, talking to, listening to, and working hard with residents to improve the town.

“We’re out there, and we’re directly having those conversations. That makes us very, very accountable.

“Ultimately, at the election, people will vote on how they think we’ve done. We’ve always either held or increased our number of councillors. So, I think residents think that Greens are good, and doing a good job.

“I hope that we will have an increased Green group at the elections this year.”