Regeneration debt story was misleading
The headline in The Wokingham Paper of November 2 stating that the “regeneration tab is equivalent to £4,200 debt for every home in the Borough” was very misleading.
The main article heading on page 12 “Council to borrow £271 million to fund regeneration works” was equally inaccurate.
In the body of your report you quoted me accurately, and for the sake of clarity I will emphasise that:
borrowing for the regeneration project over the next three years will be £68m (not £271m as quoted in the paper headline);
the total borrowing will be repaid over nine years, largely from the sale of residential properties developed as part of the regeneration scheme;
residents’ council tax will not be used to help fund the regeneration project, in fact the £3m+ p.a. surplus generated by the scheme will effectively save the Council Taxpayer over £50 p.a. per person;
the regeneration project will transform the town centre and restore Wokingham as a progressive and attractive town providing new shops and restaurants, houses, apartments, a supermarket, hotel, cinema, and replacement bowling alley, sports centre, library and car park;
residents of the Borough will all benefit from the budgeted surplus of over £3m per year which will rise to over £4m p.a. when the debt has been paid off.
Your article contained a quote from the Leader of the Liberal Democrats in which he claimed we “have already overspent the best part of £1m in this year’s budget”.
This is not correct, and the Council is forecasting a relatively small overspend of £159,000 as reported in the revenue monitoring reports as of the end September.
I would like to take the opportunity to draw your readers’ attention to the recent launch of our budget consultation.
This enables residents to have a say as to how they prioritise the services we provide.
The survey may be completed online at www. wokingham.gov.uk/consultations or by picking up a survey form from the Borough offices at Shute End or local libraries in the Borough.