Apologise, Pauline

I was surprised to read Cllr Pauline Jorgensen’s remarks in your article about the shock resignation of the Wokingham Borough Council Interim Chief Executive.

Rather than make any comment on the departing CEO’s service to the Council and the residents of the Borough, Cllr Jorgenson chose instead to make an attack on the Liberal Democrats.

This was inappropriate and proper protocol should have kept politics out of this issue.

Cllr Jorgenson complained that the Lib Dems won’t commit to the Conservatives spending plans for the Borough. TOO RIGHT WE WON’T, because the Conservatives plans are seriously flawed.

Under the Conservatives the council’s debt will have risen from £50m only a few years ago to a forecast debt of over £600m by March 2020, more than a TEN FOLD INCREASE in such a short time.

Remember it is you the Council tax payer who pays for the cost of borrowing these vast sums, if things do not proceed as planned, or go wrong. Not the Conservative councillors.

I have serious concerns about this so wrote to the secretary of State for Local Government bringing my concerns to his attention. I have received a reply from his office thanking me for bringing the issues to his attention.

Further, how can Cllr Jorgenson justify the position where three Conservative councillors and one senior WBC officer are allowed to borrow up to £100m to spend on speculative Commercial property deals without requiring the approval of the Full Council? Rather than investment in our much needed services the Conservatives are more interested in playing Russian roulette with our money which is more accustomed to the Casino rather than to local government.

We believe this is foolhardy and a dangerous use of the Council’s finances. The stopping of this facility would be one of the first things an incoming Liberal Democrat administration would do. Cllr Lindsay Ferris Leader of the Liberal Democrat group and Leader of the Opposition on Wokingham Borough Council