How marvellous Wokingham town centre is

May I say how marvellous it is to have our town centre back again - and especially to have had it back in time for Christmas.

It has been wonderful have the market back outside the Town Hall, and the fact that we have a new bakery and a bookshop in the town centre is a real cause for celebration. And I cannot be the only one who thinks that the new grey paving looks lovely (and is a vast improvement on the 1970s-municipal-orange brickwork it has replaced!).

All in all, it is marvellous to begin the New Year with our town centre once again a lovely place to visit and its businesses beginning to thrive one more.

Also – thank you very much for the bumper puzzle selection in the current edition – it was marvellous to able to do two cryptic crosswords from The

Wokingham Paper this week. Thanks! Fred Sardo, Wokingham

Transparency rules

I was somewhat intrigued to read the two letters from the Leader and Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats about their motion for transparency ( Wokingham Paper,

December 21).

They have quite rightly reported correctly that there was an amendment to the motion. However what they have not reported are their actions when this was proposed. Reading both their letters you think there was vigorous opposition to the amendment with these two councillors leading the speeches against the amendment.

Following their speeches against the motion they would then force a vote on whether to accept the amendment with all the Liberal Democrats voting against.

So what happened? Well first the Liberal Democrats, led by these two able Councillors accepted the amendment “lock, stock and barrel” with no discussion, no debate and no vote! But that is okay they could still vote down the amended motion when it came to that vote. After all their letters clearly highlight their total opposition to it!

Again, what happened? When it came to the vote every single councillor, regardless of which party they belonged to voted for the amended motion. Yes, that included these two able Councillors and all the Liberal Democrats.

So why the contradiction? On the night they accepted the amendment without debate and no vote and then voted for the final motion but in the press you write you opposed it. Could it be political points scoring? Who knows – only the Liberal Democrats can answer that one. Cllr Keith Baker, Conservatives councillor for Coronation Ward, Woodley

Post O ce closures

From reports in The Wokingham Paper, it seems that residents are not going to have a say in whether or not Broad Street Post Office is closed.

Instead we will be asked to comment on details of services and access in our branch of WH Smith.

However, why do services have to be transferred into our small and completely unsuitable WH Smith?

I visit a seaside town in Essex where Post Office services are in a sideroom of their Co-Op store , and this arrangement seems to work.

There is no WH Smith there, and the Co-Op is one of their very few larger stores.

We have some larger stores in Wokingham, so perhaps their owners could be approached to see if they would be willing to host a Post Office counter.

It would be far better than trying to shoe-horn it into our already overcrowded and inaccessible WH Smith.

Having said this, I still hope that public opinion will result in our Post Office remaining in its current position. Janet White, via email

Parking ticket woes

The letter Left Hand, Right Hand and Traffic Wardens was very interesting as the letter writer is one of my residents and I did get involved when he contacted me.

The background to the story is he is an elderly disabled man and blue badge holder. He parked in a designated disabled bay with his blue badge on display. There is absolutely no argument about it being on display.

Unfortunately his Blue Badge had just expired.

Blue badges have a three-year validity but no one in Wokingham had advised him it was due for renewal to which someone in the Council duly apologies to him and suggested he applied to have the fine suspended. He duly applied but to no avail. I contacted the Parking Manager. In his reply he stated that Blue Badge fraud is estimated to cost the UK

£46 million a year and the miss use and abuse of Disabled parking spaces is a high priority for the Enforcement team to which I agree 100% with that view.

He added that the Concession is only applicable for a valid blue badge.

All Blue badge holders who use the service correctly have nothing to fear from positive enforcement of the rules. If we allow expired badges to remain in service these would undermine the legitimate service provided.

Again I agree with him 100% Suggesting that a forgetful disable elderly resident who was not notified of the blue badge renewal date fitted the profile of a £46 million fraudster is a “bridge too far”.

This was not such a case of fraud but, in fact, a simple case of an elderly disabled resident with an expired entitled blue badge which has now been renewed making a simple error.

Perhaps my observations in the past that the Nasty Conservative Party was still alive and residing in Wokingham Borough is valid if they can treat one of their residents in such a ruthless, uncaring and vindictive way.

Come on, give him his money back. Cllr Gary Cowan. Independent Borough Councillor for Arborfield

Council tax rises

A consultation is currently being run by the Thames Valley Police and Crime Commissioner to ask if residents across the TVP area are happy with Council Tax going up to pay for the Police.

The Police certainly need money after eight years of continual cuts in Government funding.

The PCC himself said: “The Thames Valley Police budget has been cut by £101 million over the last eight years which has resulted in significant cuts to police officer and staff numbers.”

Police funding has been deliberately reduced by 19% over the last eight years, the money saved has gone to fund tax breaks for corporations and the extremely well off.

For instance, Corporation Tax has dropped from 28% in 2010 to 19% now, resulting is a £16bn giveaway every year.

Instead of reversing a mere fraction of these cuts to pay for increased Police budgets, the burden is to be placed on Council Taxpayers instead. Last year, the Police precept went up by an inflation busting 7%.

This year the rise will nearly double to 13.2%.

Council Tax is the most regressive tax we have and while

I don’t begrudge the Police increased funding, it shouldn’t be provided from a Council Tax increase that hits the poor and middle earners proportionately harder.

Labour will put Corporation Tax rates back up and use the money to put Police budgets back up.

The next General Election will be a choice between handouts to the few, or a properly funded Police force for the many. Cllr Carl Doran Member for Bulmershe and Whitegates Wokingham Borough Council

Nine Mile Ride plans

The plans indicated the existing layout, with Nine Mile Ride being incorrectly named and referring to the area as Finchampstead Village, which actually lies some miles distant from here.

It is an attempt to create a village, on an existing junction of several well used roads, surrounded by thriving businesses.

Traffic here is busy and is increasing because of the building boom not least in nearby Arborfield.

It already peaks at several times of the day due to school times, but overall moves adequately most of the time.

This scheme will, as intended slow the crossroads considerably at all times, causing tailbacks along all the connecting roads.

This will increase pollution for residents and pedestrians, negating the desire for pedestrians to utilise the proposed seating areas around the junction, who will not wish to sit with their children in traffic fumes watching