Within the rules

The leader of Wokingham Borough Council is a Conservative whose Conservative group has run Wokingham Borough Council for the last 20 years.

The Prime Minster Boris Johnson is also a Conservative along with his discredited spin doctor Dominic Cummings as is Robert Jenrick, the Housing Secretary of State, ‘both within the rules sort of guys’.

Dominic Cummings is infamous for his “within the rules sort of guy” trips to Barnard Castle to visit SpecSavers while us minions were all in lockdown.

Jenrick is also a “within the rules sort of guy” who expressed his ‘regret’ at his involvement in a ‘cash-for access’ scandal involving a Tory donor who happened to be a Tower Hamlets developer who he had dined with.

The speculated loss of £30 million to £50 million in Developer Funding (Community Infrastructure Levy) by Tower Hamlets Council which is why Tower Hamlets residents don’t see Robert Jenrick as a ‘within the rules sort of guy’.

Both local and national Conservatives are all part of the same political party, which to be a member one must be a contributor.

Contributions are compulsory, as is abiding by the party rules.

By joining a political party it would seem that one has to give up ones right to freedom of speech and thought.

What confidence can Wokingham’s residents have in a Conservative-run council who did nothing when their Conservative masters at Westminster upped our approved housing numbers from the approved 662 to 789?

The threat of them leaping up again to 1,635 – thanks to their

Conservative mates in Westminster – seems to have concentrated their minds at long last. Political suicide might have been the driver.

I understand Robert Jenrick has been invited to visit Wokingham Borough but so far he has not confirmed if he will come. Whether by having dinner with him, our Council leader can have any success we shall have to wait and see. Perhaps a £12,000 donation to the Conservative Party might be a thought.

Either way with their flagship plan of 15,000 houses Grazeley along with thousands more in Shinfield,

Arborfield, Barkham and Winnersh, but not a house in their northern strongholds, it’s easy to see where the pain will be whatever the outcome of the housing consultation.

Wokingham Conservatives are making a real song and dance about the Wokingham Borough Council (WBC) Climate emergency activity which is seeking to safeguard and improve our Wokingham environment.

However the potential negative environmental impact on surrounding areas when15,000 houses at

Grazeley along with thousands more in Shinfield, Arborfield,

Barkham and Winnersh must not be forgotten.

Having opened Pandora’s Box is the damage already done?

I hope not.

Cllr Gary Cowan, Independent

Borough Councillor for Arborfield at Wokingham

Borough Council