Meeting with Wokingham Borough Council Leader
Following the debate fiasco on the 24th January, we were invited to meet with the council’s leader Cllr Julian McGhee-Sumner, who expressed a wish to do things differently and although understandably sceptical we accepted, and the meeting was duly arranged for Monday 11th February.
The meeting was attended by Cllr Simon Weeks, Cllr Wayne Smith, Cllr Julian McGhee-Sumner, Jim Frewin, Brian Woods, Hillary Murdoch and Mark Chatfield.
We DIDN’T hold back and to set the back ground we explained to them the utter feeling of disillusionment and distrust residents have with Wokingham Borough Council and the Councillors who represent them, clearly demonstrated by the behaviours of many of them in the debate.
We asked for an explanation as to why land was being brought forward more than 8 years early and, in some cases, not even represented on the Neighbourhood Plan when it had been confirmed that WBC has 6.4 years stock of housing already allocated. We asked why infrastructure requirements of the Core Strategy had not been delivered, and why it hadn’t been reassessed following the massive increase in housing numbers. Hillary delivered an impassioned emotional speech on the destruction of wildlife with every piece of green space that disappears under concrete.
We asked many questions and whilst we didn’t get many answers, at this stage, we did feel, FOR THE FIRST TIME, someone at WBC was listening and it was agreed that we should meet again.
It may be optimistic, but we believe this may be the first steps in the right direction – WATCH THIS SPACE FOR UPDATE