Reading Chronicle | Opinion | Martin Salter's Westminster Diary

Friday, 16th May, 2008

Published: Thursday, 24th April, 2008 11:10

Martin Salter's Westminster Diary

By Martin Salter, MP for Reading West

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Reading West MP Martin Salter

AT THE risk of sounding slightly tragic, I’m one of the few people I know who will admit to actually enjoying canvassing voters at election time.

While the weather has been unseasonably cold, I have been pleased with the warm reception I have been getting on the doorstep.

Local people seem to appreciate that Reading council has worked hard to keep council tax rises down while protecting public services.

There is no doubt that control of Reading Borough Council is up for grabs on May 1 and that people in Reading are looking around at how the other parties have performed in running the councils they control in places like Wokingham, West Berkshire and South Oxfordshire.

I find it somewhat ironic that the Conservatives are trying to make great play of their very lightweight transport blueprint which contains nothing very new apart from removing the in-bound bus lane on King’s Road, which would screw up the reliability and journey times of the popular Number 17 bus service.

The Tory document even pledges support for a Third Thames Bridge, despite the fact that it is their own Conservative councillors in South Oxfordshire that have been blocking the bridge plans for over 20 years!

Our neighbouring councils have also performed poorly when it comes looking after elderly, disabled and vulnerable people. The Conservatives in both West Berkshire and Wokingham have cut back on home care for all but the most critical cases whilst here in Reading these vital services have been protected.

Pensioners in both of these councils now have the benefit of free bus passes but no thanks to their own councillors who refused to introduce them until forced to do so by the government. In contrast pensioners in Reading have enjoyed one of the most generous bus pass schemes in Britain since 1972 with no restrictions on travel times.

Despite the fact that the opposition will inevitably try to make polling day a referendum on the incumbent administration, elections are always about making choices. The political battle lines are becoming clearer and the experience of residents under Conservative regimes in Wokingham, West Berkshire and Oxfordshire gives people a pretty good guide to what could happen here in Reading.

Quite apart from cuts to home care for the elderly and restrictions on pensioner bus travel there has been the outrageous use of tax payers’ money from residents in Calcot, Tilehurst West and Pangbourne to subsidise a cinema for Newbury, the closure of Ryeish Green School in Wokingham and unwillingness by Oxfordshire councillors to fund extra Police Community Support Officers.

Poorer public services would at least be understandable if our neighbouring councils had been successful in keeping down council tax rises – but they haven’t. This year the council tax rise in Reading has been pegged at 1.9% while in West Berkshire it is 3.9% and in Wokingham 4.9%.

The situation is no better over the last 10 years, with West Berkshire’s council tax going up by 83.5% since 1998 and Wokingham’s by 78.6% – both more than the rises in Reading.

Every council has room for improvement, but by and large the people I have been speaking to on the doorstep feel that despite the challenges which will always occur in large urban centres, Reading Borough Council does a pretty good job.

I get no sense that the people of Reading are about to vote to pay more money and receive worse services which is clearly what has been occurring over the borough boundaries.

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