Council Tax Revisited

Cllrs Bob Pitts and John Halsall were full of praise when Tory Wokingham Borough froze its share of council tax. Will they be criticising their parish-level colleagues in Wargrave for raising theirs?

The other week, as Wokingham’s local budget drew closer, I had a look at the fallacy inherent in the Conservative obsession with council tax cuts/freezes at all cost. There were a lot of things I had to say about it, chiefly calling for a more nuaunced look at the issue than the “cuts good, rises bad” dichotomy that they stick to.

But in my holding forth on Wokingham’s budget, I’d overlooked this little gem in The Henley Standard. Henley has a town council, under South Oxfordshire District Council, so it makes sense that the Standard would focus on town/parish council level. Here’s what they say (emphasis added):

“The biggest rise is in Sonning Common at 20 per cent, or £6.67 a year extra. Other rises include Peppard at three per cent, Wargrave (2.49 per cent) and Watlington (one per cent). Benson Parish Council is reducing its precept from £69.14 to £68.57 per household.”

I reckon a lot of readers will be particularly shocked at the percentage figure for Sonning Common, but I’m not going to pass judgement on it directly, as I don’t known enough about the parish’s situation. The fact that Wargrave faces an increase interests me.

The thing is that council tax has a number of constituents. There’s the part that goes to the local authority, but for Wargrave residents there are also the precepts charged by Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service, and the parish council, as well as the likes of police authorities. It’s already widely known that the Borough Council have taken a one-off government grant to freeze their share, and so have RBFRS.

But parish councils get no such grant, so if they are to freeze or cut their precepts, then they have to bear the pain of it themselves. That isn’t to say that they shouldn’t cut or freeze precepts, but it does seem a bit of a cheek for the Conservatives in power at grant-gifted Borough Council level to be laying into Woodley Town Council for not cutting their precepts.

I don’t really know that much about Wargrave Parish Council’s activities and expenditures. They did have a non-functioning website, but that now seems to have died off completely. As such, I’m not going to lash out with fire and brimstone at them for daring to raise precepts, as I suspect they play a significant role in the excellent biennial Wargrave Festival, and there may be very valid reasons for a minor increase.

However, the two Conservative councillors who represent the village at Borough Council, Bob Pitts and John Halsall (both of whom live outside of the parish, though still within the ward- in Ruscombe and Remenham respectively) both lent considerable rhetorical support to the local budget, praising Wokingham for freezing its share of council tax. Given that Wargrave Parish Council is conservative with a small c if not with a capital C, and given that Mr Halsall will be standing against me for re-election in May, I wonder whether they would support the parish councillors, or damn them as their colleagues did Woodley Town Council?

There is room for both hypocrisy and idiocy here.

Coffee at the Old Post Office

The Old Post Office coffee shop in Wargrave is a charming and hopeful new addition to the village high street

Wargrave is a small village, and whilst there is usually a fair bit going on around and about, the high street can be a bit quiet at times. We have quite a lot of pubs (not a complaint), an excellent library and something of a parking problem along the high street. But there has always been one thing missing, until now.

This morning I took a sojourn down to the high street to take a look at the Old Post Office, a new coffee shop where (predictably) the old post office used to be. My attention had been drawn to it by their activity on Facebook and Twitter, and I was intrigued. When I made my maiden visit today, it wasn’t exactly what I expected.

Firstly, it looks very nice. It has a big, open and airy feel to it, and looks rather high class. The big windows onto the street mean that it’s well-lit, and their sofas are very quiet. It’s also, in a bit of architectural fascination, divided into two sections. One is more centred around tables and the “kitchen area”, and the other is more of a lounge area with some very comfortable sofas.

Secondly, the coffee was very good, and very well priced. I spent £3.80 on a latte and a (HUGE!) caramel shortbread, and was able to sit and enjoy them whilst reading the paper, undisturbed by the steady stream of people coming in and out to get their caffeine-based refreshment.

The friendly young man working there told me that they tend to get busy around lunch, and that they do their own club sandwich which has proved very popular. So, naturally, a second visit will be required to sample this culinary curiosity.

A while back I commented that the flight of businesses from Maidenhead high street demonstrated that the local economy was dying, and that too little was being done to encourage growth on a local level. So if food establishments like Burger King are the barometer by which we measure the health of our high streets, I have to say that The Old Post Office shows very good things about Wargrave.

As a village, we now boast a modern, interesting coffee shop, serving good food and drink at a very reasonable price. They even have wi-fi. I very much hope that it flourishes, as it’s an establishment I can definitely see myself frequenting.

Night Terrors II Available on Kindle

Night Terrors II edited by Theresa Dillo and Marc Ciccarone, and featuring my short story "Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep"

The last couple of weeks have been rather politics-heavy on my blog, and with the May elections edging ever closer, that’s only going to get worse, honestly. So it’s nice, occasionally, to be able to break from the theme tune every once in a while with something a little different.

I’ve already announced Blood Bound Books’ Night Terrors II anthology being released, but now it is finally available on Amazon (sort of…) and on Kindle. Which is awesome, because there are some brilliant authors in this collection- and no, I’m not refering to myself. Though my short story “Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep” does feature amongst the offerings.

At £4.57 for the digital format, I reckon it’s a bargain (well I would, wouldn’t I?). So since it’s Sunday, why not treat yourself, and settle down in a comfortable spot with some good old-fashioned horror stories?

And if you do, please let me know what you think. I’m always happy to hear feedback.

Standing up for the NHS

The Health and Social Care Bill is probably the biggest threat the NHS has faced since its conception.

Nye Bevan is a personal hero of mine. Aside from being a lifelong devoted socialist, and a staunch enemy of the Tories, he was the man who brought the NHS into existence in this country. In a very real sense, Bevan left the world a better place than he found it. Whenever I think of Bevan, one quote in particular springs to mind:

“The NHS will last for as long as there are folk left with the faith to fight for it”

These are dark times for the NHS. The Health and Social Care Bill threatens the very fabric and purpose of the NHS, far beyond anything ever proposed by the Blair and Brown administrations. The expansion of the private sector to up to half of a hospital’s income will be the first major step to a two-tier health service, and the massive reorganisation at the same time as £20bn savings will cripple it.

But through all this, I have not lost heart. Why not? Because of the response of the British public. You see, those with the faith to fight for the NHS are alive and well across the country. Just look at the official e-petition calling on the government to drop the health bill: it hit the magic 100,000 signatures last week, and at present it’s standing at 160,394. It is the most popular petition on the site. All across the country, people are standing up to protect what Nigel Lawson once called the closest thing to a national British religion.

This includes me. Tomorrow, at 10am, Maidenhead Labour Party will be holding an NHS-themed campaign stall in the high street. Outside Wilkinsons, we will be handing out flyers and asking people to sign petitions. We’ll be campaigning on both national issues, and local health matters such as the already announced closure of Charles Ward.

If you’re in the area, come and see us. If not, you can still help. Every signature on that petition, ever letter to an MP, every word we say against the dismantling of the NHS is a step forward.

A Smoke and Mirrors Budget

For a document that was supposed to say where local taxpayers' money is going, the budget left a lot of confusion about what is being spent on what.

I’ve spent a while sat here, trying to decide where to start with this recount of last night’s local budget debate. I think I’ll begin with the esteemed John Halsall, councillor for Remenham Wargrave & Ruscombe and my opponent in last July’s (and the coming May’s) election. On his feet, speaking during the debate, Cllr Halsall claimed that this budget was preventing Wokingham from turning into Greece.

That is the sort of night, and the sort of debate, that it was.

The budget passed of course, though with the Conservatives having a majority of 36 (and all of them willing to gush over it like it was the second coming of Christ) you’d be staggered if it hadn’t. The Lib Dems abstained on all but the last vote, which they voted against. Which probably means something grand, but I’ll let them spin it for themselves to be honest.

So what was the most notable thing about this budget?

It wasn’t the that the council’s plans to limit the number of household waste disposal bags to residents, and sell them extras, is probably illegal. It wasn’t Cllr Anthony Pollock (executive member for finance) saying that the council were “right” to keep the public in the dark about the budget. It wasn’t the fact that the Tories demanded to know why nobody had come up with amendments and alternative budgets, despite the budget only being released for a week. It wasn’t the obsession with a short-sighted council tax freeze that will require a 2.5% hike next year just to maintain the same funding level without the one-year central grant. It wasn’t the endless tiresome (and inaccurate) claims that Wokingham is the worst funded local authority in the country.

It wasn’t even the mindblowing revelation that the council makes a frankly embarrassing profit on the green waste bins and bags it will be selling under its new scheme. (Incidentally, the council will be charging £60 for the bins and a previously free service. The bins cost them £25. That’s a profit of 48.3%. Similarly, the bags will be sold for £1 each, but cost the council only  15p each- a profit margin of 85%!)

No, far and away the worst thing was just how much of the local authority finances were not included within it. This is the real danger of the way Wokingham Borough Council has been operating. Over the last few years, many parts of local government in the borough have been spun off into separate and private companies. Adult social care is now handled by Optalis Ltd. Wokingham Enterprise Ltd controls the town centre regeneration.

These bodies don’t appear on the budget in their own right. Why not? And since the plan is still to sell off the library service (which Cllr UllaKarin Clark had the audacity to boast in as she packages up and price-tags it), how will that fare? Will it too disappear off into a black hole of unaccountability?

It is, really, just the same as the games before the budget was released. The Conservative administration believe they have an absolute right to rule, which will never be taken away, and thus there is no need for them to be at all open in their activities. They have failed any openness test, and as Cllr Pollock’s attitude shows up, they don’t care.

Cllr David Lee, leader of the council made some bold promises tonight:

“We will not cut any services, we will not cut our contributions to voluntary services, we will not raise council tax, and we will maintain our reserves.”

The question of the hour, Cllr Lee, would be how? And from everything that I have seen tonight it is a question which seems still to be worryingly unanswered.

But, at least Wokingham isn’t going to turn into Greece. Thank God for that.

Bins and Stealth Taxes in Wokingham Borough

The rubbish bin- where, I humbly submit, Wokingham's new plans for their waste collection services belong

Timing is a funny thing, isn’t it? Just last night I blogged about the Wokingham council meeting tonight, calling upon residents to come along and help hold the council to account, and today three pieces of related news drop into my lap.

Firstly, The Wokingham Times run a story titled “Council defends bid to privatise libraries“- about that libraries plan which definitely was outsourcing, not privatisation, and they absolutely aren’t the same thing, not even a little, no sir! Anyway the article didn’t reveal anything much new, apart from that libraries are going to be debated tonight at the Executive meeting. And, of course, the universally hostile response in the comments was uplifting.

Secondly, in the course of my day job over at Political Scrapbook, we published this story about waste collection. The basic thrust of the story is a letter, from Bob Neil MP and Lord Henley at the Department of Communities and Local Government, which seems to indicate that the the Department considers some of Wokingham’s plans to be illegal.

A bit of background first. Wokingham are planning on a number of changes to their waste collection services. Chief amongst these are the rolling out of new bags for household waste, which each household will be limited to 80 per year. Anything required beyond this will have to be purchased, at a rate of £0.40 per bag. In addition, there will be a new £60 annual fee for green waste collection, a service which was previously free. Somehow, Cllr Gary Cowan thinks that this will increase recycling, rather than fly tipping, in the borough.

But take a look at what Bob Neil thinks about this, in a letter published on their website:

“…it has come to our attention that a small minority of local authorities may be exceeding their legal powers in relation to charging householders for waste services.”

“In short, councils cannot introduce ‘backdoor’ bin charging for mainstream waste collections or waste disposal. Such stealth taxes are not legal and are contrary to the policy direction of the new Government.”

The “not legal” part seems particularly conclusive there to me. I’m reliably informed by local Lib Dem leader Cllr Prue Bray that this matter has been raised before. Apparently they were brushed off by the Chief Executive at the time. I hear that her successor is looking more deeply into it, and I commend him for it, as I really don’t see any room for ambiguity here.

So if even Eric Pickles and co think that Wokingham’s plans are illegal, the residents don’t like them, and they aren’t even going to work, it might be fair to suggest that the policy is a bit of a mess. Especially when I bring in my third piece of news: that the council spent £90,000 of local taxpayers’ money coming up with a mission statement that seems oddly similar to the last one:

“A great place to live, an even better place to do business”

When you’re facing your library services being sold off, adult social care services already sold off, new charges for waste collection (what was it that council tax was supposed to pay for again) and a local government that seems uninterested in what residents think, that seems like £90k well spent, at least! Right?

…Right?

An Invitation to the Public Gallery of Wokingham Borough Council

You are cordially invited to a holding-to-account of Wokingham Borough Council, on the day of their budget. It take place at Shute End, at 8pm on 23rd February, and I look forward to seeing you all there.

On Thursday, the day I’ve been ranting to myself about for a while now will get here. Yes, Wokingham Borough Council will be debating their budget. Well, I say debating. Since I’ve called everything correctly so far, from their refusal to let anyone see it more than a week before time, to the complete unsustainability of year on year council tax freezes, I’ll reiterate my predication that it will be passed with a drab raising of hands from the Conservative majority.

Except, that doesn’t sound like democracy is supposed to work. Or at least, it’s not in my book. When was the last time that any of you felt you had any control over what your local representatives did in your name?

Do you remember when the petition against the privatisation of the libraries was going around? Maybe you even signed it? That was the first time that a popular petition had forced a debate at a full council meeting. It showed the concern of the people at how one of their valued public services. What the Conservatives do? They ignored the concerns, and belittled those presenting the petition. The whole performance was a complete disgrace.

There are some more petitions that will be coming up to the correct number soon, including one which will trigger a debate on the council’s decision to remove public toilets. But as long as the Conservatives think that they can do whatever they like and at no point face scrutiny or consequence, exactly the same thing with happen as with the previous debate.

So here’s what I’m proposing. On Thursday 23rd February 2012, at 2000hrs, Wokingham Borough Council we be debating the sham of their budget. I will be there, watching from the public gallery. If you want to see the contempt that your local government holds you in, if you want to come and voice your displeasure with their actions, then why not come and join me?

Every resident has the right to come and watch public meetings. The public gallery isn’t particularly huge, but we can get a fair number of people in there- and imagine how uncomfortable it would make councillors to know that the very people by whose votes are there are watching and paying attention to their words and votes.

Let me be clear: this will not solve the problems in Wokingham local governance. That will take time, and it will take effort. But this will be a start, a first step on the road to putting people back at the heart of politics. Wherever you consider yourself to be politically, come see our council in action.

If you want to, then the council chambers are at SHUTE END, WOKINGHAM RG40 1BN. The meeting starts at 8pm, and goes on until we’ve all lost any faith in humanity (though, if you’re there for 7pm then you can watch the Executive Committe eat their meeting, too). If you want to talk to me about any of this, then you can do so in public in the comments below, or in private using my contact form.

But it really would be wonderful to see you there.

UPDATE: Somehow I missed this on the agenda, but The Wokingham Times are today trailing a non-story about the library privatisation plans- with the only piece of new information being that the Executive Committee are debating it tonight. For anyone who felt a little distanced from the general budget discussions, this might be of interest to you.

I’ve written about the library plans before, but the gist of it is that after last May’s elections (despite having made no mention of it in the campaign) the Conservatives announced they were “outsourcing” the library service. No consultation, and no asking what anyone thought. The plan is to award a contract in May (after the elections, perchance?), but strong indications have already been made that US company LSSI will get it.

If you’re interested, the Executive Committee meet at the same place, starting at 7pm. I’ll definitely be trying to get there for it myself.

Real Life Rears its Head

So, as predicted, I won’t have time to scrutinise the Wokingham local budget. It would be unfair to place blame for this entirely upon the Conservative administration, but their behaviour with local democracy is nothing short of an embarrassment. It’s likely as not that I wouldn’t have had time within the week- the solitarity week!- that they allowed that I wouldn’t have been able to devote the time needed, but even if not yesterday’s migraine made sure of it.

I’ve never liked the word “migraine”. It doesn’t seem to sum up what it feels like. Then again, neither does “headache”. I had my first headache at about age 11. In year 7, it started early in the morning. A niggle, an annoyance, a hint of an ache. By second lesson it had matured, not into a headache but a sensual breakdown. My co-ordination went first, then my speech, then my vision. After a few painkillers and a couple of hours sleep, I was right as rain. But it shook me quite deeply.

I still get them, from time to time. They roll out of clear skies and blot me out for an afternoon. Usually they’re annoying, but nothing more. Yesterday’s was a bit hairier. From about 2pm until 3am this morning I was slipping in and out of consciousness, in utter agony, trying to pop enough painkillers and get enough sleep to make it stop.

Thankfully that’s a rarity, but it blew a hole in plans I had made. The migraine-hurricane hit exactly a sentence into a new story, which has now had it’s flow changed. It may well be that it will end up is better than where I had intended it to go, but I’ve still lost a day writing it. Which is…annoying. But that’s sadly how it goes.

I keep having to manoeuvre my life plans around real life, every time it rears its head.

The Cult of Council Tax

Here, on Thursday 23rd February, Wokingham Borough Council will vote on the budget for the next year, with embarrassingly little scrutiny or debate

So, a week from the debate where it will be doubtless rubber-stamped with as little debate as possible, Wokingham Borough Council have released their budget for 2012/2013. Make no mistake, this is only because the law forces them to- if they could, the first any of us would see of it would be when it was debated on the floor of the chamber.

I haven’t had a chance to properly scrutinise it- and likely as not I won’t until it’s already been passed- but if you want to have a look, feel free to. The budget itself can be found here (with thanks to RobDennis), and if you see something you don’t like, feel free to tell your (likely-as-not Conservative) councillor(s). You might also want to ask them why only a week has been allowed for resident scrutiny, and the publication of the budget timed so as that by the time the paper version of The Wokingham Times can report on it, it will only be the day before the debate. Just an idea.

So far, the biggest headline has been the frozen council tax- made possible by the grant from central government for that purpose. A cynic might suggest that this is hiding something more unsavoury in the budget. One suspects, however, that Wokingham would have kept it frozen regardless of the grant, given that they have previously frozen it and the glee with which they’re cutting and selling off services.

This is a recurring theme of Conservatives in local government: council tax must be cut or frozen at all costs. And really, only a fool could believe it can be done without cost. There are doubtless efficiency savings that can be made in areas, but on the whole local taxation goes to pay for local services. If the amount of money that local government receives is cut (and a freeze is a cut in real terms, as inflation means a sum one year is not worth the same as the next) then it has less to spend on service provision.

And there are problems too with central government’s scheme to provide grants for councils to freeze council tax. Foremost is that the money is only guaranteed for this year. It’s very unlikely that, with economic and deficit reduction policies failing, the Tory-led coalition will be able to repeat this populist handout. Hence councils who take the money this year to freeze their tax will next year be faced with an increased gap- and have to raise it by twice as much to make up the gap. That council tax freeze will look really good this time next year when residents are facing a huge hike.

Wokingham residents are already seeing hints of things to come as far as that is concerned. Social care and library services being sold off. Charges introduced for different kinds of waste collection. That will only get worse as money gets tighter. What’s more important, shaving a few pounds off your council tax bill, or keeping services flowing and available to all? I suppose that’s the dividing line between parties.

I also find it ironic that this doesn’t actually mean that council tax bills won’t go up. Local authorities make up only a part of the sum, parish council precepts and other charges making up the rest. And, as you might guess, parish councils don’t get a lovely big government grant to make up their losses.

The Conservatives like to paint this as black and white. To them, cutting/freezing council tax is good, and raising it is bad. But local government is there for something, to provide essential services to residents. If funding is cut to the bone then services will suffer, that’s the simple truth that Eric Pickles and David Lee alike seem not to grasp. I’m not advocating council tax rises; I’m simply calling for a more reasoned look at what the money pays for, and what the consequences of a cut could be.

An Evening with Quercus

The first party bag I've had in years!

So, last night myself and Ashleigh headed into London for what was styled a “digital shindig”, held by the publishing house Quercus Books. Held in the basement of trendy pub-style establishment Mason & Taylor, we spent a couple of hours with a selection of writers, bloggers and publisher staff.

I’ve said it many times before, but I’m convinced that genre (and writing in general) people are the nicest people you could wish to meet. And Quercus seem to have raised this to an art form; being greeted through the door with a free bar and a huge bag of books (see photo) is a truly excellent welcome!

Of the guests, we spent the majority of the time talking with author Tom Fletcher, and the reviewer Mark from My Favourite Books. I was privy to excellent conversations about books, films, TV, and life in general. It was rather refreshing and inspiring to be having those conversations in the flesh, as opposed to on a screen.

The staff, also, were incredibly friendly and welcoming. It was helpful that they remembered Ashleigh from her work placement stint there before Christmas, but Nicola, Kathryn (sp?) and Dan in particular provided a fascinating insight into the internal workings of publishers.

To an aspiring writer like myself, it was something of a dream. It’s also brilliant to see Quercus taking the internet so seriously, not just from how they can use it directly, but the influence that the (and I loathe this word) blogosphere actually wields. It wasn’t a press briefing, it was simply a chance to chat with and have a drink with some cool people, and leave with a pile of books.

Bravo, Quercus. Bravo indeed.