So that is Wokingham Borough Council budget meeting over, the LibDems forced through their budget while the Conservatives and Labour voted against it, leaving residents to shoulder a 4.99% council tax rise. The contrast throughout the evening could not have been clearer. While The LibDems spoke endlessly of vague future promises, elaborate strategies and ever‑expanding plans, the reality of their record was laid bare. Conservatives pressed their Executive members time and again on failures, delays, and money poured into projects that have delivered nothing. In return we heard silence, deflection, or vague assertions that tomorrow would somehow be brighter than today.
Not once did the Executive Member for Environment acknowledge her disastrous Barkham Solar Farm venture, a project that has cost £4 million without even reaching the contract stage. Instead of explaining this failure, she sought to commit another £18.5m of public money to a second solar farm, as though repeating the same mistake might somehow bring a different outcome. The first rule of getting out of a hole is to stop digging, yet the LibDems seem determined to dig deeper.
The story was no better in Highways. Their spokespeople talked earnestly about 20mph limits and a string of indistinct future schemes while brushing over their enthusiasm for the notorious California Crossroads project, a leaf‑patterned structure costing millions that failed Wokingham Borough Council’s own safety audit due to the risks it posed to blind and visually impaired residents. And in the same breath, they expect residents to accept a cut in road maintenance, leaving essential repairs and potholes underfunded while vanity projects flourish.
Health and social care, one of the most vital responsibilities of the council, offered another sobering moment. Conservatives raised the stark statistic that only 9.5% of new mothers are receiving the checks to which they are entitled. Instead of urgency, empathy, or even acknowledgement, the responsible Executive member shrugged and insisted the failures were nothing to do with her, even though Wokingham Borough Council commissions and pays for these services on behalf of every resident. It was an abdication of responsibility that left the chamber stunned.
Their approach to the Local Plan has similarly failed the community. Residents now find themselves exposed to unchecked development. A recent FOI revealed that the council leader, despite constant public assurances, has never once written to the government to challenge housing targets. One cannot help but ask why. It is worth remembering that in the 2024 election, the LibDems campaigned on building even more homes than Labour, including Garden Villages, a fact that now sits uneasily beside their inaction.
Let’s not forget the LibDems cynical campaign to oppose the 3,900+ development at Hall Farm. They told residents they were on their side to gain their vote. Once in power, they voted in favour of the damaging development and told residents it was ‘a done deal’ and that they could do nothing about it.
The pattern extends through every major project. The LibDems have lost control of the council, of their property portfolio, and of the contracts they manage. The flats scheme at Carnival Pool, once promised to generate a £1.4 million profit, is now two years overdue. It is expected to lose £1.3 million; a staggering £2.7 million reversal shouldered by the people of Wokingham Borough Council. Their care home project at Toutley has been abandoned altogether, with over £1 million of design costs written off without a single brick laid.
But the most troubling element of all is their persistent disregard for residents’ voices. Consultation after consultation has resulted in residents rejecting their proposals, and yet the LibDems repeatedly refuse to listen. They close their ears to feedback, dismiss the results, and press on as though public opinion were nothing more than background noise. For a group that claims to stand for transparency and engagement, their contempt for the views of those they represent is the most revealing failure of all.