Cllr John Kingsbury’s speech to council on Monday was the benchmark for the municipal year and come the elections in 2011, it will be on this document – containing as it did reference to our manifesto – on which the council will be judged. I reproduce it below for reference and comment.

Cllr John Kingsbury

At the first council meeting of the municipal year, Cllr John Kingsbury was re-elected as leader of the executive, even if with no overall control he can’t quite claim to be leader of the council. John took over as leader of the executive in 2008, was re-elected last year and this is the third confirmation in his position, which makes it the longest tenure since Jim Armitage.

In him, Woking has both an experienced and gentle touch. I’ve known John for many years going back to my reporting days and no-one cares more deeply about doing the right things for the borough than him. A consensus politician in the best possible sense, John has friends across the chamber and it says much about him that in a situation where the necessity for cross-party working could not be starker, he is the person the council as a whole feels can best deliver that.

I believe that he is the best choice for Woking and that he has a strong executive team in people like David Bittleston, Beryl Hunwicks and Graham Cundy to support him.

No doubt there are those who would prefer a more robust approach and who believe that it is possible to force through more fundamentally Conservative policy. Perhaps if the elections had left us with different maths, there might be a case for that but at the moment the only way to keep things working at Woking Borough Council is compromise and negotiation – the electorate, after all, has spoken. The 80-odd votes in key areas that would have seen things emerge differently weren’t won and that is something that needs to be put aside now we are into the real business of the council.

In his speech to council, John was quite clear that those in local government at the present time face great challenges ahead over services and financial pressures. But he maintained that a focus on service improvement was the key guiding principle of the council and that he would look to deliver everything in the Conservative manifesto – low council tax, community investment, 60% recycling, green belt protection, youth facilities and community law and order – in co-operation with the other parties.

Both he and Lib Dem leader Ric Sharp referenced the national coalition, with Cllr Sharp finishing his speech by quoting the PM. It might not be the Grand Coalition but if John believes he can make it work for the residents of Woking, I’m more than happy to put my trust in his judgement.

PS I had a great deal of fun doing a live Twitter feed from the public gallery tonight, pity the council doesn’t have a better 3G signal or even WiFi.

At its meeting on Thursday (11 February), the Conservative Executive agreed to deliver the pledge given by the Leader of the Executive, Cllr John Kingsbury, in May 2009 not to increase the Woking element of council tax by more than the Bank of England’s CPI inflation forecast.  

Although this figure now stands at 2.9%, the Executive agreed to recommend to Full Council on 22 February a council tax increase limited to 2.5%. This modest increase equates to £4.95 per year or 10p per week for a Band D council taxpayer.  

For a Band H taxpayer – the highest property banding – the increase for the Woking element of council tax will be £9.90 per year or 19p per week.

Leader of the Executive, Cllr John Kingsbury said: “While we know no-one likes to see council tax increases, we believe that in this challenging economic climate, we have kept faith with our pledge and kept this increase in Woking’s share of council tax to the very minimum. 

“At the same, we have managed the council’s budget to ensure that there will be no cuts to any of its core services. I believe this is an important message that Woking residents will want to hear from their Conservative administration.”

Woking’s Conservative group delivered an early Christmas present to residents on Thursday evening when it put forward a motion to freeze the charges the council levies on residents for green waste collection until 2011.

At the meeting of full council, the group decided that to encourage people to use the green bin collection scheme, it would suspend any price increase during the first year of operation. The council is also planning to introduce weekly food waste collection at the beginning of 2010.

Leader of the Executive John Kingsbury said: “Having considered this issue very carefully and having weighed up the challenges we face in balancing the budget, we felt that increasing the charges for green waste collection in the first year of operation would be wrong.

“The Conservative group is very aware of the lasting effects of the recession on hard-working people in Woking and even if the signs of recovery begin to show it will take a long time to shake off the terrible problems this government has led us into.

“We have already committed to keeping council tax as low as possible for Woking residents and we similarly felt that 2010 was too early to be asking people to pay more for the green bin subscription service.”

Leader of Woking Borough Council’s Conservative executive Cllr John Kingsbury said he was very pleased with the success of the new green waste collection scheme as more than 6,000 households had opted to receive the new bins.

The scheme, which started at the beginning of November, attracts around 20 new subscribers every day who receive a green garden waste bin to replace the current plastic sack scheme ending in December. This bin can then be filled with garden waste and is collected once every two weeks along with either household waste or recycling, depending where the subscriber lives.

Cllr Kingsbury, whose Conservative executive championed the scheme said: “It’s clear to me that Woking residents are seeing the benefits of the new green bin. These bins prevent a huge amount of plastic bags going to landfill and allow the council to plan collection routes more efficiently.

“More than 6,000 households signing up to the scheme also means that we have received substantial revenue to help pay for the service. This system will help us keep council tax as low as possible and is fairer for those people who either don’t have gardens or who already pay a service charge for their grounds maintenance.

 ”I am delighted with the scheme’s success thus far and hope that many more residents buy into our new arrangements which are environmentally friendly.”

The hospice on Hill View Road has been in discussion with the council about securing financial assistance since April as the effects of the recession bite into its fundraising ability. It recently suspended day centre services due to financial pressures.

Each year, Woking Hospice needs to raise around £2.6million to fund its end-of-life care but NHS Surrey gave only £423,000 to the charity for 2009/10 and future funding from the NHS looks bleak. The hospice estimates that it needs £300,000 by March 2010 to maintain its core services, which provide respite for families and dignity for patients.

Under proposals put forward to the executive, the council would provide £57,400 this year and will consider a similar amount annually until 2012/13 to fund home nursing services. This money would come initially from the Community Fund and subsequently from the Grants budget.

Conservative Leader of the Executive Cllr John Kingsbury said: “We provided £250,000 to set up Woking Hospice but since that time it has managed to raise enough funds without council help. But the recession has meant a big drop in donations and the amount of money it can raise.

“There are many competing calls on the council for money and we are already under a great deal of pressure but the benefits of the hospice’s work in the community are clear. It is vitally important that its work continues and the Conservative administration is determined to support this funding proposal.”

Jonathan Lord, the recently selected Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Woking said: “It is clear that Woking Hospice fulfils an essential role within our community.  I am delighted to support the Conservative administration’s efforts to help the hospice maintain its services during these tough economic times.”

Woking’s Conservative administration stepped up its support for the Woking Town Centre economy at last week’s meeting of the council’s executive with confirmation that it would not be foisting an increase in car parking charges on shoppers during the run-up to Christmas.

Proposals had been put forward that would have meant the half-hourly increments currently used for charging in the main town centre car parks would have been removed. Currently people shopping for an hour and 20 minutes only pay the hour and 30 minutes increment – removing this would have left them paying for two hours.

In rejecting the idea of increasing car park charges for a second time this year, leader of the executive Cllr John Kingsbury said that he was mindful of the recession and the effect that this was having on people’s pockets. The Conservatives have introduced a discount scheme in the car parks that allows people to park all day for £8 and up to six hours for £5.

“We are not going to make the same mistake that the Liberal Democrats made in 2006/7,” said Cllr Kingsbury. “The Lib Dem executive budgeted for increased charges in April and then again in August, which was totally wrong.

“The Conservative executive has agreed to invest money in the  Peacocks Shopping Centre, to allow Next to move into a much larger site and we will hopefully see further enhancements soon.

“This was not the right time to think about removing the half-hour increment, which would have had the effect of significantly increasing the cost of parking to residents. We want people to be able to support our businesses in Woking during the autumn and in the run-up to Christmas.

“Operating our car parks is not about raising revenue – it is about creating a balance between covering the costs of the service for the taxpayer, supporting businesses and providing an excellent service to visitors to the town in their cars.”

I’m beginning to understand how annoying I must have been as a journalist. I often used phrases that were technically true but stretched the lexicographical boundaries of semantics and the great English language. They nearly always made for better headlines and more irrate PRs.

This week, the News and Mail have carried on the noble traidtion with Woking taxpayers fund energy for Milton Keynes. Let’s start with the first par:

“Woking taxpayers have invested more than £44m in a company that provides
energy to Milton Keynes.”

No, they haven’t. Money for Thameswey has largely come from borrowing and money for the subsidaries has entirely been taken from the money markets. Nothing has come from the council taxpayer ie through council tax to fund Thameswey operations.

The paragraph implies that the company only supplies energy to Milton Keynes – it doesn’t. Most of its activities are Woking-based, including subsidising cavity insulation for residents and providing information on energy efficiency. Furthermore, Cllr John Kingsbury and the Conservative executive have pledged to conclude operations in MK early at the end of Phase I and that no new borrowing be approved for further project. There has been no such pledge from the Liberal Democrats.

Bob Shatwell, always good for a quote, thinks the whole thing is “scandalous”, which is about as good as it gets from him. Chris Bore makes a much more valid point – that the lack of transparency about Thameswey – which Ray Morgan insists is just because he’s never gotten around to it – is it’s own worst enemy.

In good times, the company has failed to get across the message of its success. In bad times, the level of resentment is that much higher because people don’t understand what the big secret is and assume the worst.

When I was at the News and Mail, I tried to run a series of articles on Thameswey to explain its role to readers and spent several hours with Ray Morgan getting into the financial nitty-gritty. It was about as enthusiastically received as mouldy bread by editorial staff and stonewalled on the grounds that people weren’t interested. They can’t have it both ways!