THERE can be no doubt it has been a difficult year for local government, with inflation running rampant and demand on services increasing as people struggle with the cost-of-living crisis.
For outgoing Reading Labour leader Jason Brock, it has been a challenge, but one he feels the council has weathered well.
“Yes, it is financially challenging times for all local authorities, there are things we would love to be doing that we simply aren’t able to,” he says.
“We might all hope for a general election and a Labour government who, we hope, will be a much better friend to local government recognising the benefits that can bring.
“But we are in a robust and resilient financial situation, even if I would wish there is a little bit more cash on hand to allow us to be a bit more ambitious around a few things.”
Labour says there is a £16 million shortfall in the budget that the council has had to find to meet the increased demand on services.
“Over the past five/six years in Reading we’ve been very good at protecting frontline services, it is what residents rely on. While some of our near neighbours have been making and proposing cuts, we’ve been able to protect our frontline services.
“We’ve made savings principally by trying to find new ways of raising income … and being a little bit more commercial in how we do things. At the same time, we’ve looked at things behind the scenes where we could make savings. It is increasingly challenging.
“I’m worried not so much about the financial year we’ve just entered, but the years beyond that. The pressures around adult social care and children’s social care are not going away.
“It’s a national problem. We need a Labour government that will step up and really try to deal with those very entrenched issues in the social care marketplace and seek to push things forward in a way that means local councils are able to be funded sustainably, otherwise I really do worry about the future of councils up and down the country in a few years’ time.”
The party’s manifesto for the local elections is broadly like last year’s, a mixture of work already started or about to, with some longer-term aims. Is this down to a lack of vision, money, or both?
Jason says it’s because the party sees its manifesto as a four-year project.
“Our manifesto is projected over a longer horizon, so it looks similar to the one voters will have seen just last year, and the year before that. But it is trimmed down because, in the space of 12 months, we’ve managed to deliver a pretty hefty chunk of what we had promised to voters last year, and we continue to progress with the other things we pitch to the electorate.
Council tax rose by the maximum, something Jason is unhappy with. “Unfortunately, that’s what we have to do if we wan to protect the services we offer here in Reading, and it’s a very comprehensive range of services.”
He said there are provisions in place to help those on the lowest incomes through its Council Tax Support Scheme.
“My ideal outcome would be a review of the entire system of council tax, because it is frankly absurd, that we are setting this on the basis of property values from the early 1990s.”
The council’s accounts are affected by a national problem within the audit sector, which is frustrating Jason: “It needs to be resolved, that requires some government action, and from the audit firms themselves.”
Despite this, “an awful lot of progress has been made here in Reading compared to the problems we found with our 2016-17 accounts. The audit sector continues to let us down and some of the work is a little bit slower than I would have liked.”
Earlier this year, the council launched a consultation on the future of its Homes For Reading scheme. Launched eight years ago, it aimed to buy properties which it could then rent out to long-term tenants. If it folds and the housing stock is repurposed by the council, it could see some families stuck when their tenancies end.
“We will work with them to find them new accommodation. It might be through our own internal processes, it might be helping them to access the private sector,” Jason promised.
“We have worked out a way to take those properties from Homes For Reading in house, so we can provide council housing for key workers, something there is a particular demand for.
“I know the housing team have been doing a tremendous amount of work with those tenants, and they will continue to do so. The proposal on the table is quite measured and one that is necessary for financial reasons but will be beneficial in terms of providing increased key worker accommodation.”
A manifesto pledge is to gain powers to enforce speed limits. Is that another way of fleecing motorists?
“We would be quite happy with any funds raised from that process to go to the police as they presently do,” Jason says. “Our concern is police speed enforcement has not been a high enough priority, but for our residents it can be tremendously important. We’ve lobbied the police and crime commissioner, and written to the government.
“It is not about improving our bottom line; it’s trying to deliver for residents on an issue that is a huge issue on the doorsteps.”
The party aspires to improve the cycle network and bus lanes, with £26.3m coming from the government to boost active travel around the town in a bid to reduce the number of cars on the road.
“Our bus service improvement plan is very comprehensive. We’re still delivering it, but the positive impact of reducing fares has got more people on buses. I am concerned when that funding ends in May next year and what the future might be,” says Jason.
“We are in the process of beginning to deliver some of the big infrastructure pieces, new bus lanes, across the town. Some will be controversial, but they will have a huge effect in terms of speeding up bus journeys. At the end of the day, that is how we’re going to get more people on the bus: your bus needs to be quicker, easier, cheaper. That is exactly what the bus service improvement plan is delivering, here in Reading.”
Another manifesto pledge is to explore a rat run charge. Is this just congestion charging under another name?
“No, it would only apply to those coming from outside of the borough, passing through the borough, without stopping in the borough,” Jason explains. “If you’re coming in for education, work, leisure, or retail, then it wouldn’t apply.
“We’re trying to say there is an endemic issue, people are using Reading as a runaround, but other routes are available, why not use them? If you’re choosing to come through the borough, congesting our roads, causing air quality issues, but adding nothing to our town, it’s right we look at mitigating the effects of that. It’s not about raising revenue; it’s about trying to discourage people from driving through on pointless journeys when better and more appropriate routes are available.”
On housing, Jason says some family homes are being built on the former golf course in Emmer Green, while some of the flats will also be large enough to accommodate families.
“Land is being used for family homes, but in the dense urban area in the town centre, it’s very likely flats are going to be built,” he says. “They can be large enough and with adequate communal space and local facilities that they can be family homes. It works all over the world.
“The problem we have in Reading is our planning system allows far too much latitude to developers to be able to ignore particular elements of housing need and councils have insufficient powers.”
With fly-tipping, Jason says the council has begun to increase the number of fines it issues for the problem to try and discourage it.
“We’ll review the bulky waste collection service and see how we might be able to make it work better, because newer regulations have made it harder to deliver,” he says, adding that the council is looking are proactive enforcement on dropping litter on the streets.,” he says, adding that the council is looking are proactive enforcement on dropping litter on the streets.
“We also recently invested in increasing the size of our waste enforcement team. They will be a much more proactive operation in terms of visiting houses of multiple occupation, student residences and so on because they are, through no malice, exactly the kind of places where misunderstanding can end up contributing to the detritus that we see floating about the streets.”
Concluding, Jason says: “Reading Labour continues to deliver for Reading, as we have been for a number of years. While other councils are making cuts, we are investing in our town because have built a platform of financial stability.
“What makes Reading Labour different to other parties is we have proper community councillors embedded in their local neighbourhoods, who are working for residents all year round.
“We will continue to work as hard as we possibly can to deliver for residents across our town because its our town too. It’s where we all live, and we care about it a great deal.”
