Press release: Conservatives enhance centres for community with membership scheme

At the Council Meeting on Thursday (1 October), the Conservative Group voted to confirm the decision already taken by the Conservative Executive to introduce a Key Card membership scheme for users of Community Centre services at a cost of just £8 a year, reduced to £4 for those entitled to concessionary benefits.

The enhanced scheme will give members continued access to services such as lunches, hairdressing, special events and priority bookings for outings, all at subsidised costs. Bathability and Chiropody services will still be open to all. 

Consultation has been carried out between the Council and centre managers, users and ‘friends of groups’ who agree with the principles behind the membership scheme.  Contrary to incorrect information released by the Liberal Democrats, the membership fee will not apply to volunteers or carers who give their time to help at the centres, unless they choose to access the services when they are not in a volunteering or caring role.

Leader of the Executive, Councillor John Kingsbury said: “I believe this Centre Key Card scheme, which will be incorporated immediately into the existing Key Card scheme in support of promoting and developing the Council’s health and well-being agenda, represents excellent value-for-money.

“It will give Day Centre Members the opportunity to enjoy a range of other Council venues and services as well as access to discounts with around 30 retail partners.

“In these challenging economic times, our aim must be to use Council funds to provide sustainable services that we can justify to all council tax taxpayers.  A similar Community Centre membership scheme operates across almost all Surrey Boroughs.”

It is intended to introduce the new Community Centre Key Card on 1 January, 2010.

Press release: Conservatives support shops and shoppers with car parking freeze

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.”

The trouble with Thameswey

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!