File photo dated 06/05/10 of a voter placing a ballot paper in the ballot box. More than half of people say climate change will influence the way they vote in the next general election, a survey suggests..
The three main parties are contesting all 18 seats up for grabs this election in Wokingham. Voters in the borough go to the polls on Thursday, May 6, although many are expected to vote by post due to concerns over the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. It will see all three of the Wokingham party leaders try to cling onto their seats on the council. John Halsall, the incumbent borough council leader for the Conservative party, will be fending off Liberal Democrat challenger Martijn Andrea and Labour candidate Stuart Cranier in Cllr Halsall’s current seat of Remenham, Wargrave and Ruscombe. Last election, in 2016, Cllr Halsall received a majority of 704 votes, winning 930 votes in total.
All the Conservative candidates standing for election in Wokingham in 2021 There are 18 Conservative candidates who will be competing for seats on Wokingham Borough Council at this year’s local election. The party is looking to keep control of the council, as it currently holds 31 of the 54 seats. There will be 18 seats up for grabs at this year’s election, which will be held on May 6, and the Tories are looking to win all of them. Last year’s election was postponed by the coronavirus pandemic, but people are being assured it will be safe to head to the polls in 2021.
People in Wokingham hit with council tax increase PEOPLE in Wokingham have been hit with a council tax increase.
Wokingham Borough Council has approved plans for a 4.99 per cent hike in 2021/22, meaning people living in Band D properties will see their annual bill rise to £1,620.14. According to the Conservative-run council, 3 per cent of that increase will generate income that can only be spent on caring for elderly and vulnerable adults in Wokingham. Additional precepts that raise money for the Thames Valley Police, Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue and your local parish council will also be added to that bill. The increase was approved by a majority verdict, after the ruling Tories said they need it because the cost of providing council services continues to rise but funding from central government has dried up.
The site in Grazeley had been earmarked for 15,000 homes A project to build 15,000 homes in a garden town in Grazeley “is not dead” despite concerns about a potential nuclear emergency. Cllr John Halsall, leader of Wokingham Borough Council, said the scheme has not been scrapped but “alternatives are being investigated”. It was thrown into doubt, after a Detailed Emergency Planning Zone (DEPZ) was extended to cover most of the site, that is within a couple of miles of nuclear weapons factory AWE Burghfield. That means that anyone living in the zone could be affected by a “reasonably foreseeable” radiation emergency.