Cllr Pauline Jorgensen, Leader of the Conservative Group, said: “The Conservative Group believes in offering residents genuine choice in how they get about. We want to make it easier for people walk, cycle, and use public transport. We also understand that many people rely on their cars day to day. Residents are best place to decide what works for their busy lives.
“For many people in rural parts of the Borough, people with mobility issues, those with young families or people who just prefer to do a big weekly shop we know their car is a necessary expense rather than an optional luxury. Under the Liberal Democrats drivers have been punished with huge increases in parking fees. The Lib Dem councillor in charge of Highways openly said that the doubling of parking fees was partly to reduce the number of cars coming into our towns by reducing “inappropriate journeys”. But the result of that is to make driving unaffordable for those struggling.
“If we were elected, we would invest more in road and pavement repairs and ensure better quality repairs than we are seeing under the Lib Dems.
“We are also concerned about funding for improvements being spent on designs rather than benefiting residents. Wokingham Borough received £606,215 from the Department for Transport's Active Travel Fund last year. Instead of spending this on actual improvements to our cycleways and paths the Liberal Democrat administration allowed it to be swallowed up by paperwork.
“If we are elected as the Council’s administration, we would commit to working to ensure that people have a genuine choice and good quality sustainable travel options.”
