I would like to take this opportunity to thank Councillor Preston Brooker for his letter last week in the Slough Express. It tells us a lot about what Slough Labour think of residents.
I would also like to thank Councillor Brooker for admitting that the recycling in the Slough area is poor - but I am astounded to read that he is, in part at least, blaming the good residents of Slough for contaminating the normal waste as one of the reasons recycling rates in Slough are one of the lowest in the country. You must ask yourself – wouldn’t a solid waste management strategy, better door-step and public recycling facilities and improved information for residents be better than blaming?
With regards to the Children’s Services, whilst Councillor Brooker agrees that there is a problem and the Council is working with the Children’s Trust to improve the care of the children, the question that has to be asked that with all the work going on between the Council and the Children’s Trust why there still is a problem, surely the council should have control back by now? Clearly the damage done by years of mismanagement was too great in the first place.
I agree with Councillor Brooker that there are mainly good and outstanding schools in Slough, but there are some that are falling short of the standards expected as shown in figures released by the Department for Education last week, such as Wexham School, which is under the control of Slough Borough Council. Again, we must ask, what is the Labour Council doing to support the children and teachers of these schools?
In the 10 years Labour have controlled our council, it has done very little in order to improve the quality of life for the residents of Slough – with things worsening such as congestion and air pollution. Rather than focus on this, Labour feels the need to focus on burdening future generations of Slough residents with vast sums of new debt, such as the £40million+ on a new Council building and huge sums of money on staff pay-outs.
Many residents I have spoken to on the doorsteps over the last year are left in no doubt that only a Conservative Council would put resident’s quality of life first to improve residents lives now and into the future and would not cover up mismanagement by spending millions on big shiny new buildings and facilities. It is good quality services people really need Preston.
Many Thanks,