Denzil Coulson

Tonight at Full Council, the Tories ignored Lib Dem appeals for a pilot scheme to test the efficacy of residents having to pay for an £8 membership card to use our community centres. We argued that applying such a scheme only raises an estimated £11 000 to £15 000 and the costs of implications of running such a scheme may offset the perceived benefits.

People, especially on low incomes, may be put off using our community centres because of the cost of a membership card thus decreasing the community centre usage as a whole. We also stated that it would make far more sense to use the income generated from the 5 000 residents who have bought green wheelie bin subscriptions, which is far higher than the estimate anticipated before the scheme was started. There the extra £11 000 can easily be found instead of applying a “stealth tax” for a community membership card on the largely least well-off residents in Woking. But to no avail. Tories don’t listen despite their pretensions of wanting cross-party co-operation.

But what was even more outrageous was Council Leader, John Kingsbury’s personal attack on me for a quote that was mentioned in the News and Mail today and I quote what was printed from my press release:

“It is wrong to expect volunteers to have to pay for a membership card to help out with the use of the facilities at our community centres. Where is the incentive for them to help out when they are expected to pay an annual £8 fee?”

What the News and Mail neglected to mention was that I made specific reference to the fact that volunteers would have to carry a membership card if they used the facilities, which was clearly stated to us by John Kingsbury at the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 14 September 2009. I stated and I quote from my press release of 22 September:

“…Lib Dem councillors found out that the Conservative-controlled Executive will require volunteers to pay the annual £8 membership card to help out at our community centres in Woking, if they also use the facilities.”

This part was not printed in the newspaper.

Then on 24 September, John Kingsbury released a briefing paper for last night’s Full Council stating that volunteers would not have to carry a membership card provided that they are there in their volunteering capacity. However, they will have to carry a card outside of their volunteering responsibilities if they wish to use the community centre facilities. This was two days after my press release was issued.

As a Council Leader, John Kingsbury, could have picked up the phone and checked the facts with me before having a go at me publicly in a personal tirade. I do hope that an apology is forthcoming as the Mayor did request him to withdraw his remarks for accusing me for the Woking News and Mail’s editorial licence. He refused to do so, which is unbecoming behaviour for a Council Leader, in my view. I have since e-mailed him the press release I sent out. I may yet receive a formal apology.