Tag Archives: woking borough council

Liberal Democrats have inherited a huge headache from the Conservatives in Woking. The Borough is quite small, with a population of around 100,000, and is located in archetypal Blue Wall Surrey, centred around the busy town of the same name. But as we all know there is now a very large patch of orange stretching across the county, and Woking Lib Dems led the way, taking control in 2022. Since the local elections earlier this month we now hold 20 of the 30 council seats, and our Leader is Councillor Ann-Marie Barker.

It’s important to note that the Conservatives were in control from 2011 to 2019, followed by two years of No Overall Control with a minority Conservative administration.

Now it’s common for an incoming administration to blame the previous one for the problems it faces. But this problem is in a league of its own because, as has now been revealed, the Conservatives racked up a debt of around £2 billion – yes, you read that correctly! That makes Woking the most indebted council in the UK, relative to its size, and Government commissioners have now been sent in.

With IMPORTANT correction. Woking Council has debts of £1.9bn and spending power of just £14m (!) – staggering recklessness. Which is why the government has today appointed commissioners to run the council. This was a Tory Council when the unsustainable liabilities were taken on.… https://t.co/y68rF3phZ5

— Robert Peston (@Peston) May 25, 2023

So how on earth does a small Council, in an admittedly affluent area, get into so much trouble? Yesterday the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities published a damning report into the whole sorry affair. It seems that the Council borrowed huge sums to regenerate the town centre.

As a result of past investment decisions, the council has failed its best value duty leaving an unprecedented legacy for the current leadership team, which they have not been able to address.