'Openness and honesty is what we need' say Lib Dems

12.00.00pm GMT Fri 19th Feb 2010

Wokingham Liberal Democrats are demanding that Conservative-run Wokingham Borough Council has a more open and honest budget setting process in place before next year, which provides more detail of what they plan to spend money upon.

Cllr Kay Gilder, Liberal Democrat Councillor for South Lake said: 'Last year's budget papers included the term "rationalisation of pavilions". This turned out to mean leaving sports clubs who were playing on the council's pitches with nowhere to change and nowhere to go to the toilet. Another was "savings on maintenance" which turned out to mean removing all the dog poo bins.

'Nobody could possibly have guessed what was going to happen to those two services by reading the budget. There was no detail and no explanation, so how could anyone have understood what the figures really meant and how the cuts in spending would affect the services?

'This year's budget is equally mysterious. How can we have a sensible discussion about council services and the way money is spent if the necessary information is hidden away with no proper detail and no explanation of what the figures mean in practice for council services?

'We need a little less concentration on transformation and a little more concentration on transparency.'