It is with great sadness that Wokingham Liberal Democrats have learned that former party campaigner and Evendons Ward Councillor Helen Power, lost her long battle with cancer on Saturday 29th August.

Helen was part of the team that started the local Lib Dem revival on the Borough Council, winning her seat in Evendons Ward on a momentous night in May 2018. Tragically it was just 8 months later that Helen would have to resign as a Counsellor after undergoing what Helen described as 'brutal' chemotherapy treatment and being diagnosed with incurable cancer.

Wokingham Liberal Democrats are pleased that the issue of poverty is finally on the Council's agenda. Cllr Sarah Kerr, Liberal Democrat member for Evendons Ward said "for too long the issue of poverty and the inequalities associated with it have gone under the radar in Wokingham Borough. The narrative being pushed out there is that Wokingham is one of the least deprived authorities in the country and levels of poverty are relatively low. What this says to me is, 'we're doing OK,' but the truth is we're not. Wokingham Borough Council is benchmarking against other authorities in a country where poverty levels are increasing and social mobility is decreasing, and this was pre-Covid. How can over 7,000 children in this Borough be living in poverty and 3,500 households in fuel poverty be seen as 'we're doing OK?' This is why the Liberal Democrats requested this pressing issue is brought to the forefront and meaningful strategies and actions to effectively tackle poverty in our Borough discussed."

Imogen speaking at the Liberal Democrat Autumn 2020 Conference on supporting the motion against the governmetn land grab on planning

https://youtu.be/G-giMVgfHCM

I refer to your article on the introduction of the non-hessian hessian sacks, published in the paper dated 17^th September 2020. The Borough Council leader John Halsall is quoted as saying that if the Lib Dems wanted more information "I would have given it to them - they just had to ask for it."

I therefore refer to my written question, submitted on Monday 7^th September to the Executive Committee meeting scheduled for 11^th September, which was well within the deadline for questions.

We were delighted to see that so many people turned up for the Black Lives Matter protest in Wokingham at the weekend. We were not able to join them, as we were all self-isolating or shielding due to Covid-19. There will be many others who were in our situation, and the crowd would have been even bigger if everyone who wanted to be there had been able to go.