COUNCILLORS came together 'with reluctance' at a meeting on Friday (Dec 14) to vote for the disclosure of the costs of Wokingham’s town centre regeneration.

At the meeting, Liberal Democrats councillor Prue Bray submitted a motion demanding the council should, by the end of December, publish a report detailing the costs associated with the regeneration project so they are available in “one single place”.

She said: “This should not be difficult to achieve. The regeneration is a huge project costing a lot of money. One would expect its budget to be being closely monitored, so the numbers should be close to hand.

“We want to know the full figures. We have a right to know the full figures – and so do the general public. It is important, given the squeeze on council finances.

“We shouldn’t need to root around in the innards of the council to try to work out what’s going on.

“That is the situation at the moment and it isn’t good enough.”

However Conservative councillor Keith Baker proposed an amendment to Cllr Bray’s motion, which suggested that the figures should be released “at the eventual conclusion of each individual project” which will be “reviewed by the relevant Scrutiny Committee” and “subject to the normal restrictions due to commercial sensitivity.”

Cllr Baker said: “Income and expenditure which has already happened in previous financial years must have been accounted for in the council’s accounts, which have all been properly signed off.

“This means that all the information relating to past spend on the Wokingham town centre regeneration project should be really identifiable and available to be pulled together into one document covering the whole project.”

The Lib Dems group were allowed a five minute adjournment to discuss the amendment before coming back to vote for the Cllr Baker’s additional proposals.

Although Cllr Bray said she voted for the amendment “with reluctance”.

Earlier in the meeting, audience member Rachel Bishop-Firth where she could find the “decision which gives the total overall scope and budget for the Wokingham regeneration project?”

Cllr Stuart Munro, the executive member for business, economic development and strategic planning said: “Due to the nature of the detailed financial information, this is generally within the confidential Part 2 section of the report and is not public.

“Whilst we recognise this can be frustrating for some, the requirement for confidentiality is important as the appraisals include a range of highly sensitive information such as the maximum purchase prices for properties, detailed cost breakdowns, and minimum acceptable rental levels to name a few critical ones.

“All of which, if made public, would prevent us being able to achieve best value for the borough and its residents.”