THE borough council’s draft budget proposals are both alarming and unsurprising in equal measure.

After years of mismanagement, we learn that the £11 million black hole in RBWM’s finances is to be filled by scrapping subsidised parking for Advantage Card holders and slashing adult’s and children’s services – among a slew of other short-sighted “efficiency” measures, no doubt.

The so-called “challenging financial position” the council finds itself in follows a series of warnings in the run-up to the local authority elections in May 2019.

Sadly, many of those entrusted with a seat in the council chamber seem to have ignored the warnings entirely - enthusiastically campaigning for the members of parliament for Windsor and Maidenhead whose government presided over swingeing cuts to local authority budgets, don’t forget.

The axe that looms over the Advantage Card parking discounts has just recently, rightly, captured the collective anger of borough residents - with more than 5,500 signatories at the time of writing.

The real-world impact of the proposed changes will affect lives across our borough.

Is this what the Conservatives meant at the recent general election when they pledged to “level-up” communities across the country – further decimation of local services by robbing Peter to pay Paul?

I urge RBWM to reconsider and have petitioned the council to formally ask that they do so. Anyone in agreement can sign the petition on the council’s website: https://petitions.rbwm.gov.uk/Parking-subsidy/

Details of a protest against the punitive, profit-driven decisions of the council will be confirmed shortly.

Jacob Cotterill, Vice-chair and Press Officer, Maidenhead Constituency Labour Party (CLP), 4 College Avenue, Maidenhead, SL6 6AJ, 07703 326193

Margery Thorogood, Press Officer, Windsor Constituency Labour Party (CLP), 21 Albert Street, Windsor, SL4 5BT (mob. 07958 363203)