This administration at Wokingham has emphasised the importance of partnership working far more than any of its predecessors. Partnership brings benefits that the council alone would not be able to deliver.

A good example is the work of Hardship Alliance, which brings together local charitable and voluntary bodies with the council to help those in need. It has been able to do much more together than any one of us could have done singly.

Another example is the new strategic partnership between the council and the University of Reading. 

The council is discussing with the university how it can help us with our work on the climate emergency, on educational links with local schools, and wider skills training, as well as with specific research and employment projects. 

For the university, access to external funding is made easier if it can demonstrate meaningful community engagement.

A final example is the Berkshire Leaders’ Group, which brings together the leadership of the six Berkshire unitary councils.

Our meetings are leading to new collaborations between councils that will enable us to bid for government grants for specific projects of common interest with a much higher chance of success than if any of us were to bid on our own. 

There is another compelling reason for embracing partnerships. The council cannot carry on as it has in the past.

We hope that inflation will fall and the cost-of-living crisis will end soon. But even if it does, I find it hard to envisage a time when councils will be significantly better funded by central government than they are currently.

Wokingham receives less per head of population than any other council with comparable responsibilities in England. Only by working alongside others can we hope to deliver what the borough wants and needs.