Earley Tories

04/07/2024

Great to have Earley & Woodley's most famous resident out knocking on doors with me in Woodley.
Polls close in a few hours, remember photo ID to vote.

04/07/2024

A great team out and about in Shinfield & Spencers Wood, lots of support for me to be the first MP for Earley & Woodley.
Polls are open till 10pm and remember photo ID to vote.

02/05/2024

Still time to vote or drop off your postal vote as polling stations close at 10pm.

Help us to take control of the borough council and save weekly bin collections and have better services for residents.

01/05/2024

We are proud to present our candidate team for the Wokingham Borough Wards in the proposed Earley and Woodley constituency.

You can use your 3 votes for 3 Conservative candidates to help us regain control and overturn the disastrous policies introduced by the Lib Dems since May 2022.

See more info about alll our candidates using the link below to our association website site.

​​​​​​In May 2024, there will be changes to the borough wards at the local elections in Wokingham.

25/04/2024

Want to know about Conservative policies for Wokingham Borough? Read our full manifesto here:

Please click below to read our manifesto

25/04/2024

Wokingham.Today interviewed Pauline Jorgensen earlier this week. Watch below to see why you should vote Conservative on Thursday to rid us of this inept LibDem council and seek a better future for Wokingham Borough.

24/04/2024

We now have a record number of officers in Thames Valley and a record budget of more than £584m. Whoever you choose to be your Police & Crime Commissioner on Thursday 2nd May will be responsible for that budget and continuing to invest in police officer, staff and crime prevention.

I've delivered increases in police officers each year that I have been in post and I am the only candidate with a clear plan for Thames Valley Police. Read my plan and back my campaign at matthewbarber.co.uk/plan

23/04/2024

Happy St George’s Day - a special day to celebrate our country and being English!

21/04/2024

Special guests Theresa and Philip May out campaigning in the new Earley and Woodley constituency with our team - supporting our wonderful candidate Pauline Jorgensen.

Thank you to everyone who answered the door to talk to us!

28/01/2024

Good day out yesterday listening to residents with a few friends - fun day out.

25/01/2024

Following my conversation with the Thames Valley Chief Constable and Matthew Barber the Police and Crime Commissioner I am pleased to report that Matthew unveiled a new approach to tackling retail crime this week.

Developed jointly with retailers, business groups and Thames Valley Police, the PCC’s Retail Crime Strategy sets out tangible actions to tackle shoplifting, retail crime and violence towards shop workers.

The strategy aims to support businesses and create a hostile environment for those who commit crimes in the local economy by focusing on 6 key pillars – Intelligence, Enforcement, Partnership, Prevention, Justice and Reassurance.

Matthew said "Many people see retail crime as a victimless crime, but it has a profound impact on retail staff, customers and the wider economy.

“My new Retail Crime Strategy sets out a series of tangible actions to help redress the balance. It includes the creation of a Business Crime Team within Thames Valley Police to improve investigations and identify prolific offenders and, with the rollout of Operation Purchase, the Force’s operational response to retail crime, increasing the visible presence of police officers and PCSOs in retail spaces as well as improving the officer response to reports, particularly incidents involving violence towards staff.

“A core aim of the strategy is to enhance the collaboration between businesses and the police to better tackle retail crime in addition to the policing response. To help facilitate this my office will soon be providing access to Disc – an online information-sharing and reporting platform which allows retailers to report and access information about crime such as shoplifting and anti-social behaviour (ASB). The system, which can be accessed as an app, also makes reporting to the police faster and more efficient as users can submit a crime report directly through the platform, removing the need to call 101.

“Taken together, I hope these measures will deliver a more visible, targeted and robust response to retail crime, increase the security and confidence of local businesses and help make high streets and retail spaces across the Thames Valley safer for us all.”

Matthew has been engaging with local, regional and national retailers and business groups for several months to better understand the challenges they face in relation to retail crime and today also marks the creation of the Thames Valley Strategic Retail Crime Forum which will build upon that engagement and strengthen the partnership between the police and businesses in tackling retail crime.

Christian Bunt, Assistant Chief Constable for Thames Valley Police, said: “Thames Valley Police is supporting the launch of the Retail Crime Strategy alongside the Police and Crime Commissioner, Matthew Barber. Over the last few months TVP has developed operational plans which will be led by our neighbourhood policing teams and our new Business Crime Team who will specialise in retail crime investigations.

“We understand the frustrations of the retail sector and hope that by introducing this new strategy, we can continue to work collaboratively with our partners and wider criminal justice system to bring offenders to justice.”

James Lowman, Chief Executive of the Association of Convenience Stores (ACS), said: “We are delighted to see the Police & Crime Commissioner prioritising retail crime and making it clear that shop theft and violence against shop workers will not be tolerated.

“Partnership working and information sharing are the keys to making this strategy work, and we want all retailers to engage with the police, report all crime and work together to identify and apprehend the prolific repeat offenders who blight communities.”

Nicki Juniper, Head of Security and Shrinkage at John Lewis Partnership, said: “We’re really pleased to see this important progress. Retail crime is not victimless, it has an emotional and financial impact on retail workers and customers. Whilst there is no single solution for tackling retail crime, we look forward to working collaboratively with Thames Valley Police, and others in the sector, to keep our Partners and customers safe.”

Jason Towse, Managing Director, Business services at the UK’s largest security provider, Mitie, added: “Partnerships between the police, the public and private sector enable us to combine valuable industry knowledge, establish a standard of best practice and rapidly tackle retail crime at its source, so the new Retail Crime Strategy is a welcome initiative.

“We’re proud to be amongst the partners of the initiative and will work closely with Thames Valley police, retailers and business groups to achieve our shared goal of combatting retail crime and creating a safer community.”

Today’s launch took place at Three HQ in Reading.

24/01/2024

Motorists making claims against the Council for pothole damage have snowballed under Liberal Democrat Leadership.

The Council’s own figures show that since 2021, claims for pothole damage to cars have increased by 500 per cent from just 24 to 144 in 2023.

Last year the Liberal Democrats cut the road repair budget in real terms.

The Conservatives increased the road repair budget for the last three years they were in office, from about £2m to £6m per annum.

In January 2023, the Liberal Democrats admitted reducing spending on fixing potholes in their own Revenue Monitoring Report.

In March, the Government gave Wokingham Borough an additional £589,200 to help maintain local roads.

In November, it was announced that Wokingham Borough will receive over £13 million of additional funding from the Conservative Government over the next eleven years for road repairs.

Cllr Charles Margetts said:

“The sheer increase in the numbers of these claims from just 24 in 2021 to 144 in 2023 illustrates what anyone driving around the Borough will already know: potholes have increased under the Liberal Democrats.

“This could be extremely serious if someone were to have an accident as a result of such poorly maintained roads.

“We have seen a number of anti-car policies from the Liberal Democrats and they have openly said they want to reduce “inappropriate journeys”. However, potholes are particularly hazardous to cyclists and pedestrians. This demonstrates the disconnect between Liberal Democrat rhetoric and action: they talk about wanting residents to walk and cycle but they don’t do what is needed.

“Fixing potholes is a priority for residents.

“The Liberal Democrats have cut the road maintenance budget in real terms. We tried to get the Liberal Democrats to boost the repairs budget last year, but we were ignored.

“The previous Conservative administration had an excellent record on road repairs.

“Wokingham residents are not getting value money under the Liberal Democrats.”

Cllr Pauline Jorgensen, Leader of the Conservative Group, added:

“More and more residents are getting in touch with me, asking for my help on getting potholes fixed. They know that I was Executive Member for Highways under the previous Conservative administration, and are hoping there’s something I can do.

“Sadly, under the Liberal Democrats, all we’ve seen is poor quality repairs and a lack of investment in maintaining Wokingham Borough’s roads. Local people are fed up.

“If elected in May, a Conservative administration would properly fund the road repairs service.”