On Thursday 2nd May, the latest round of local elections will take place to decide who will sit on the local councils. In Woking there are 10 seats up for grabs in a borough that has made the national news quite a lot in the last year. 

 

A few years ago Woking's council voted to invest hundreds of millions of pounds in developing high rise apartment buildings as well as shops and a hotel. They also loaned money to property developers. Unfortunately the costs of the developments spiralled almost out of control and the pandemic brought lots of other problems such as having to stop work on the construction. Woking's council is now reported to have debts of £2 billion and will need support from the government to deal with it.

 

Woking's Council has traditionally been led by Conservative councillors but there is now a strong Liberal Democrat majority and they are tasked with cutting costs such as local services and raising money, through plans like raising car parking charges, to pay off the debt. This is obviously unpopular with local residents as they think that they are being punished for the Council building up a lot of debt. Some voters prefer to vote for independent candidates at local elections as they think that independent candidates are more interested in their local area than candidates who represent one of the big political parties.

 

The local elections may also give an idea of what might happen in the general election that takes place later this year. The MP for Woking has always represented the Conservative Party but the Liberal Democrats believe they can win at the general election. Friday should be an interesting day when the results come in.