Peppard: Clarence Mitchell (Con)

AS a resident of Lower Caversham, I am committed to making Peppard Ward an even better place to live and protect
Reading’s green spaces.

Along with my running mate Jane Stanford-Beale, who has planted trees in Clayfield Copse and Bugs Bottom and scrutinised planning applications, I am against unsustainable development and will always promote and prioritise the development of brownfield sites where feasible.

To keep our community safe, I will work with the Safer Neighbourhood Forum and Thames Valley Police to tackle speeding, anti-social behaviour and illegal traveller incursions.

Like all of Reading’s Conservatives, I am also committed to keeping your council tax low and ensure that Labour-run Reading Borough Council improves its poor financial controls, the lack of which in recent years led to the council being hit with around £1m in extra auditing fees. That’s your money being wasted that way.

The council has again put up your council tax by 4.99 per cent this year and plans to for the next two years. Your local Conservatives voted against such large increases and I would continue to oppose such inflation-busting council tax hikes if I am elected.