"IT'S always very disappointing when democracy is delayed" -- that's the reaction from one councillor after local elections in Wokingham were cancelled
Voting will no longer take place in May because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The government has postponed all elections due to take place in England this year, with voting now set to take place in 2021 instead.
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A number of high profile councillors sitting at Wokingham Borough Council (WBC) were due to stand for re-election this year, including Conservative leader of the authority John Halsall, Liberal Democrats leader Cllr Lindsay Ferris, and Labour leader Cllr Andy Croy.
Reacting to the postponement, Cllr Halsall told the News: “Everybody was gearing up for the elections.
“We all had our hopes and plans -- who knows what it [the outcome] would have been like.
“It would have been better to hold the elections as planned.”
Liberal Democrats deputy leader Clive Jones said his party was hoping to focus on debt and development issues in the election campaign in order to gain enough seats so the Conservatives would lose overall control of the
council.
He said: “We would still hope that would happen next year.
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“It would have been good to have had the elections to have no overall control because I think the Conservatives have not been doing a particularly good job locally.
“Anybody who thinks what a delay like this will do [to the results] is living in cloud cuckoo land.”
Elections take place in Wokingham three out of every four years and next year was due to be the fallow year with no WBC elections planned.
Voting was due to go ahead on May 7, when the borough’s voters would have elected a third of councillors at WBC.
The decision to postpone was taken following advice from the government’s medical experts and a recommendation from the Electoral Commission.
Labour's Andy Croy added: "It's always very disappointing when democracy is delayed but I understand the reasons.
"There will be a particular onus on the councillors who have been gifted an extra year to work extra hard over the next year and that is what I plan to do.
"Clearly, the coronavirus has changed everything and while the Tories were expecting to lose control of the council, frankly no one is thinking about that now.
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"Looking ahead, Labour will shortly have a new leader and she or he will have had a chance to make an impression on local people, that will be important."
Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) elections will all be postponed until May 2021, the government confirmed.
PCC Anthony Stansfield was due to step down from his role this year but is now set to stay on for another year.
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