We do not profess support for any political party, locally or nationally. Below, we are just reporting the state of play in RG4.

Remember, local and national politicians are there to serve the electorate - whether or not a particular member of the electorate agrees with their ideology.

And remember, too, that if you pay taxes, you're paying for them. With that in mind, don't be afraid to contact politicians for help.

• Local Council
• Local Councillors
• Member of Parliament
• The 2008 Local Elections

Last Updates: recent election results now reflected.

Local Council

We've long thought the Reading Council web site is a bit of a mess but, that said, we also know how difficult it is to present such a (potentially or actually) vast range of information well. If you can be bothered to investigate it, there is a fair bit of useful stuff there.

In December 2008 we carried the following news item, which seemed to reinforce our view of the site. If it improves and we haven't noticed ... let us know!

The RBC website has been ranked 360th out of a national survey of 460 local government sites conducted by the website testing service Sitemorse - which rated the site as poor on function, performance and metadata. The poor 'red' rating has led RBC opposition Conservative councillors to describe the findings as a "damning indictment", with calls for the site to be improved. (Reading Evening Post 08/12/08 p2)

Local Councillors

The political representation of Caversham and Emmer Green (following on from 2010 local elections) is profiled below. RG4 is solidly Tory these days - in terms of Council seats won, at any rate. There is more information on local councillors, including their contact details, via the RBC website

Mapledurham Ward

• Conservative - Fred Pugh
  (elected until 2012)

Thames Ward

• Conservative - Isobel Ballsdon
  (elected until 2012)
• Conservative - Jeanette Skeats
  (elected Until: 2011)
• Conservative - David Stevens
  (elected Until: 2013)
  

Caversham Ward

• Conservative - Andrew Cumpsty (RBC Conservative Group Leader) (elected until: 2013) (»» Email)
• Conservative - Dave Luckett (elected until: 2012) (»» Email)
• Conservative - Tom Stanway (elected until: 2011) (»» Email)

Peppard Ward

• Conservative - Jamie Chowdhary
  (elected Until: 2012)
• Conservative - Mark Ralph
  (elected Until: 2013)
• Conservative - Richard Willis
  (elected until: 2011)

The Peppard Ward councillors are proving very active locally. Their dedicated web site is a genuinely useful one for anyone living in the area and it includes all the necessary contact details.

In addition to the councillors named above, three RBC Labour councillors representing wards south of the river actually live within RG4, according to the RBC website. They are Jim Hanley (Labour, Whitley), Richard Stainthorp (Labour, Katesgrove) and Bet Tickner (Labour, Abbey). Conversely, the Conservatives' Jamie Chowdhary, who represents Peppard Ward, is listed as living in Tilehurst.

Member of Parliament

The MP for Caversham and Emmer Green is Rob Wilson, the Conservative MP for Reading East. Postal Address: House of Commons, London, SW1A 0A.

»» Email
»» Website

(Unusually for a politician, Rob Wilson's web site is useful and informative. As a survey in the summer of 2008 by the Reading Chronicle found, his is the best site of all the region's MPs, by a fair margin.)

You can always check up on Rob Wilson (and any other MP) on the non partisan 'They Work For You' site - which is very informative.
»» Website

The 'Write To Them' website makes it very easy to email your MP.

The 2008 Local Elections in RG4

10350 votes were cast across the four RG4 wards in the local elections of May 1st, 2008. Excluding an additional 20 "spoilt papers", the proportion of votes scored by the four main parties in Caversham and Emmer Green can be summarised as follows.

• Conservatives 58.4%
• Liberal Democrats 18.1%
• Labour 14.2%
• Green Party 6.2%

(A candidate standing as an 'Independent' in Mapledurham Ward polled a respectable 310 votes). The results in Caversham and Emmer Green seem to mirror the national trend, with Labour being beaten into third place by the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.