We are Woking - We are broke-ing

Over the last few weeks, Woking has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. The one which is likely to affect us most over the next few years is Woking Borough Council’s effective bankruptcy. The Council issued a ‘Section 114 notice’ earlier this year, signifying that it cannot balance its books and needs help from central government. This has happened for a variety of reasons, principally because of major investment over many years in development in the town centre and on the Sheerwater estate. The scale of this investment was out of proportion with a council of Woking’s size, and it was not overseen adequately. Now the Council has a colossal £1.2 billion debt (the total amount it owes), combined with an annual budget deficit of £12 million (the difference between budgeted income and expenditure).

Recently I chaired a meeting between many of Woking’s church leaders and Christian agencies and the Council’s Chief Executive, Leader and Deputy Leader. At that meeting we explored how churches can best work together with the Council at a time when it will be making large-scale cuts to its services. Section 114 means that the Council has to make cuts to its ‘discretionary’ services (those which it is not legally required to provide). These include leisure facilities, open spaces, services for senior adults and children and a variety of other things.

In preparing for our meeting, church leaders were thinking and praying about how we can best be God’s people in this environment. Several key themes emerged from our conversations and our meeting.

(1)   Churches will always stand up for the most vulnerable

God’s heart is for the poor and marginalized in society. These people will be impacted the most by Council cuts. Churches across our town minister to them week by week, in individual acts of service and pastoral care, in running ministries for young people and vulnerable adults and contributing to organisations like Mascot, Christians Against Poverty debt counselling, the Lighthouse and Woking Foodbank. We believe that God has given us everything we need to care adequately for everyone in society. Those blessed with more have a particular duty to help those less fortunate. At a moment like this in our civic life, all of us are called to ask the question Jesus was asked: ‘Who is my neighbour?’ and to be good Samaritans in any way we can.

Woking’s Christians are likely to be most exercised by the plight of Sheerwater. The Council’s plans for the area were ambitious: to demolish all the old housing and replace it with new, including a range of state-of-the-art facilities. Now, by necessity, all the work which has not been started is on hold, leaving a massive building site in our town’s most vulnerable neighbourhood. St Michael’s Shared Church, earmarked for a complete refurbishment as a vital community hub, has lost its Council funding for this, and is seeking new support. As one leader at our meeting said, ‘We are all in the same water, but we’re not in the same boat.’ Our town’s situation feels worse for those who cannot even ride a bike down their unfinished road or access essential services. If you are having work done to your home, it is very draining to live in a building site for a long time. How much more is this true when your whole neighbourhood is the building site. At the same time, cuts to services such as the Citizens’ Advice Bureau and other social enterprises will impact disproportionately on the most vulnerable. These are matters of great concern to Woking’s Christians.

(2)   Churches know and love our communities

Many of the churches in Woking have been there for generations. St Mary of Bethany was founded in 1907 in the heart of Mount Hermon. Our longest-standing members have worshipped here for over 70 years. There is a depth of knowledge, care and understanding of our communities within the churches which the Council appreciates, as a fellow organisation which loves our town. At our meeting, it was striking how warmly our church leaders spoke about their relationships with our councillors, Council officials and workers. Churches run well-established ministries helping our communities in many different ways, from parent and toddler groups to debt advice, helping refugees, senior adults and those with disabilities. We are encouraging the Council to be proactive in talking to churches in areas where cuts will affect local services. We can work together to find creative solutions, but we cannot promise to fill in all the gaps which will be left.

A time of crisis can be a time of opportunity. Our Council will emerge from this time as a much smaller organisation, and many things will be done differently in our town. Church leaders know a great deal about the cost of leadership in tough times, and what it means to make decisions which are necessary, but may be difficult and unpopular. We have the opportunity to engage well during this time, so that we emerge with our communities intact and may even develop a variety of new ways of doing things.

One thing which is clear is that, in all our ministries, churches unashamedly point to Jesus Christ. People engaging in any of our work understand that it comes from a place of faith, and we will talk about God when we have the opportunity. This is a clear difference from any civic authorities and it needs to be understood well when we partner with others.

(3)   Churches can encourage better conversations

If you live in Woking, no doubt you’ve already had a conversation about a service which is likely to be cut or closed. At our meeting it was helpful to clarify the timeline for changes:

·       The initial, informal consultation happened over the summer, and was centred around an online questionnaire.

·       The Council has issued a set of proposals to cut £8.5m from its annual budget. They will need to find another £3.5m, and they are looking at finding a chunk of this money in rationalising how they use their central Woking offices.

·       The formal consultation begins on Monday 2 October and will be publicised widely.

·       Final decisions are due to be made on 8 February 2024.

Church leaders are united in calling for good conversations. Predictably, there have been a lot of negative reactions to the initial proposals, reflecting the very real pain which will accompany any cuts. We encourage Woking’s Christians to recognise the reality of the situation we are in: if the Council cannot make the necessary cuts then central government will. Each of us will have causes we are very concerned about. Our Council is just as concerned and is working hard to find solutions. We can speak out and make our views known in a positive and constructive way, including taking part in the consultations. If you are going to campaign to ‘Save the [insert name of project here]’, you will do well to know how much it costs each year and where else that saving could come from, or to have good ideas about how else it could be run. Some of the public engagement so far has been negative and ill-informed, especially on social media, but unfortunately traditional media reporting is seldom completely reliable these days either. Christians have a duty to inform ourselves well and speak kindly, and this includes on social media. Before you repeat a rumour you have heard, check that it is true – it only takes a minute. I am baffled at the number of people who swallow whole things they have heard on social media without checking the facts.

Over the last few years in Britain, our public discourse has become less civilised and more hostile, and this spills over into all areas of life. I know a councillor in another town who was confronted by an angry member of the public in their council chamber. This person got in their face to the extent that their spit was hitting them. They were furious about a parking issue, and they had got their facts wrong. We can do better than this.

(4)   A word for our politicians

At our meeting, a fellow church leader called on our local politicians to avoid playing ‘the blame game’. Our community is not served by politicians arguing over how we got here and whose fault it is, especially when this points scoring comes at the cost of finding ways through our situation. There is a place for lessons to be learned about accountability and transparency, but this is for national government, given that Woking is neither the first nor the last local authority to come unstuck. Most of the key decision-makers no longer hold positions of responsibility and many of those tasked with clearing up the mess were not in post when it happened. True leadership in this time of crisis looks like rolling up your sleeves and doing something positive, not carping from the sidelines or railing against every hard decision for your own narrow political gain.

It is an often-repeated maxim that the local church is the only organisation which exists for the benefit of non-members. In challenging times, the 25 or so churches of Woking will engage fully in the needs of the people in the areas we represent. We will stand with people facing anxious times. We will support those who struggle to know where to turn. We will continue to speak with clarity, courtesy and respect, and will encourage everyone to do the same. In Jesus Christ we trust that there is always hope and a future. This is true for our town as it is for each of us as individuals.

The views in this blog are my own and do not necessarily represent all Woking’s church leaders.