Kettering & Wellingborough Liberal Democrats

Liberal Democrats unveil their 'alternative budget' for the County Council

Cllr. Richard Church - Leader of the Liberal Democrats on Northamptonshire County Council

Richard Church, Leader of the Liberal Democrats on the County Council has announced the budget changes that he will be proposing to the Northamptonshire County Council which sets its budget on Thursday 22nd February.

The theme is "Safer and Healthier Communities" and with this in mind the Liberal Democrats are proposing additional expenditure on Youth Service Projects, Police Community Safety Officers, Pavements and Footways, Meals on Wheels, Children's Fostering Services, and the Voluntary Sector.

This will be financed by using one million pounds from the council's reserves (which are set at £16.1million in the County's budget,) and by re-allocating the additional £1million which the County Council was putting towards additional highways expenditure.

In addition the Liberal Democrats are proposing to remove one of the Cabinet Positions and use the money saved to improve the Council's Scrutiny functions.

Commenting on the budget proposals Cllr. Richard Church said: "We are trying to improve some of the services that were savagely cut back by the Conservatives last year, such as the Youth Services, and Care Services. We are aware that in all the surveys that we have undertaken people are concerned about safety in their neighbourhoods, hence the proposal to provide more Police Community Safety Officers. We also believe that proving good projects for Young People, giving them something constructive to do, also reduces the opportunity for crime. Safer pavements and footpaths will help all sections of our community, and increased funding to the Voluntary Sector will help provide care services which the Conservatives so cruelly cut last year."

Cllr. Brian Hoare, Finance Spokesman for the County Lib Dems said "This is a very difficult budget to produce because of the County Council's precarious financial position. We have therefore found it very difficult to make as many changes as we would have liked to. But we believe that we have put forward a package of changes to the main county council budget which would improve the lives of local residents without costing them any council tax increase above that proposed by the Conservative Administration."

Liberal Democrat Alternative Budget Proposals to Northamptonshire County Council 22nd. February 2007.

• The Theme of the Liberal Democrat Budget Alternatives is "Safer and Healthier Communities"

• The Liberal Democrats are proposing the following changes to the County Council's Budget

1 Youth Service Projects £500,000

This would be a special fund that Neighbourhood Management Areas, Parish and Town Councils, Youth Organisations etc. could bid for funding for specific youth service projects.

It would help to make up for the swinging County Council cuts to the Youth Service in last year's budget

2 Police Community Safety Officers £200,000

This would be additional to the increase in the County's budget for this year, and would assist in reducing crime and the fear of crime in local communities. These would be targeted at those areas with the highest levels of crime

3 Children's Fostering Service £400,000

To increase the number of foster parents recruited locally by the County Council rather than rely on private agencies to provide the service at much higher cost. This is a "invest to save" initiative which would lead to more in house Fostering and a reduction in agency placements.

4 Voluntary Sector Prevention Strategy £250,000

This increase in funding would be targeted to help the Voluntary Organisations who are handling extra work loads due to the savage cuts to the County Council Care Services in the budget last year.

5 Meals on Wheels £160,000

This re-instates the budget cut proposed by the Conservative Administration for this year which effectively removes any element of subsidy from the service. This would minimise price increases on the meals supplied to the elderly and vulnerable

6 Pavements and footways £500,000

Whilst the Conservative Administration propose an additional £1million expenditure in Highway maintenance we recognise that the public want the pavements and footways maintained to a higher standard than they are at present. Therefore we are proposing this extra expenditure to help make safer pavements and footways

TOTAL ADDITION EXPENDITURE £2,010,000

EXPENDITURE TO BE FUNDED BY:

Withdrawal of additional Highways Maintenance Expenditure £1,000,000

Reduction of Carried Forward Reserves 2007/2008 £1,010,000

This would leave the reserves at £15,000,000 - a 50% Increase over the 2006/2007 budget.

TOTAL SAVINGS: £2,010,000

And Finally:

To improve the Scrutiny Process, additional expenditure of £25,000

To be paid for by reducing the number of Cabinet Members from nine to eight.

ENDS