News from Wealden LibDems
Don't let our Town Centres die
LibDem Parliamentary Candidate for Wealden Chris Bowers has warned that town centres in Wealden must not be allowed to die. Chris says
"Research for the LibDems shows one in eight shops is now empty after the recession and it is obvious that in Crowborough, Hailsham and Uckfield the arctic winter we've just had has made things even worse.
"This is a warning - we mustn't let our high streets die".
Chris is backing 'Vibrant Local High Streets', the LibDem plan for
- Putting Post Offices at the heart of the Community by developing a PostBank and freeing the Post Office from Royal Mail
- Helping Local Businesses by reforming business rates, cutting employment taxes and reducing red tape
- Introducing a Local Competition Test for all planning applications for new retail developments - to establish a fairer balance between local independent stores and large supermarkets
- Establishing a system of Local Enterprise Funds and regional stock exchanges to ensure small businesses can gain access to cost-effective equity that meets their needs.
Chris adds
"Small independent shops form the fabric of towns like Crowborough, Hailsham and Uckfield, but the government's skewed planning system has seen supermarket giants squeeze the life out of towns like ours and now almost every high street in Britain is an identical collection of chain stores and coffee shops.
"We need thriving high streets in Wealden's towns - vibrant streets with real character which allow local businesses to thrive and grow."
LibDem Prty Leader Nick Clegg, with whom Chris worked on the Party's environment policy, adds
"Thriving high streets are at the heart of local communities, but they have borne the brunt of this recession, with boarded up shops scarring towns and villages across Britain.
"I believe people value the wide range of goods and services available locally and want to see their high streets thrive and prosper."
Mar 2010
LibDem Councillors will debate Policies - not waste Council Officers' time
Jane Clark, group leader of the Lib Dems on Wealden District Council, has criticised Tory councillor Norman Buck for implying that LibDem councillors should be wasting council officers' time. Explaining why the LibDem group did not participate in the budget discussion item at the full council meeting on 17 February Jane says
"The Liberal Democrat group consists of 13 members to the 33 conservatives. In the past the Liberal Democrat group has put forward an alternative budget which reflects our values. We are the only minority group to do this. As Councillor Buck states preparation of budgets requires a lot of work and the opposition party can not present an alternative budget without the advice of the Finance Officer.
"The Finance Officer had previously advised the Liberal Democrat group that they are currently implementing a new Financial Management System so resources are stretched. The Liberal Democrats have supported the purchase of this software so that expenditure can be better understood and more closely monitored.
"The Finance Portfolio holder has a prepared statement for Full Council which he reads out and which is then issued as a press release.
"No matter how well argued our case is, the Tories will, on a block vote defeat any alternative suggestions.
"Last year we proposed a Council Tax freeze as we believed there was enough waste in the system for a zero increase. We felt this would best benefit our community who were finding it so hard to cope with the recession. In fact the savings identified by the Tories since then have confirmed that our proposal to not increase our local taxes was costed correctly and could have been implemented.
"The combination of not wanting to waste officers time when our suggestions are always defeated by the Tory block vote made us decide some time ago that we would not participate in this item on the agenda.
"What a pity that Councillor Buck, after all his years attending Full Council does not understand the processes that are undertaken to participate in the democratic system? Is he really suggesting that we should behave irresponsibly and waste officers time to no avail?
"It is flattering that Councillor Buck missed the Liberal Democrat input this year, though I suspect he was peeved at missing out on our ideas which are so often later adopted by the Tories."
Jane adds "I do not intend to respond to the personal attack on our appearance. The Liberal Democrats prefer to participate in debate on policies. It is more grown up and better serves the community we represent."
Mar 2010
Wealden LibDems call for Council Tax Freeze
The Lib Dem Group on Wealden District Council are opposed to the Conservative plans for increasing Council Tax by 2.74% as they believe there is enough waste in the system to have a tax freeze.
Councillor Paul Sparks, their Deputy Leader, stated that they argued for a zero increase last year and now have been proved totally correct as the Tories are forecasting total savings of £692,000 - being far more than needed to have a tax freeze.
Paul adds "Most households in the Wealden District are being squeezed particularly those on fixed incomes and workers on low wages. Very few people will see their incomes increase by 2.74% this year so that a tax freeze would be a real help to them. Also residents have to cope with rising inflation."
The Leader of the Lib Dem Group, Councillor Jane Clark, also explained that dithering and internal squabbling within the Tory Group have delayed cost saving measures including a single site headquarters which in itself would save £377,000 per annum, enough to freeze council tax, together with delaying potential income of £64,000 per annum for charging pre-application planning meetings.
Councillor Clark emphasized that her group had supported efficiency measures and income generating ideas to avoid increasing an already high council tax, but the lack of decisiveness by the Tories will mean that Wealden households will have to pay the price.
Feb 2010
LibDems push through County Budget Plan
Paul Sparks, our County Councillor for Uckfield, supported the successful Lib Dem motion at the budget meeting of the County Council on 9 February.
This was an amendment to the budget which called upon the County to establish a transformation programme which would look at how the County Council is structured and put in plans to drive out savings to address the £61.5M "black hole" in the Council's finances over the next 4 years.
Without this approach the Liberal Democrats believe that the County Council will face either large increases in Council Tax or massive cuts in services in future years.
The ruling Conservative Group accepted that this was worthy of exploration and will refer the issue to both Governance and the Audit & Best Value Committees of the Council.
Paul, who is Chairman of Audit & Best Value, very much welcomed this response and says
"I am looking forward to the challenging task that he and his committee will have to face."
Feb 2010
LibDems support Pine Grove closure plans
Liberal Democrats are supporting the plans to close the Wealden District Council offices at Pine Grove in Crowborough to make annual savings of £250,000 per year. Jane Clark, the LibDem Group Leader on the council says
"In fact we are appalled by the delay which resulted from the current Tory administration undertaking the whole exercise again - at a minimum cost of £60,000 to the public."
Although the offices will close the council will maintain a reception area at the Pine Grove site.
Feb 2010
The Only Party in Tune with Today's Reality
"We are the only major party fighting the general election based on today's reality!" That's the message from Wealden Liberal Democrats' Parliamentary candidate Chris Bowers in the week Nick Clegg launched the party's programme for the forthcoming general election.
The Lib Dem leader has been hinting for several months that no party can realistically go into the election with a shopping list of 'promises' while the government faces a deficit of over £170 billion. Yet Labour and the Conservatives show no sign of recognising that the cupboard is bare.
By contrast, the Lib Dems have proposed to concentrate on four key principles designed to make Britain a fairer place and recover its economic fortunes:
- Fair taxes
- A fair start for every child
- A 'green'economy with jobs that last
- Fair, clean and effective politics, both locally and nationally
Chris says "People are sick of politicians promising things they haven't a hope in hell of delivering. We would love to introduce a citizens' pension and abolish higher education tuition fees, but with a gaping hole in public finances, these would be empty promises, if not lies. We would do all these things if elected to government, but not for several years.
"In the short term we would start all income tax at £10,000 to take the poorest people out of tax. We could close loopholes for the very rich, tax banks' profits, and invest in the kind of technology that will serve us for the future and give Britain a head start in global markets."
Other features of the Lib Dems' programme are a reduction in class sizes for infants school children aiming for an eventual maximum of 15 per class; giving people the chance to sack their MP; and flushing out big money and corrupt donors from our political system and reducing the number of MPs to under 500.
In his speech on Monday, Nick Clegg said "David Cameron and Gordon Brown are playing the politics of the airbrush and the focus group. One doesn't know what he believes. The other doesn't know what to do with the power he clings to so desperately. I believe the country wants something different. The Liberal Democrats are different, we offer credibility where it's needed, and hope for our common future."
Jan 2010
Highways Dept won't clear pavements --- but Wealden DC does
Chris Bowers, LibDem Parliamentary Candidate for Wealden, and the LibDem councillors on Wealden DC have written to Charles Lant, the Wealden DC Chief Executive, to express their graditude that council staff have been working to clear snow from the pavements in the shopping areas in Crowborough, Hailsham and Uckfield.
"It was scandalous to see so many elderly residents who have paid their taxes over many years slipping and sliding in the pre- and post-Christmas snow," said Chris, "because the pavements hadn't been gritted. All the major roads had been seen to, but most of the pavements were left as ice rinks, which was lethal for pedestrians, didn't help our local shops in the crucial run-up to Christmas, and filled the casualty wards."
Chris also took up concerns of residents of Isfield, who were without their bus service during the bas weather.
"We have been told that the failure to grit Horsted Lane is the cause, but the county council says it can only grit A and B roads under government guidelines," says Chris. "I find this unacceptable, and it shows an absence of common sense, given that a little grit along the loop that serves Isfield could re-establish Isfield's bus service.
"It also indirectly makes another case for the re-opening of the Lewes-Uckfield line with a station at Isfield, as then the issue of gritting Horsted Lane wouldn't arise."
Jan 2010
County more concerned with long-distance road traffic than Local People
LibDem Parliamentary Candidate for Wealden Chris Bowers has added his voice to the complaints of other local LibDems over East Sussex County Council's failure to grit pavements during the recent bad weather.
Pedestrians and vulnerable residents should be higher up the priority list for the county's gritters when the next snow falls, say the Liberal Democrats.
Chris and three leading LibDem councillors - Paul Holbrook from Hailsham, Paul Sparks from Uckfield and Jane Clark from Crowborough - have written to the top county official responsible for gritting, saying pedestrians are being given a raw deal. Their letter to Rupert Clubb asks for pedestrians to be given at least the same priority as car drivers when it comes to deciding whether roads or pavements should be gritted. Chris says
"It was scandalous to see so many elderly residents who have paid their taxes over many years slipping and sliding in the pre-Christmas snow because the pavements hadn't been gritted. All the major roads had been seen to, but most of the pavements were left as ice rinks, which was lethal for pedestrians, didn't help our local shops in the crucial run-up to Christmas, and filled the casualty wards.
In a letter to Lewes MP Norman Baker, Mr Clubb admitted that East Sussex County Council's policy is only to hand-grit pavements, and then only after all road surfaces have been dealt with. In their letter to Mr Clubb, the Lib Dems call for a re-prioritising so pedestrians get a better deal.
"But the letter makes it clear that motorised transport is important in a big freeze. "Vulnerable residents need the emergency services to attend to them," the letter says, "and many people have enjoyed the lifeline of a friend or relative who has been able to use the car to go to the supermarket or other shops - these are important considerations.
But given that we are supposed to be reducing our dependence on the most polluting means of transport, it is simply wrong that the car is clearly favoured over pedestrians when heavy snow falls. After all, we are all pedestrians while only some of us are motorists!"
Jan 2010
Highways Dept won't clear pavements
LibDem County Councillor for Uckfield Paul Sparks is joining Wealden DC LibDem Group leader Jane Clark in criticising East Sussex County Council over the way it has dealt with snow clearance. Paul says
"My telephone was red hot over the three/four days of snow and ice in Uckfield with angry residents complaining about the lack of gritting on pavements and minor roads. One of the most disturbing calls was from the Meads Surgery who reported that several patients had slipped over on the way to doctor's appointments, including one gentleman who sustained a nasty head injury and had to be taken by ambulance to hospital.
"Following these calls, I had several discussions with the Highways Department and was advised that it is their policy to not treat pavements and to concentrate gritting on the main roads. This policy is as a result of limited resources and funding.
"The other big issue I discovered was that the gritting bins located around Uckfield had all their grit (sand/salt) used and we could not get them replenished until after Christmas.
"I am personally very sorry for all the inconvenience and risks that residents had to suffer during this period. The advice to people was not to use their cars, although in many cases this was impossible, so that to obtain essential supplies they needed to walk, but pavements were in a treacherous condition.
"We must learn lessons from this experience. Ideally, I would like all our pavements and minor roads to be treated by the Highways Department but we have to be realistic and be aware that throughout East Sussex that would be a mammoth undertaking.
"However, I do not think it is unreasonable for our High street pavements to be cleared and gritted for the safety of shoppers together with Grange Road for access to the surgery.
"Also, I believe we should give far more support to local residents so that they can help themselves. This means providing more grit bins at appropriate locations and a robust re-filling programme to ensure that in times of need, the supplies are available.
"I will be strongly arguing for these changes to be made as soon as possible to avoid any repeats in the future.
"I would also like to hear from any resident who has other suggestions that could be considered.. Please phone me on 01825 764287 or
"As I have already said, I am very sorry for what has happened over these few days, but will hope that we can now make some improvements. Can I also take this opportunity to wish you all a safe, happy and healthy New Year. "
Jan 2010
