News from Wealden LibDems
Biodiversity - Jane takes a walk on the Forest
LibDem Councillor Jane Clark reports that she is taking part in the Biodiversity working party established by Wealden District Council.
There are two types of working parties - those that report to their scrutiny committees and whose recommendations are then considered by the Cabinet and those that are formed directly by the Cabinet, for example the planning working party on which LibDem councillors John Blake and David White sit.
LibDem Councillor and Group Leader Jane Clark is one of the group looking at 'Biodiversity' which was identified as work that the Environment Scrutiny Committee wish to investigate. Jane reports that this working party is continuing the work of the climate change working party. This work should go to provide evidence for the emerging Wealden Local Development Framework and inform planning policy. Jane says
"Within Wealden we have some of the most outstanding countryside in the country.
We have 40% of the whole country's area of outstanding natural beauty; we have the glorious south downs at the coast, and we have two very special areas - the Ashdown Forest and the Pevensey Levels.
The Ashdown Forest, despite its name, is an area of managed heathland. With the continuing pressure of more people living in the south east, more houses and more services needed to support them and their need to access the quiet countryside for leisure there will in future be enormous pressure upon such places as the Ashdown Forest.
The working party has taken evidence on how this can be managed in the future. We need to ensure that we have robust policies to protect these very special areas."
June 2008
Roy to champion older residents
Libdems on Wealden District Council have appointed Councillor Roy Martin to champion our older residents.
Group leader Jane Clark says that
she became aware of the need for more joined up thinking and felt it
necessary to appoint a Councillor in the group to really focus on the
policy and its implications for older people. Jane says
"In Crowborough, fun adult education classes have largely been withdrawn as emphasis is now placed on work place skills or else the classes are very expensive to attend unless you qualify for financial assistance.
As part of the section 106 monies that came into the town with the Lidl and Morrison developments there was to be an improvement to public transport.
Alas the so called improvements made the situation much worse for residents who lived in Rumsey Court and Nye Close as the popular bus no longer goes down Queens Road.
Residents used to wait inside Rumsey Court until they saw the bus arrive. It now stops at the top of Montargis Way where there is no sheltered bus stop and there is a steep incline to walk back up the hill to Rumsey Court. This change was done shockingly without consultation with either the residents of Rumsey Court nor any local members. A good service provision has now been made much worse for our older residents."
Jane adds
"I was delighted that Roy Martin has undertaken to take on this important role. He was heavily involved with the closure of Towermill and the need for strategic decisions to be carefully considered to ensure that no hardship occurs when they are implemented at local level.
As he serves on both the County and Wealden District Council I know Roy will be able to ensure that strategies are joined up so that there are improvements and not just change for changes' sake for our elderly residents."
June 2008
Sunny Afternoon at Hailsham's Garden Party
Members from Hailsham and surrounding areas attended the Hailsham Branch for an enjoyable Strawberry Cream Tea garden party and a sunny afternoon's discussion of all things political - and non-political!
Supporting local traders, the strawberries were handpicked that morning from a local farm that was within cycling distance.
The next event planned is a bar-b-q on 2 August and details can be obtained from Paul Holbrook on 01323 849718.
June 2008
New Slip Road at Polegate - Safety Barriers Agreed
Libdem Councillors are very pleased that the Highways Authority has agreed to erect safety barriers alongside the new slip road on the A2270 at the junction with the A27 at Polegate. Councillor Roy Martin says
"I was very surprised that the new lane was opened without new barriers but after I had made
representations to the Highways Agency they promised to install them without delay, if necessary, installing temporary
ones first. They agreed with me that it is very important that pedestrians on this busy footpath are kept completely
separate from the fast moving traffic."
Libdem Councillor Andy Watkins added
"The new slip road should ease the build up of traffic at peak times along the Eastbourne Road but both Councillor Martin and I are concerned that this change which is clearly designed to speed up traffic will result in it being that much harder for residents of the Stud Farm Estate to safely access the A27.
We will continue to press the Highways Agency for improvements to these junctions until these issues are also resolved."
June 2008
A27 - 40mph Speed Limit Requested
At a recent meeting with the Highways Agency Polegate and Willingdon County Councillor Roy Martin requested a 40mph speed limit on the A27 between Polegate and Wilmington. Roy says
"There are a number of side roads entering the A27 on this stretch which has a bad safety record. I was pleased to hear that the Highways Agency has recently undertaken a review of the speed limits on the whole of the A27 and will consider this proposal as part of the recommendations as part of that review. I am also pleased that the Agency will investigate the possibility of reducing the speed limit to 50 mph on the whole of the A27 between Lewes and Polegate."
Meanwhile, with the summer coming upon us, many summer motorbike riders are washing down their bikes for the weekend runs. Polegate Liberal Democrats are urging East Sussex County Council Highways Department to check the roads, as many have holes developed over the winter, which could well catch out a motorcyclist and give serious injury
"Each year many new riders join the biking community, and are unused to the many holes in our roads. The roads need to be checked far more regularly by the Highways Department", said local campaigner and biker Martin Keightley.
Polegate and Willingdon County Councillor Roy Martin said "The road surface might be satisfactory for a car but smaller holes and raised or sunken drain covers can cause bikers to lose control and have accidents I have asked the County Council to review their policy of checking roads specifically with all bikers in mind."
May 2008
"Vince proved right" says Paul
LibDem councillor Paul Sparks was delighted to meet Vince Cable, one of the leading lights of the Lib Dems at a recent dinner in Eastbourne. Paul says
"Vince Cable has been proved to be totally correct in his early warnings regarding Nortern Rock and the level of indebtness throughout the country.He was derided at the time by amongst others Gordon Brown but Vince's analysis and predictions were spot on.
His reputation has soared in the country and is one of the main reasons why Lib Dem economic policy is now taken seriously.
Vince is also a very entertaining and well informed speaker making it an excellent evening."
May 2008
"Complete waste of taxpayers money" says Paul
LibDem District and County Councillor Paul Sparks was horrified to discover that Wealden Taxpayers are paying £250,000 for costs associated with the Planning Inquiry on 3 housing developments in Uckfield. Paul states
"This is a complete waste of taxpayers money and would have been avoided if the Tories had taken notice of our pleas that we should not have a non statutory Local Plan. If we had progressed to a full Local Plan as the LibDems were urging the Tories to do, these applications could never have been made so no planning inquiry and a saving of £250,000.
LibDem Group Leader on Wealden DC Jane Clark says
"Conservative controlled parishes that had identified sites for affordable housing to meet their own need then failed to deliver them.
Wealden DC worked with all its parishes to find what are called exception sites. These are areas of land that could not normally be built upon.
Unfortunately, when planning permission came in, the villagers themselves objected to the affordable housing being built within their communities. They appear to be happy to see young people move away from the areas that they grew up in because they can not afford houses. They appear not to want to see their local schools and shops survive. In short they are happy to have their villages become "retirement" villages
Further landowners also withdrew. This is largely because government is continually increasing the numbers of housing it demands to be built and inevitably land that previously could not be built on will be built on. Clearly landowners will make much more of a profit by selling land for general development than selling for affordable housing only.
Builders are not building and since Wealden does not own the land there is nothing they can do about it. Persimmon and now Bovis have stated that they will not be building this year. Developers are finding it increasingly difficult to find monies.
They are making profit currently by what is called "landbanking" That is buying and selling land onwards sometimes with outline planning permission sometimes with detailed planning permission. But rarely building. If developers had built then Wealden would have met its target.
As LibDems we would support taxing the land owner who has permission to build but fails to do so."
May 2008
LibDem Group Leaders working together
Jane Clark, leader of the Libdem group at WDC has been meeting Sue Prochak, leader of the Libdem group at Rother Council. Jane says
"It made my day to meet a fellow group leader of a neighbouring Council that has so much in common with Wealden.
It is not only a large rural District but like us at Wealden there is a huge Conservative majority on the District Council. Being a minority party has its challenges .
During the coffee break we were able to share some of our experiences. Bexhill only has a town forum, it has no town council as the people have been denied this democratic opportunity by the conservative led District. The Rother liberal Democrats are campaigning to have a town council and we at Wealden wish them well."
May 2008
Libdem Councillors Jane Clark and Bob Sweetland recently attended a training session on "overview and scrutiny". This was run by Rother District Council - who had invited its neighbouring Councils to share a training session to look at best practice. Bob Sweetland says:
"Much that we learnt about we already do at Wealden, which is reassuring - although we still believe that scrutiny can only be effective if the scrutiny is led by the opposition parties.
The Cabinet members are all Conservatives. We were told that best practice is for the Cabinet portfolio holder to work effectively with the Chair of the scrutiny committee.
Of the Wealden DC scrutiny committees only one is chaired by an opposition councillor (Environment by Alan Whittaker). Jane Clark says:
"We therefore believe that scrutiny is not as rigorous as it therefore ought to be.
The message I will take back is that we must interest the media in the in depth work we do in scrutiny and in the working parties. It would be good if the press attended the scrutiny committee meetings but even if they do not then we need to be issuing press releases to keep the public informed and up to date.
Scrutiny committees and their working parties can review policy, challenge Cabinet decisions, initiate work programmes so that Cabinet are better informed, ensure by comparison that our Council is delivering the best value for its services."
May 2008
