News from Wealden LibDems
At Wealden District Council’s meeting on 20 March, Paul Sparks proposed an Amendment during the debate on Member’s Allowances to the effect that additional allowances are only paid to Group Leaders when their group comprises 5 or more members.
This amendment was approved and will have the practical effect of saving Wealden’s council tax payers £3,750 pa.
During the debate on the Budget,Paul on behalf of the Lib Dem Group expressed his total opposition to the possible introduction of car park charges by the Tories.
He added that this will be fought every step of the way and went on to say that the extra cost of extending recycling should not be used as a smokescreen for introducing parking charges.
Paul continued by explaining that the Lib Dems would fund the estimated £400,000 pa for the extended recycling by pressing ahead with the move to a single head quarters saving £250,000 pa together with phasing out Private Medical Insurance for the staff at Wealden saving a further £130,000 pa.
In the debate that followed,the Tories admitted that they had already spent £165,000 on consultant’s fees reviewing the office location and the decision had been postponed because they could not get agreement within their own Group!!!!
This does appear like weak leadership!!!
Feb 2008
Tories! Get your act together!
LibDem District and County Councillor Paul Sparks has more to report on Tory controlled Wealden District Council threatening to impose car parking charges.This is despite overwhelming opposition from residents and, more particularly, traders in the market towns who strongly believe that this will damage the vibrancy of local businesses.
Paul says
"Wealden are stating that the reason for looking at this issue again is because they cannot agree recycling credits with East Sussex County Council.
Wealden have to expand kerbside collection of at least 2 recyclables by 2010 and as this will create higher volumes of recycling they were expecting to receive larger credits from County to help towards the cost of this.
Clearly collecting larger amounts of recyling is in everyones' interest and should be encouraged but this impasse between the 2 Tory Controlled councils is causing serious difficulties and, according to Wealden, the only reason they are now considering car park charges.
It seems grossly unfair that residents and traders of Wealden have to suffer because the 2 councils can't resolve this matter."
Feb 2008
LibDem support for Hailsham Livestock Market plans
LibDem District Councillor David White is enthusiastic about Hailsham Market Action Group's plans to move the livestock market to a new site west of the A22 near the Diplocks Roundabout.
The plans involve creating a rural business centre which would incorporate an enlarged livestock market.
David White says that the proposed site is in a prominent position, with direct access from the A22 and easy access from the town centre.
David believes that the site could not only accommodate the existing market activities but also provide new services to a wider rural community, attracting more potential customers and much needed investment to the town.
Feb 2008
Local Libdems endorse Party's plan to tackle flooding
LibDem councillors in Wealden are supporting the Party's 10-point plan to tackle flooding. LibDem District Councillor for Uckfield North Alan Whittaker says
"If the LibDem policy on funding to fight flooding had been in place a few years ago then the flood in 2007 in Uckfield simply would not have happened. The major defence against flooding in the Uck river valley is to build a bund in the village of Buxted. At current prices this will cost a mere £3.8 million pounds, but the Environment Agency says the money is not available. The Great Flood of 2000 cost a minimum of £19 million to Uckfield's economy!"
The Liberal Democrats 10 point plan is below:
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Liberal Democrat Leader, Nick Clegg says:
“The Government isn’t taking the devastating potential of climate change seriously enough. We need to act now if we’re to protect Britain from the flooding that could sweep Britain in years to come.
“Six months after last year’s flooding, the Government has still done nothing to tackle the problem.
“Many areas of Britain are simply left waiting for the next downpour, while ministers sit twiddling their thumbs.
“We must invest more in our flood defences. The Government must stop building so many new homes in flood risk areas, and help families in high risk homes to get insurance.
“We need a comprehensive approach to flooding, brought together in a Flooding Act in Parliament to ensure changes are made quickly, and to reassure the thousands of families who are at risk of losing everything.”
Feb 2008
East Sussex 7th most deprived county out of 34
Paul Sparks, LibDem County Councillor for Uckfield, reports that the Indices of Deprivation 2007 have just been published.
East Sussex ranks as the 7th most deprived county in England out of 34 counties.
The counties which rank 1 to 6 are Durham,Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly,Lancashire,Cumbria,Northumberland and Nottinghamshire respectively (unitaries are not included.)
East Sussex has the highest levels of deprivation of all the counties in the South East.
Every local district in East Sussex has declined in its national ranking.
Wealden has dropped by 23 places from 307 to 284 out of 354, Lewes and Rother dropped 25 places, Eastbourne by 13 and Hastings by 7 to a very low 31 out of 354.
Paul says
"This is a very worrying trend and partly reflects the lack of Central Government money coming to the South East.However,this is also a challenge for local government who need to be clearly aware that amongst the wealth in East Sussex there are many areas of severe deprivation with 67,000 residents income deprived and just under 25,000 experience employment deprivation."
You can find more detail
Jan 2008
Martin fights car park charging
LibDem District Councillor for Jarvis Brook, Martin Prestage is fighting against proposals to charge for car parking in Wealden. In a letter to Steve Linnett, Chief Finance Officer of Wealden DC, Martin says
"Just one look at Crowborough High Street shows the fragility of its retail trade. If charges were introduced it will be the final blow for many shops, which are already suffering from the impact of 3 large supermarkets.
If Wealden charges began, the temptation for anyone needing the high street shops will be to make use of the supermarkets' own spaces. The supermarkets will retaliate by demanding validation that drivers have used their stores ( proof by till receipt etc). The upshot of this will be to reinforce the 'one stop shop' mentality the supermarkets would like, with their customers spending money only with them, and not buying additionally on the High Street.
People will not willingly pay parking charges to use a High Street like Crowborough's which is already dominated by building societies, hairdressers and charity shops. Wealden charges will actively work against regeneration. Public transport offers a poor alternative to reaching Crowborough High Street - with buses infrequent at best, poorly promoted and expensive. Parking for High Street facilities will decant onto the nearest residential side roads. "
Jan 2008
Peer Review of Wealden District Council's Housing Department
LibDem Councillor Jane Clark, Crowborough, as leader of the opposition has been
asked to give her party's views to the peer review of Wealden District
Council's housing department. This review is to enable the housing dept, which
has recently had a new head appointed to it, the opportunity to see what
it does well and what it needs to do better.
Another LibDem Councillor, David White, who represents Hellingly, has been participating in a review of affordable housing and he will also be appearing before the peer group to give his views.
Jane Clark says that Wealden has always had a very good relationship with its tenants who have consistently voted not to change landlords.
However, Wealden has not been able to deliver the number of affordable housing that its recent review indicated it had to. There are complex reasons for this.
The conservative majority have always voted to oppose an increase in the numbers of affordable housing being built on each new development. The conservative portfolio leader preferred to wait for national government to increase the percentage.
Cllr White presented a motion in 2005 requesting that there was an increase to 40% but the conservatives voted against this motion. Had this passed then 300 more affordable houses would have been approved by the end of 2007.
Further, the current conservative portfolio leader of housing, while all the time stating that housing is a top priority, not least because we need to encourage young people to stay in the area, campaigns to have Heathfield accepted as a group of villages and not a town and therefore excluded from having to have a percentage of affordable housing in any new application of 10 or more houses. This is quite extraordinary given the huge amount of public grant Heathfield has received over recent years.
Cllr Clark remains unconvinced that there is the will from the conservative majority to increase the number of affordable houses. Unless Wealden does deliver then it will be marked down under government inspection and that could have financial consequences.
Jan 2008
Nick Clegg on Andrew Marr program - "Excellent performance" says Jane
Cllr Jane Clark says that Nick Clegg gave a very good performance on Sunday (20 Jan) on the Andrew Marr show. Andrew in her view was quite aggressive in his interviewing technique trying to imply that Nick and the conservative leader where clones. Nick forcefully and patiently explained the differences between our two parties and managed to get in between interruptions or attempted interruptions what being a Liberal Democrat really stands for"
When asked about decentralising power Nick pointed out that although all three major parties said they wanted to devolve power, only the Liberal Democrats were prepared to give communities the say about how some money is raised and spent.
"In education the Conservatives talk about greater fairness and giving more money but they haven't allocated a single penny to it.
In the health service the Conservatives want to create a great national quango that will run the health service that will close your local hospital. So much for local devolution." says Nick
You can watch the interview in full
Or you can see a transcript
Jan 2008
