The District Council has taken over responsibility for residential
disabled bays from Herts County Council.

This decision was recommended by the Car Parking Working Party,
following discussions and negotiations between the District and County
Council.

Residents who meet the criteria, will be eligible to apply for a parking
bay outside their property. Details of the criteria can be found on the
council’s website www.stalbans.gov.uk or
by emailing: parking@stalbans.gov.uk or ringing the council 01727
819395. The criteria and application form have been reviewed by the
Access Group which has welcomed the initiative.

Moving this responsibility to the district, will bring residents closer
to the decision making process, where reviews of the local needs for
bays will be conducted.

It is anticipated that subject to a site survey, a bay will be made
available within four weeks of an application being received.

Extreme weather update 1pm Friday 6th February 2009

The District Council Offices will be open as usual but we expect to
continue to run a slightly reduced service in the Customer Service
Centre. The number to call is 01727 866100.

Refuse and recycling
The refuse and recycling service has been suspended on Friday due to
snow and ice on the roads and footways.

The forecast for Saturday is now for widespread icy conditions
throughout the morning, which will again prevent crews being able to
carry out collections safely. There will therefore be no collections on
Saturday.

For the next week commencing 9th February – weather permitting,
collections will be as per schedule. If you are unsure which collection
is due in your road please check your calendar or check this website –
see link below.

For collections week commencing 16th February – again collections as
normal. In addition, we expect to make additional collections to catch
up on the collections missed this week. Further details are at the link
below.

www.recyclingforapremier.com

We apologise for the disruption to services during this extended period
of extreme weather. The key consideration is guaranteeing the safety of
crews and residents when moving large and extremely heavy collection
vehicles around in icy conditions.

Housing
We expect to operate a slightly reduced repairs and caretaking service
with priority being given to vulnerable people and emergency repairs. We
expect all other services to operate as normal.

Leisure facilities
Batchwood Golf Centre closed.
Westminster Lodge Outdoor (this is the athletics track and outdoor
sports facilities) closed.
All other services in culture and community development e.g. leisure
centres are likely to be open as normal.

Meals on wheels
The meals-on-wheels service will operate today with the assistance of
contractors and volunteers.

Markets
The market will go ahead on Saturday 7th, but there will be fewer stalls
than usual. The farmers’ market will go ahead on Sunday 8th February.

Schools and roads
For information about schools and roads, please see the Hertfordshire
County Council website: www.hertsdirect.org. Hertfordshire Highways are
not currently asking us for help with pavement gritting as they
prioritising salt stocks for treating roads.

LIB DEMS WARN OF THREAT TO COUNCIL SERVICES FOLLOWING INTEREST RATE CUT

The County Council will have to trim its budget by a further £600,000
following the Bank of England’s interest rate cut.

Liberal Democrat Group Leader Chris White said: ‘There is a downside to interest rate
cuts. Many older people rely upon interest payments as part of their income. They are
also significant users of council services suffering an ever tighter financial squeeze as
the credit crunch and interest rate cuts start to bite.

‘We will be urging the county council not to pass today’s cut onto front line services.’

HCC officials comment:

Just so you are aware Batchwood Drive is about to be closed by the water
company under an emergency closure due to a burst water main. They will
put the closure, diversion route and all traffic management in place. The
diversion route will be Verulum Road, Folly Lane, Catherine Street, St
Peters Street and Harpenden Road. I have spoken to our control centre and
can confirm the diversion is on a salting route.

At this stage I cannot say when the road will reopen, but I will update you
again as soon as I have anymore information.

Following calls from the Liberal Democrats for an inquiry into Sunday
night’s gritting run, the County Council has admitted that it cancelled its
gritting operations on the advice of ‘forecasters’. The forecasters had said
the snow had missed Hertfordshire but just a few hours later changed their
opinion and suggested 10-15cm of snow was due.

Chris White, Liberal Democrat Group Leader, said: ‘The County
Council urgently needs to review its forecaster. By not gritting the roads
lives were put at risk alongside property and businesses. Councils all
around the area were running their gritters throughout the night yet in
Hertfordshire our gritters were sat in the depot. This is not good enough.’

Whilst local media are busy reporting the huge number of school closures the
County Council website was maintaining at 8 am this morning that the snow
showers are light and schools will be open.

Liberal Democrat Councillor Chris White said: ‘The county website is really
worse than useless. Parents are being told that schools are open while
national and local news outlets are telling people to stay at home and not
to travel. It is also almost impossible to navigate.

‘Our advice is to check your child’s school website, many of which have been
updated, and to listen to local radio.

‘We will yet again be raising with the county council the lamentable state
of its website.’

As part of the Herts Highways/ Passenger Transport Units development of the
bus waiting facilities in St Peters Street the shelters are to be fitted
with electronic screens that will display departure information. The
screens will have the capability to display real time if it becomes
available in the future.

The installations have been approved by SADC conservation and the
accomodation works are commencing to install the associated
cabling etc in to the underground ducts that were provided as part of the
City Centre Road Safety Scheme.

I gave evidence on Tuesday to the House of Commons Bill Committee, dealing with the Policing and Crime Bill.

My evidence concentrated on licensing and I was able to get the following key points across:
– local people feel that they have too little say over premises which are causing a nuisance
– councils need local discretion over general licensing conditions – these should not be imposed by Whitehall which cannot know local circumstances
– councils need to be able to challenge licences (currently only the police can do this)
– too much of the legislation was aimed at young people rather than those in their twenties and thirties who cause alcohol-fuelled disruption and should know better
– if the Government were to press ahead with standard conditions for licences, it was vital that there be full consultation with residents who are affected (not just organisations). Young people also needed to be involved.

I was also asked about whether the problem was more with pubs or off sales. It is clear to me that in general pubs are well-regulated places. Supermarket off sales often contributed to the habit of ‘pre-loading’ (tanking up at home before an evening out on the town).

I was able to emphasise that good licensing authorities like St Albans work closely with the licensees because it is in the interest of the community and of the trade to work together.

The LGA had also put in submissions opposing the current system of temporary event notices (a loophole in the 2003 Act device by which licensed premises can in effect subvert their licensing conditions twelve times a year). The LGA also questioned the new rules about lap-dancing which would allow establishments to operate without a sexual encounter premises licence provided that lap-dancing took place less than once a month.

The Liberal Democrats have today called for the county council to review its
arrangements with Butlers, the company which advised the council on credit
ratings for its treasury management operations.

Chris White, Liberal Democrat Group Leader, said: ‘It is quite disturbing
that one third of the councils advised by Butlers lost money in Iceland. The
norm was just 20%.

‘If a supplier has a failure rate this high then it is only reasonable to
query whether there should be continued use.’

The company has attracted media attention not just because of its recent
advice record but also because it is run by the Treasurer of the
Conservative Party.

Notes to editors

The Independent’s research shows that 35 per cent of councils advised by
Butlers lost money in Iceland, compared with one in five that employed other
advisers. The investments of councils advised by Sector Treasury Services
accounted for £313m of frozen council funds. About half of all UK councils
use the services of the company, which is part of the Capita group.

Parents who are concerned about not being allocated the primary school of their choice are welcome to contact me. But it is important to recognnise that the Government has in effect abolished the appeals system by prohibiting classes in excess of 30. In St Albans, there are a number of areas in the city centre which are in effect a black hole. We continue to lobby the County Council to provide an additional school – and continue to get no sensible answers.

We issued this press release last week.

Figures out last week showed that 581 children in Hertfordshire were left
without a primary school place of their choice for September 09. The
majority of schools received more applications than there were spaces for
their child to attend.
Children most affected live in the districts council areas of Dacorum, East
Hertfordshire, Hertsmere, St Albans, Stevenage, Three Rivers, Watford and
Welwyn Hatfield.

Of the 581 children that have not been offered a school of their choice 55
children have been offered school places that are more than 2 miles from
their homes. This means they are entitled to free home school transport.