“Admit your catalogue of errors” demands County Councillor

Paul Zukowskyj, Lib Dem County Councillor for Hatfield South, where Herts County Council wanted to build a massive waste-burning plant in the green belt, has put down a motion asking HCC to own up to, and apologise for, the catalogue of errors in bringing forward plans for the development.

On Tuesday 8th July, campaigners learnt that the Secretary of State and the Planning Inquiry inspector both agreed the plant should not be granted planning permission.

HCC have spent huge amounts of council-tax payers money on pushing the development in the face of massive opposition.

Paul commented “Even now the Council are claiming the plant would have meant huge savings, but have completely and utterly ignored the huge damage the plant would have done, to the greenbelt, to the setting of grade 1 listed buildings, to the kids at the immediately adjacent school, to the natural environment and to local residents living in the shadow of their alien and unnatural “sea-urchin” plant. (more…)

Outrage as County Council proposes £880,000 more of bus cuts.

Hertfordshire Liberal Democrat County Councillor reacted with outrage as the Conservatives finally admitted at the 8 July Highways Panel that they were looking at saving up to £880,000 by stopping all county council supported bus routes after 6.30pm every day and ceasing them on Sundays from next year.

Two years ago the County Council voted through bus cuts of £800,000, and in February this year were forced to withdraw further proposed bus cuts of £200,000 after they admitted they did not know who would be affected and which routes would go.

Now in a report to the Highways and Waste Panel on Tuesday 8 July they have proposed a consultation that could see 39 services affected and cut 200,000 passengers journeys a year.

The Liberal Democrats have promised to fight the service reductions.

‘Bus cuts on this scale are totally unacceptable. There has been no attempt to review routes to save them or maybe even an increase fares by a few pence to save the service: it’s just a cross the board cut of everything that runs at night or Sunday and the Tories should be ashamed at even suggesting it,’ said the Liberal Democrat Leader.

Petition against household waste site changes

Most people in the St Albans area use either Sandridge Road or Waterdale. The Conservative administration at County Hall plans to close them for two weekdays and restrict opening on the remaining days to the 8 till 4 pm winter timetable all year round.

Lib Dems think this is crazy and potentially a fly tippers’ charter.  We believe the sites should continue to open every day, and if hours have to be shortened, it should be in ways that suit residents and not the operator, for example later closing at weekends and at least one weekday evening.

If you agree with us, please sign our petition at http://chn.ge/1zpGmz2 and also complete the county council questionnaire at www.hertsdirect.org/wastechanges

It would be great if you can share this with friends and neighbours so that as many people as possible make their views known.  If enough of us show that we care, there is every chance that we can end up with a more customer-friendly outcome.

County still refuses to fund flood damage six months on

Despite significant funding from the coalition Government and an ‘of course it’ll all be fixed’ message from County Hall, highways damaged by flooding over the winter have still to be repaired, and even more alarming is the decision by the Conservative administration to withhold funds to repair all the damage.

The Lib Dem group have asked time and again for funds to repair all the damaged roads to be committed, a request rejected time and again by the Conservative leadership.

Most recently, Lib Dems learned that despite almost £16m being redirected to pay for staff and councillor pensions, the County Council still had £4.1m unspent and uncommitted from its 2013/14 budget.

Lib Dems Paul Zukowskyj and Malcolm Cowan submitted a motion to redirect £2.6m of this to ensure flood repairs were ALL delivered. All the Conservative councillors on the panel voted no, the Labour councillors abstained and so the motion was unsuccessful.

Paul commented “The Conservatives are living in some sort of dreamworld where disintegrating roads and flood damage are of no concern to them or their residents. There’s some really substantial damage outstanding across many areas of Hertfordshire, and this could all have been repaired, but no, it’s not their priority.

“What are residents and road users to make of this? They’re being abandoned by the Conservatives to potholes, road collapses and developing world ‘highway standards’.”

Household waste sites crumple as the sun shines

 

The weekend sunshine inspired the county’s gardeners and DIY enthusiasts to tackle all those post-winter jobs and then take stuff to the dump – no surprise there.  So it is shocking that the county’s household waste site network promptly crumpled under the strain.

More than half of the county’s household waste sites – Buntingford, Harpenden, Hemel Hempstead, Letchworth, Potters Bar, Rickmansworth, St Albans and Ware – had emergency partial or full closure because they were unable to cope with the demand.

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Lib Dems: Council Tax freeze but extra money for Hertfordshire roads and a winter recovery programme rejected by Herts Tories

 

At the Budget-setting meeting at County Hall on Tuesday 25th February, the Conservative-run county council rejected an alternative Liberal

Democrat budget that would have provided for an extra £9m to improve road, footway and cycleway maintenance. The Conservatives also rejected the Lib Dem proposal that would have provided for £3.3m,  part funded by  a central Government grant,  that would have put in place a  Winter Recovery Programme to deal with the effects of the recent flooding and provide for some flood relief works and effective gully cleaning.

The Liberal Democrat budget, which was supported by the Labour group, also provided for money to turn back on some residential street lights, reversed cuts to Rights of Way, Countryside Management Service,school crossing patrols, bus services and also allowed for salting  outside schools, extended the bus saver cards to 19 year old and provided for more apprenticeships. (more…)

County ignores residents over spending plans

Herts County Council has gone to great pains to tell everyone just how often it asks its residents for their opinions on matters great and small. Consultation after consultation comes out of County Hall in an endless stream.

But on the really big issues, does anything actually change as a result of all this ‘engagement’?

Apparently not, based on answers from both Council officers and Cabinet level Conservative Councillors.

Paul Zukowskyj, Lib Dem spokesperson for Corporate Issues and Localism, asked both officers and the Conservative administration what changes had been made after three recent ‘consultation’ exercises on the Integrated Plan, which sets how much is spent on the various departments in County Hall.

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HERTS COUNTY COUNCIL SITS ON STOCKPILE OF DEVELOPER MONEY WORTH £50 PER HEAD FOR EVERY MAN, WOMAN AND CHILD

Following the staggering revelation that Herts County Council holds more unspent “community” Section 106 money than any other local authority in England, Lib Dem planning spokesman Cllr Sandy Walkington has condemned the ruling Conservative group for being slack and inefficient.

Section 106 agreements are negotiated between a developer and the council to offset social and environmental costs of new development.  A BBC Freedom of Information request has revealed that Hertfordshire County Council is sitting on £56 million.

“This is more that £50 for every man, woman and child in the county,” Sandy said.  “Heaven knows, it’s tough enough for everyone in the current spending climate, so it’s shocking that so much money is lying idle.  It’s even worse that the figures reveal that Herts has had to return £691,000 just in the current period to developers because it missed the time limit to allocate the money. ”

Cllr Stephen Giles-Medhurst, Leader of the Liberal Democrat opposition on Herts County Council, said “This news comes hard on the heels of our discovery that the county has spent £7 million on maintaining empty buildings because they have no strategy for the property portfolio.  We have been challenging the ruling group for years over their failure to spend Section 106 monies, and today’s revelations show that the figures are getting worse, not better.  The Conservative ruling administration needs to get a financial grip.  It’s what the people of Hertfordshire deserve.”

Herts residents left in the dark by Tories

‘We have been led up the garden path’ was the LibDem reaction to news that no changes are to be made to the unpopular Part Night Lighting regime of plunging most of the county into darkness around midnight, following a so-called review.

‘A promise of a review was widely used by Conservatives in May’s county council elections, but it has turned out to be a whitewash as all suggested changes were rejected by highways portfolio holder Cllr Terry Douris,’  said Liberal Democrat group leader Stephen Giles-Medhurst.

‘We suggested a way of getting some lights back on without it costing the county a penny, but even this was turned down. Clearly we were all conned and the process has turned out to be a charade.

‘Not one of the suggested changes that allows for local flexibility have been accepted by the Conservative hierarchy. That is a disgrace,’ said Stephen Giles-Medhurst.

Liberal Democrat Vice-Chair of the scrutiny committee Malcolm Cowan, said: ‘This scrutiny cost time and money, all wasted as clearly minds were already made up, as we can see from the way the decision was worded. This also shows that the commitment to localism by the Tories is skin-deep.’