Michael Green speaks up for rail users

Michael’s emergency motion to council:

That this Council notes:
• The importance of rail links in the district with 6.3 million journeys starting or finishing at St Albans City alone every year and a further 2.9 million at Harpenden.
• The dispute between First Capital Connect (FCC) and its drivers which has lead to the imposition of a reduced emergency timetable, severely overcrowded trains and very poor punctuality.
• The reliance of FCC on the goodwill of drivers to work overtime and on rest days to provide the service to which it had committed when winning its franchise.
• The cost savings presumably accruing to FCC through reduced payments to drivers and Network Rail.
• The severe and detrimental impact on the district’s rail users, who pay some of the highest fares in the country.
This Council calls for:
• The Chief Executive and Leader of the Council to write to FCC requesting immediate action to resolve this situation and the attendance of a representative of FCC at the next meeting of the Oversee and Scrutiny (Public Services) Committee to explain how the situation arose and the steps that have been taken to resolve it and to ensure that it cannot arise again.
• FCC to ensure that any windfall cost savings are returned to those that have been most affected by service disruption through fare reductions or other measures.
• In the absence or inability of FCC to provide appropriate assurances that the Chief Executive writes to the Secretary of State for Transport recommending that First Capital Connect be stripped of its franchise due its failure to provide agreed service levels.”

Public Consultation on Streetscape Design Manual

The document for St Albans Streetscape Design Manual is now on the Council’s web site for public consultation. You too may be interested in reading the document and making comment.

http://www.stalbans.gov.uk/transport-and-streets/Streetscape-Design-Manual.aspx

The consultation is being done using the web site to save on paper, but if you find it easier and more convenient to have a paper copy then please let me know and I will arrange for one to be produced and sent out to you.

Lib Dems hit out over county’s failure to support 20mph limits

Hertfordshire official opposition Liberal Democrat group has hit out over the failure of the Conservative run council to support the introduction of 20mph limits where residents want them.

Criticising the recently agreed Speed Management Strategy Lib Democrat Councillor Stephen Giles-Medhurst said, “Whilst the new Strategy document has its good points, it completely fails to support the need for funding for 20 mph limits. Government policies now promote such limits as the way of reducing road accidents and deaths, yet in Hertfordshire we are left to try to find funding out of a tiny pot of money given to each County council, a paltry £10,000 for local projects. The Conservatives say they support 20mph limits but when it comes to committing county resources to such schemes they repeatedly refuse to do so.

“Hertfordshire County Council needs to be radical and introduce 20mph speed limits in and around schools and highly residential areas. This has been successfully done elsewhere, as in Portsmouth where following the drop in road speed, the number of accidents were dramatically reduced,” said Cllr Giles-Medhurst

“We are not advocating 20mph limits everywhere, but where they are applicable in dense residential areas and where we need to improve safety for the most vulnerable like near schools.”

ENDS

Editors notes:

Contact:

Stephen Giles-Medhurst 07702 975502

Susan Gaszczak 0789 9001598

Background information:

1. The Liberal Democrats proposed to have a £1million in this year’s county council for 20mph limits funding in part from reducing the press and publicity of over £3m. This was voted down by the Conservatives.

2. 20mph limits do not require hard road surface features just signage and schemes in other parts of county have shown a high degree of compliance.

Commentary: Scope for revolution?

One seemingly obvious question – who spends most on local services – has in this country a rather disappointing answer.

It is not just that we always suspected that central government in this overcentralised country spent more than local government – the astonishing thing is how much more. We already knew that the Government Office for London actually spends more than the London Mayor, despite some real devolution of important responsibilities. But recent research shows that for an average of £7,000 of spend on public services in any one place, only £350 is discretionary spending by local authorities.

Clearly this doesn’t feel right. But it is helpful to be able back up our natural instincts in favour of localism with some facts. Research by the Local Government Association shows that this overcentralisation is in practice a recipe for chaos. In one area looked at there were 25 social housing providers for 19,000 homes using 47 different funding streams, 18 of which came from one funder.

The country has long been the most centralised in western Europe but there is potentially some light. There are currently 13 pilot areas where the concept of ‘Total Place’ is being examined – namely the total public spend is being assessed, with Government blessing, to see where there are overlaps, wastage and contradiction.

This has uncovered some of the figures mentioned above and also shows (but we knew this) that the different funders tend to operate within their own policy silos rather than in the interests of the community as a whole. Ring-fencing exacerbates this.

There is clearly potential here for a major win-win: more democracy, more accountability, and major efficiency savings. The danger is that the Government (this or future) will grab the financial efficiencies to bale out the national debt and forget the arguably more important issue of accountability and effectiveness.

Raymer Close

Residents have been complaining for some time that their close was becoming an informal car park, restricting their access. After a number of false starts Herts Highways tell me that the traffic orders for to restrict parking will be advertised soon. There will then be 21 days for objections.

Commentary: Queen’s speech not much fun for local government either

The Government has long had a knack of turning a good idea into an operational nightmare. One case in point is the Queen’s Speech proposal for personal care at home. The Prime Minister has given an undertaking to find a way of ensuring that older people with the highest needs can remain at home, regardless of means.

The bill will attempt to help 400,000 people (‘guaranteeing’ free personal care for 280,000 and providing assistance to 130,000 others). Difficult to argue with? In the small print not covered by the nationals screaming about the General Election is the fact that this will cost £670 million a year, of which £250 million will be met from local government ‘efficiency savings’.

But where are these efficiencies to be found? The target for local government is already moving to 4% per annum. Put bluntly – this is a new responsibility for councils without matching funds. The Government promised not so long ago that it would be never do that again.

In fact it has managed it twice in the same Speech: the Flood and Water Management Bill also imposes new duties on councils which the Government conveniently believes can be funded from savings (the Departmental Select Committee has unanimously rejected this claim).

But it’s not only over funding that Government has broken its word. Just a few years ago they were claiming that local authorities would have a new role in school improvement. Their Children, Schools and Families Bill would give the Secretary of State the power to direct councils to issue improvement notices to failing schools. So once again we are made into a local arm of central government rather than locally accountable bodies with our own local knowledge and specialist skills.

Meanwhile, the Tories are making a lot of noise about devolution and some may be tempted to see them as localisers. Those of us with longer memories in local government will recall that centralisation started with the Tories – Labour merely continued the trend. Caroline Spelman’s plans to ban councils from publishing magazines or newspapers and Eric Pickles’s plans to do away with council chief executives do not bode well. If they are this centralising in opposition, the chances are that local powers will be centralised as never before should they be sitting on the Government benches in May.

FOOTWAY REPAIRS on path between Bernard Street and Dalton Street

FOOTWAY REPAIRS: Definitive Footpath St Albans City 25

Note from Hertfordshire Highways

Hertfordshire Highways intend to carry out resurfacing works to the definitive footpath, known as St Albans City 25, that commences from Bernard Street between No. 29 and No. 31, runs west between houses, walls and garden fences and ends at Dalton Street opposite No. 27. Work will take place between 08.30 and 16.30 on Monday 23rd and Tuesday 24th November 2009.

While works are in progress, the footpath will be closed to pedestrian traffic. Access to property will still be available but residents may face delays when critical works are underway. For the duration of the works, parking of vehicles on the footpath will not be permitted.

I would like to apologise in advance for any inconvenience that these works may bring you. We will endeavour to keep the disruption to a minimum. In the meantime, if you have any concerns that you wish to bring to my attention regarding these works, please do not hesitate to contact me using the contact information above.