Liberal Democrat Budget Improvements - More Services, More Commitment, More Savings (North Bedfordshire Liberal Democrats)

North Bedfordshire Liberal Democrats <bedford@bedfordlibdems.org>

Liberal Democrat Budget Improvements - More Services, More Commitment, More Savings

February 6, 2006 11:17 AM

We believe the budget could and should offer better value for local residents. We want to see funding that isn't allocated, that's left in council reserves, set to work to improve services and improve the borough, without costing tax payers a penny more. In fact we believe all this can be achieved as well as saving tax payers money.

10.2 More Commitment To The Future

We have identified three initiatives that need to be given a higher priority by the Council. We want to see extra funding for climate change initiatives - this could involve funding for projects such as a wind turbine for the Oasis Pool to generate our own energy, water heating panels for the town hall and thin servers to save energy in the office. It's vital we take our role as community leader seriously so that we are able to make a difference to the buildings we own and set an example for others about how they can make a difference. We want extra funding for Youth Activity Areas. This would see more basketball and kickabout areas for young people to use. Having nowhere to go shouldn't be allowed to become an excuse for anti-social behaviour. We also believe more funding needs to be available to tackle the affordable housing shortage in the borough. Having a place to live is a most basic need, we must do more to make this a reality.

How would we do this? There is already £810,000 unallocated to capital projects

We want to add to that £250,000 set aside for a moveable pedestrian bridge. A moveable pedestrian bridge is not and should not be a priority of this council.

Use the available £810,000 and £250,000 from the Moveable Pedestrian Bridge to fund, over the period of the capital programme, Social Housing Investment (£810,000), Energy Conservation Investment (£150,000) and Youth Activity Areas (£100,000).

Amendment 10.4 - More Services, Lower Council Tax

We are also proposing a number of new initiatives. Extra clean ups in suburban areas to match those already happening in the town centre and rural areas. New mobile digital video cameras, to rapidly tackle crime hot spots deterring crime and building evidence against those who persist in offending. We also want to see the borough launch a doorstep promotion scheme for recycling. This is a proven way of providing information and advice that encourages more people to join the recycling scheme the borough runs, reducing the amount of waste we send to landfill and saving residents money in the long run. We want to see funds available for the street schemes and playschemes that operated successfully last year. Last year the areas that operated the schemes saw a 22% decrease in incidents of anti-social behaviour reported. Working with other partners we want to see these schemes run again this summer.

These are all priorities that fit within our commitments to the council's Corporate Plan. We want to see more of the funding set aside to finance the Corporate Plan set to work for the purpose intended, "providing quality services", not languishing in council coffers.

Use £200,000 from the Corporate Plan Reserve to fund Play and Street Schemes Pump Priming until 2008 (£40,000), 2 CCTV mobile cameras (£40,000), Recycling Doorstep Promotion until 2008 (£50,000) and Enhanced Cleaning - Suburban Areas until 2008 (£70,000).

More Savings

We propose that these services should be available to borough residents without passing on additional costs. In addition, by identifying and removing an item in the budget that raises funds, only to pay it straight into yet another reserve, the bill to tax payers can actually be reduced. Pumping more money into undefined reserves when it could be lowering this year's council tax increase is wrong. We would remove this from the budget, to make borough bills lower.

Delete Innovation Centre Repayment £20,000 from the Revenue Budget reduces the Council Tax by 0.3%.