Budget 2015 packed with Liberal Democrat policies

The final Budget of this Parliament has Liberal Democrat policies at its core.

The Budget confirms that Liberal Democrats in government are building a stronger economy and a fairer society, creating opportunity for everyone.

In government we have ensured that Britain has kept on the path to recovery in a way that is fair.

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We won’t jeopardise our economy credibility by overseeing a Budget that is a pre-election giveaway. That’s why everything in the Budget is paid for, and in a fair way.

It is because of our sound economic management that we can afford to deliver these policies.

And to help pay for these policies we are taking further steps to clamp down on tax avoidance by multinational companies and ensuring banks make a fair contribution by increasing the bank levy.

This Budget is packed full of policies that deliver Liberal Democrat priorities:
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York Council official in Cannes again

The York Council has admitted in a response to a Freedom of Information request that it has an official attending the annual estate agents jamboree in Cannes.

Cannes. Good for fireworks

Cannes. Good for fireworks

The Authority has been criticised in the past for spending £25,000 at the MIPIM (Le marche international des professionnels de l’immobilier) property festival.

The Council has so far failed to demonstrate that any new investment has been  generated by its attendance at the conference.

Public meeting on future of Yearsley Pool

A public meeting will take place on Monday (16th March) to discuss the future of Yearsley Swimming Pool. 

Yearsley Pool campaigners

Yearsley Pool campaigners

The meeting will be at the 68 Youth & Community Centre on Monkton Road at 4:00pm. It has been arranged as part of a council scrutiny review into the future of the pool.

The review was setup following a request by Liberal Democrat councillors to re-consider Labour’s decision to cut the £250,000 annual subsidy given to Yearsley from 2016/17.

Monday’s meeting will ask residents and users for their views on the pool and will listen to ideas about how its future can be secured.

Before the public meeting, members of the cross-party review will go on a tour of the Yearsley facility.
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Bizarre twist in Oliver House sale

Greens say accept lowest of 23 offers for the site.

Three Green Party candidates for the Micklegate Ward have written to The Press newspaper to say that the Council should accept a £750,000 offer for the Oliver House site. Earlier in the week it was revealed that the highest offer was £3.2 million from a company that want to build 30 elderly persons apartments on the site.

Oliver House bid appraisal March 2015 click to enlarge

Oliver House bid appraisal March 2015 click to enlarge

In a letter to the local paper, the Green party candidates say a, slightly quirky, commune proposal for the site has their backing. They ignore the fact that the Council could not legally accept any offer which is more than £2 million below the market value.

This is the latest in a series of financial gaffs by the Greens who, at the  Council’s budget meeting, voted to increase car parking charges to fund a 6 monthly trial of a “fares free” bus linking the railway station to the hospital.

It was later admitted that the subsidy would be of little help for most bus passengers who would have already paid a “through” fare to get to the station and beyond.

The Greens budget amendment also failed to sustain funding for local community centres while they nodded through Labour plans for a £35 a year charge for green bin emptying and a move to 3 or 4 weekly grey bin emptying frequencies

The Council has now published further details of the offers that it has received for Oliver House. One table summarises each bid.

A second table indicates how each bid was scored with weighting being given to, not only the financial receipt, but also the quantity, type, quality and affordability of the planned housing.

£3.2 million bid for Oliver House site

A bid by McCarthy & Stone for a 30 apartment retirement home scheme is the clear tender winner  at £3.324m for the Oliver House site according to Council papers published this evening.

Oliver House

Oliver House

The bid is much higher than the initial £400,000 valuation put on the site by Council officials who had obviously under-estimated the buoyancy of the recovering property market in York.

The next highest bid was a 29 bed retirement scheme from Churchill Retirement at £2.850m.

The lowest value bid came from Yorspace at £750,000. This bid had received a lot of publicity in The Press but is so far below the market value that the Council could not legally accept it (without Secretary of State authority).

Officials are recommending that negotiations with the highest bidder proceed.

Oliver House has been empty for 2 years. Slow progress on its sale has been heavily criticised by Council taxpayers

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2015/16 Budget bills sent to all households by York Council

Following approval by City of York Council’s Full Council to set its Budget for 2015/16, the authority is now issuing council tax information to over 86,000 households in the city with details of their new payments for the year from April.

Council tax payers can also sign up to receive their council tax bills by email. The fast, free, environmentally-friendly and secure service is available online at www.york.gov.uk in the Do it Online area. The service gives them instant and 24/7 access to their bill and they will be sent an email notification when their new bill is ready.

The Council has for the first time in 4 years accepted a government subsidy which means that Council Tax bills have been frozen

To sign up for e-billing, all residents have to do is have their last council tax bill to hand and go to the council’s website:

  • Scroll to Do it Online
  • Select Apply for it
  • Scroll to Council Tax
  • Select Council Tax e-billing – then follow the instructions from there.

As soon as their bill is available they will be sent an email notification and will be able to view their account securely online at any time and download and print the bill if needed. Each person named on the bill can arrange to receive their own e-copy.

City of York Council has a net revenue budget of £119.6million, funded by Council tax income of £72.8million, government grant of £21.0million, Retained Business Rates of £24.1million. A one off income of £1.8million has also been identified from a surplus Collection fund of Council Tax and council reserves.

The budget – voted through by Labour with Green party support – includes highly controversial proposals such as the introduction a £35 pa charge for emptying (all) green bins, a reduction in grey bin emptying frequency to once every 3 or 4 weeks and an end to support for local Community Centres.

The price that Green Councillors  secured in return for their votes was a 10p per hour increase in car parking charges.

York has the 14th lowest band D council tax, the 3rd lowest spend per head of population of any unitary council in England and the 8th lowest government funding per head in the country.

Residents face £35 a year Green Bin Tax

Liberal Democrats have criticised Green Councillors for backing proposals which will see residents charged £35 a year for all garden waste collections.

Cllr Ann Reid and local LibDem candidate Stephen Fenton with green waste

Cllr Ann Reid and local LibDem candidate Stephen Fenton with green waste

As previously reported, Green Party councillors last week supported the ruling Labour Group’s Budget along with former Conservative Cllr Joe Watt. The plans will see a charge introduced for all green bin collections alongside increased car parking rates and cuts to community centres, road repairs and street cleaning.

In 2013, Labour was forced to abandon plans to charge for all green bin collections after 1,700 residents signed a Lib Dem petition and concerns were raised that a blanket charge would see recycling rates tumble.

However, Labour did force through a cut to winter collections and introduced a £35 charge for residents with more than one green bin.

This new charge is the equivalent of a 4% increase in Council Tax for most residents 

The new plans, part of the council’s ‘Re-wiring’ project, will now see a charge for all garden waste collections in 2015/16 with officers recommending a flat £35 fee per bin.

Plans to reduce the frequency of grey bin collections will also be considered as part of the proposals.

Cllr Ann Reid, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Environmental Services, commented:

“It is hugely disappointing that Green councillors supported Labour’s Budget. This decision means further cuts to frontline services, increased fees for car parking and a new charge for all green bin collections.

“Under Labour recycling rates have already fallen and Landfill Tax bills increased to £3.7 million. Making residents pay £35 to recycle their garden waste will do further damage.

“Liberal Democrats worked with residents to defeat these plans in 2013, but Green councillors have now paved the way for a new Green Bin Tax in York as well as the option to reduce grey bin collections.

“The Lib Dem budget proposal was the only one which scrapped these plans. It would also have returned winter green bin collections and increased investment to boost recycling rates.

“The Labour-Green union, which last year blocked a review into the Lendal Bridge trial, has now passed a budget which will see cuts to services and reckless borrowing continue on projects such as the £9million Guildhall Media Hub.

“While I am pleased that Castlegate has been given a short-term reprieve and there is some hope for Yearsley Pool, the Labour-Green budget includes damaging cuts to community centres, road repairs and street cleaning as well as this new Green Bin charge.”

Details of the Green Bin proposals are included in the council’s plans for ‘Place Based Services’ – click here to access a copy

Public services in York getting worse this year – official

Little attention has been given to a report to tomorrows Cabinet meeting which shows a marked decline in the quality of some public services in York

Graffiti taking longer to remove

Graffiti taking longer to remove

It is taking the Council between 2 and 3 days to clean graffiti now – almost double the time taken two years ago

The number of York residents on the housing waiting list has increase from 1344 to 1439 over recent months It is still low compared to historical levels (because many applicants were struck off the list last year by the Council)

Only 62% of tenants are satisfied now with the Council as a landlord. To a degree this reflects the lack of investment in the Council estates across the City (a LibDem regeneration plan was voted down last week by the Labour/Green coalition)

Customer satisfaction with the quality of streets and public places has slipped below 50% as has satisfaction with green spaces.

Only 48% think that the Council is tackling anti social behaviour well.

Fewer residents (12%) are now “volunteering”

The number of people aged over 65 admitted to residential and nursing care homes had risen to 767 (per 100k population) by the end of last year. Numbers are increasing again this year.

By December 27 residents were victims of delayed discharges from hospital. Of these 15 were down to York Council care failings.

Waste going to landfill increasing

Waste going to landfill increasing

The Council is failing its waste management targets. Consequently taxpayers will foot an increased £3.7million landfill tax bill.

Stage carriage bus use in the City is stable.  The Council refuses to publish monthly figures indicating the number of buses running on time (was 84% last year according to DoT figures)

Council Tax frozen in York

…..as Green Councillors and Tory turncoat vote through massive cuts in public services

The Labour budget was tonight passed as once again the 2 Green Councillors sided with Labour. 

On this occasion they were joined by Cllr Watt who was elected in 2011 as a Conservative for the Skelton area. He supported a budget which will cripple public services in the City while continuing to prioritise “vanity” projects paid for by a large increase in borrowing. It was a truly astonishing policy somersault.

The only significant “concession” that the Greens won in return for their votes was a promise to provide a “free” bus service between the station and the hospital. The £150,000 cost will be paid for by another big increase in car parking charges in central York (by 10p per hour).

NB. Bus passengers can currently use the number 1 or 6 to get from the station to the hospital, although the passengers numbers using this link are modest

The Greens rapidly diminishing credibility took another battering as they voted for a cuts package which includes so called “rewiring savings”. These will see basic public services like grass cutting, street sweeping and community centres hit hard.

Labour plan to charge for emptying all green bins and  have supported reducing grey bin emptying frequencies to once very 3 or 4 weeks.

The Greens also voted to spend even less than Labour proposed on dealing with icy roads in winter.

The only really original proposal put to the meeting – the plan aimed at regenerating York’s deteriorating housing estates – failed to get majority support.

However there is every chance that after the local elections on May 7th, the new Labour/Green coalition will be thrown out.

This will allow the new Council to rejig the budget if it chooses to do so.

 

 

 

Lib Dems call for an extra £500,000 to be spent on York’s estate regeneration

Liberal Democrats are calling for an extra £500,000 to be spent improving the condition of housing estates in York.

Fly tipping little Green Lane garage area

Restoring pride in Council estate environment

The extra funding will be focused on tidying-up communal areas, repairs, improvements to car parking facilities, and a re-launched programme to replace draughty windows.

The move follows concerns from council tenants, falling satisfaction levels with many estate services, and missed performance targets by Labour run City of York Council.

The proposals are part of the Liberal Democrat budget amendment, which will be debated at today’s full Council meeting.

The Lib Dems are calling for an extra £3 million to be put into frontline services such as road repairs, community centres and green bin collections.

The Lib Dem housing move is funded from the Council’s Housing Revenue Account (HRA) – a ring-fenced housing account which currently has a surplus of £15 million and is split from the main council budget. Rents are being increased by 2% from April.

Cllr Ann Reid, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Housing, commented:

Verge damage Bramham Road

Dealing with parking issues

“Residents have contacted us concerned about issues such as overgrown weeds, damaged fencing, broken streetlights, littering and dog fouling. Basic services have suffered since 2011 and show Labour’s continued neglect and under-investment in the city’s estates.
“We want to put an extra £500,000 in from the Housing Revenue Account to tackle these issues. This budget is raised from council rent and charges and is there to be used for tenants. There is a substantial surplus and instead of storing money away in reserves the council should be spending more on estate improvements.”

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The Lib Dems would spend £250,000 ‘capital’ from the HRA on improvements to:

a) draughty windows and

b) improved car parking facilities (dropped kerbs/verge crossovers/matrix verge protection outside tenants homes and better car parking facilities in communal areas) and the resurfacing of some car parks.

plus £250,000 ‘revenue’ from the HRA on council house and estate regeneration including the following schemes: 

  • removal of weeds,
  • cutting back overgrown trees and hedges,
  • repairs to communal areas and signs (e.g. dog fouling, no ball games),
  • audit and repair of fencing.

The full Lib Dem amendment will be tabled and debated at Thursday’s Budget Council.

Last July, it was revealed that tenants were less satisfied with where they live and the estate services they receive from the council while key performance targets were missed: