Redcar and Cleveland Lib Dems

Labour Council Leader George Dunning walked out of a vital meeting with Vince Cable, the Secretary of State for Business, yesterday.

He claims he had another meeting to go to. It is inconceivable that the Leader of a Council that desperately needs to attract business and get more jobs for its people could have a more important event to attend.

Councillor Glyn Nightingale, Lib Dem Group Leader, said:

“Cllr Dunning needs to justify his behaviour and unwillingness to use this key opportunity to promote Redcar & Cleveland to the Government.

“The Minister has already shown that the Government is prepared to help local business to bring jobs to Teesside and announce major assistance to a North East company yesterday.

“If Cllr Dunning is not prepared to bang the drum for our area, he should move over and let someone else do the job.”

At yesterday’s meeting of the Council, Cllr Mary Ovens highlighted a serious flaw in the Council’s tourist plan for Redcar.

Questioning the Labour Cabinet Member Olwyn Peters, Cllr Ovens criticised the shortage of public toilets available or planned in Redcar.

The great need is at the west end of the beach in the area of Majuba Car Park.

Cllr Ovens’ comments come after a sustained campaign by Coatham ward councillors Irene Curr and Josie Crawford.

Councillor Mary Ovens said:

“The oversight of Labour in Redcar is appalling. There is a clear need for additional facilities.”

Redcar Lib Dem Councillor Josh Mason added:

“Last week I heard of a pregnant woman being refused access to toilets in the “Vertical Pier” because she was not using other parts of the facility. This is nothing short of scandalous.”

Redcar MP Ian Swales has welcomed the news in today’s budget that 41,300 people in his constituency will be receiving a tax cut thanks to the Liberal Democrats, and 220,720 people across the Tees Valley will benefit from this announcement.
 
The Chancellor announced in the budget that the tax threshold will be raised to £10,000 from April 2014 one year sooner than had been expected. This means that almost 3 million lower-income hard-working people will be taken out of tax altogether.
 
The announced increase in the threshold by £560 and will see a tax cut for 24 million working people across the UK – taking the total income tax cut for working people delivered by the coalition over the 4 years to nearly £700 a year.
 
6,080 people in the Redcar constituency and a further 23,630 across the Tees Valley will be lifted out of paying tax altogether in April, while a further 220,720 people in the Tees Valley, including 41,300 people in Redcar, will receive a increased cut in their income tax bill.
 
Ian said:

“The Chancellor has done the right thing in listening to Liberal Democrat calls for the Income Tax threshold to be raised further. I want to see a fairer tax system where help is provided for those who need it most and where the richest pay their fair share.
 
“Raising the Income Tax threshold to £10,000 will help ordinary working people in Redcar who have been struggling with bills and higher cost of living.”
 
Commenting further, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander added:

“When times are as tough as they are now, our focus must be on helping those on low and middle incomes. That’s why we’ve made delivering on this promise our number one priority in Government.
 
“It’s also why we have scrapped another of Labour’s fuel duty rises, so filling up your car will be £7 cheaper than under Labour plans. And why we are cracking down on tax dodgers so that everyone is paying their fair share.
 
“All of this has been done while sticking to our tough but necessary plan to deal with this country’s financial problems. Britain can’t afford unfunded giveaways – unlike the last Labour Government, we have made sure everything is paid for.”

Redcar & Cleveland Liberal Democrats have condemned the Labour Council for proposing for a 1.97% increase in Council Tax.

If the rise was above 2% the Council would have to call a referendum in which the people would decide. The rise will give the Council an extra £1.1 million.

Central Government has offered the Council well over half a million pounds if it freezes Council Tax this year. This is the third time Labour bosses have refused Government money to help keep Council Tax frozen.

Last year Labour raised Council Tax by 3.5%, the highest in the country.

Despite this the Labour council has managed to spend: over £4,319 on new furniture for the Mayor’s Parlour; £168,000 hiring a temporary officer; £95,000 on equipment it already had; £37,600 on bird monitoring; £36k on a temporary civic building; £78,000 on a legal case it had no chance of winning and was prepared to spend £20,000 on hiring a consultant to find out what everybody already knew about opposition to parking charges in Saltburn!

The Government has offered councils the equivalent of a 1% Council Tax increase if they freeze Council Tax. Liberal Democrats say Redcar & Cleveland Council should accept this offer which amounts to £585,000. Lib Dems think the extra money the Council says it needs could be found through savings and, at last, making a real effort to eliminate inessential and wasteful expenditure.

Councillor Glyn Nightingale, Lib Dem Group Leader, said:

“I am appalled at Labour cynically keeping the Council Tax rise just below 2% to avoid a public referendum.

“The 1.97% rise will raise an extra £1.1 million. By freezing Council Tax the Government will give the Council £585,000. The gap of £579,000 exactly matches all the wasteful schemes Labour didn’t need to pour money into plus the £200k unspent from this year. There is plenty of wasted money spent on things they can scrap if they have the will to do it. It’s not difficult.

“But instead they seem to want to organise yet another raid on people’s wallets.

“If they want 2% more they should have the guts to say so and let the people decide.”

Liberal Democrat councillors in Redcar and Cleveland have today expressed their shock and dismay at the services on offer at the Tuned In! site.

Otherwise known as myplace, the project was funded by the Big Lottery and the Government to give teenagers in our area the space and opportunity to access a variety of services.

The aim was to ensure that young people were right at the very heart of this venue, involving them in the planning and delivery of services by young people, for young people.

After hearing several horror stories from groups and organisations who have tried to engage with Tuned In! Lib Dem councillors have spent some time scrutinising the Council’s running of the service. They found that only 1 hour of the weekly events schedule was designed specifically for the target age group of 13-19 year olds, with the majority of provision being for very young children and adults. Unlike the most successful myplace ventures across the country, there is no formalised young-person involvement in running the Redcar and Cleveland centre.

Children from disadvantaged backgrounds also miss out on opportunities, with only the “Homework Club” provided free of charge.

Josh Mason, shadow cabinet member for culture and tourism said:

“This Council has been provided with an excellent venue for the young people of Redcar and Cleveland to come to and feel at home. It should be a space where they can showcase their talents and feel welcome. However, they are completely failing to capitalise on the opportunity – as usual, working towards nebulous targets and running a frosty, unwelcoming service.

“The schedule of events clusters around young people under 12 and adults. I’m sure that whilst Zumba is great, this venue was not built to house adult fitness classes. Even the cafe closes at 4pm, preventing young people from making use of even this service which is only on offer when they’re at school.

“Instead of this space being used for its rightful purpose, it is providing yet more office space for council staff, council staff meeting rooms and adult activities. It’s scandalous that 14-19 year olds are being given short shrift in a venue designed for them.

“The cost of classes and activities for young people is highly prohibitive – providing no free activities means that those who are most in need get left out in the cold.

“It is time this council acted to deliver the youth services that this town deserves. If they are not capable of running the venue themselves then they should get someone else in who can and not continue to actively drive them away.”

Councillor Mason will be questioning the Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, Cllr Joan Guy, about the proportion of activities for teenagers at this Thursday’s meeting of the Borough Council.

Redcar & Cleveland Liberal Democrats are calling for a Council Tax freeze in response to the Labour Council calling for a 1.99% increase in what council taxpayers are being asked to pay.

Last year Labour raised Council Tax by 3.5%, the highest in the country.

This came despite the Government’s offer of £1.4 million to the Council if it had frozen its council tax in 2012-13. This is the second time Labour bosses have refused the Government money to help keep Council Tax frozen.

Since then, instead of spending all of this additional money on services, Labour has continued to waste taxpayers’ money on things like new furniture for the Mayor’s Parlour and alterations to the City Learning Centre. The Council has also underspent in some areas. This proves they didn’t have to make local people pay such a massive increase last year, and as a result they should freeze the Council Tax this year.

The Government has offered councils the equivalent of a 1% Council Tax increase if they freeze Council Tax. Liberal Democrats say Redcar & Cleveland Council should accept this offer which amounts to £585,000. The Labour leadership can’t continually complain that the Council gets an unfair deal from government, then turn down Government money while hitting the pockets of local residents.

Councillor Glyn Nightingale, Lib Dem Group Leader, said:

“Labour in Redcar & Cleveland have shown that they are happy to waste Council Taxpayers money, whether it’s £1.5 million on a Vertical Pier that nobody wants, £37,600 on bird monitoring, and £125,000 doing up the Town Hall just before it was demolished.”

“I am appalled at Labour’s cynicism of keeping the Council Tax rise below 2% to avoid a public referendum.”

“It is high time the Council’s Labour bosses started thinking about local residents.”

Liberal Democrats in Redcar & Cleveland are urging the Labour Council to make an influential new committee more democratic.

The Labour Cabinet is proposing to give only three places out of 17 on the new Health & Wellbeing Board to elected members. All of these will be Labour Cabinet Members. The rest would go to senior officials from  health organisations in the area.

However, at a recent Council Scrutiny Board meeting, Lib Dem Group Leader Glyn Nightingale proposed that a majority of members be councillors, selected in proportion to their parties’ strengths on the Council.

This received support from Conservative, Independent and Labour Councillors.

Lib Dem Councillor Glyn Nightingale said:

“Transfering the powers of unelected Primary Care Trusts to the Counci by the  Coalition Government was major step in improving local democracy  But now the Labour hierarchy l seems to want to replace one unelected body with another.”

“This is a very important committee. It will be responsible for making sure the health of the public  in our area is protected and improved. The quality of life for thousands of local people  will depend on it doing its job well. That is why it is so important that the committee is democratic and accountable.”

“I am pleased that the Scrutiny Board has challenged the Labour Cabinet on this. I hope they will think again.”

Following the resignation of Cllr Sean Pryce from Redcar and Cleveland Council’s Labour Group, Lib Dem Group Leader Glyn Nightingale commented:

“Sean Pryce’s resignation from the Labour Party is hardly surprising. This is yet another in a series of Labour defections and resignations since 2011. To lose three Cabinet members is serious. But to see its majority whittled away by defections is calamitous for Labour.”

“The only two gains Labour made in Redcar in Council elections in 2011 have now been lost to defections.”

“Labour continue to take their local dominance and power for granted. They shamelessly ignore common sense, waste taxpayers’ money and disregard what local people want. They have rejected the Government’s money to freeze Council Tax; squandered money on a vertical pier and £20,000 on a consultation that ignores a popular petition protesting against parking charges in Saltburn. It’s typical of their incompetence in running a multi-million pound organisation. Clearly, Cllr Pryce shares our view on these key issues.”

“No wonder sensible people are still turning their backs on Labour, just as they did in 2010 when they turfed them out of government and elected the first Liberal Democrat MP in the Borough. Now, it seems they can’t even keep support within their own party.”

You couldn’t make this up!

The Council has money allocated for improving the local bus network.

So why not put the money into cheaper bus services that are more frequent, more reliable and stop and go where people want?

NO – this is Labour-run Redcar & Cleveland Council!

They want to use the money to replace the Ormesby High Street roundabout with traffic lights.

Already it’s clear from the Lib Dems’ earlier survey that most local residents don’t want traffic lights on the High Street.

You can have your say at the formal consultation sessions:

Ormesby Library – Thurs 14 February – 10am to 1pm and 4pm to 7pm

Ormesby Club & Institute – Tues 12 & 19 February – both 10am to 4pm

Ormesby Library – Fri 1 March – unmanned display with comments forms.

Local Lib Dem Councillor Glyn Nightingale said:

“It’s a misuse of money. More will be spent on power and maintenance. And judging by what’s happened at Brambles Farm near the Truck Road, it will increase the traffic snarl up at rush hour.”

Redcar residents successfully stopped lights being installed near Morrison’s on West Dyke Road.

Now it’s your chance to decide.

The Lib Dem Team understand the Council will not renew the farmer’s lease on the Swan’s Corner field.

Their masterplan includes a scheme to build 115 houses on this green space – and thousands more near the A171.

The main reason is to raise more Council Tax revenues.