Bucks Lib Dems - the campagn continues

“Suffering" Lib Dems real winners in local elections

2011-05-11T13:04:00.000-07:00

“Lib Dems suffer as Labour and UK Independence party win seats”, reads the headline in this week’s Bucks Herald.

Only partly true. Yes, we Liberal Democrats did lose our group leader, defeated by the Conservatives in Aylesbury. But we also made important gains, which the newspaper report totally ignored.

surely the two key results outside Aylesbury town were LibDem victories, in Winslow and Waddesdon, and in both cases it was the Tories who were defeated.

Indeed, if you add on the loss of another seat by the Conservatives in Buckingham to Labour, the Tories were the big losers in the Buckingham constituency.

The Bucks Herald might argue that they were taking Aylesbury Vale District Council results as a whole, on the Liberal Democrat certainly did make net losses.
But nothing like the losses the party was making elsewhere in the South, and nowhere near as bad as the rout in parts of the North.

But our party fights elections on a constituency basis, and by this measure the Buckingham Liberal Democrats had a day of outstanding success on May 5, and in areas where the Conservatives are traditionally strong. And it was a considerable advance on the result in the elections four years ago, when the party lost seats to the Conservatives

Avril Davies and Corrie Cashman held their seats in Pitstone and Cheddington respectively. And David Vick and. Llew Monger won seats from the Conservatives in Waddesdon and Winslow.

While LibDem fortunes were slumping in opinion polls throughout the country, the Buckingham constituency Liberal Democrats fulfilled their plan to perfection and doubled their numbers.

It’s a pity the Bucks Herald didn’t recognise this as a story.

County councillor Avril Davies's April '11 report

2011-04-23T07:45:00.000-07:00

April 2011 News Round Up

Pitstone Quarry 2 Application for landfill turned down

The long history of the quarry under Pitstone Hill completed another chapter in March when Bucks County Council refused planning permission for the quarry to be used for the disposal of inert waste. A site such as this in the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty can only be used when there is inadequate provision in the County plan for waste disposal for the next 15 years. The County were able to show that there is enough landfill capacity elsewhere within the County, to prove there was no need to use Pitstone.

Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty were designated alongside National Parks, and have the same status, the difference being that AONBs are closer to centres of population.

Cheddington Station Booking Office closure proposed. (result unknown at time of writing)

Many people including myself have written to deplore these proposals. Not only had the booking office been recently refurbished with toilets - more than can be said for Tring station - but the office provides a warm and sheltered place to wait, pick up a newspaper and a coffee, also better than Tring. Most importantly, not everyone is happy to use ticket machines. They are difficult to see in certain lights, slow, confusing, occasionally out of order, and above all don't sell season tickets. And buying a ticket on the train you run the risk of getting fined.

Home to School Transport - Bucks County Council want changes to save £1.8M

At the time of writing changes to eligibility for free transport to school are being proposed by Bucks County Council in an effort to save £1.8M. By the time you read this, changes may already be decided, or the whole thing called in. Pupils travelling to Cottesloe School are unaffected, and I have had it in writing that free transport to Tring School from Ivinghoe and Pitstone will also not be affected, nor from Marsworth where the walking route is just short of three miles and considered unsafe. This is because Tring is the nearest secondary school. There is a 'line' in Cheddington however where Tring School and the Cottesloe school are equidistant, and I have requested clarification. I have also written to protest at the ridiculous proposal to provide free transport ONLY to the nearest school in a catchment area. This means that from this side of Aylesbury, grammar school pupils opting for the Henry Floyd would not get free transport, although had they opted for the High or Aylesbury Grammar they would. From the Haddenham side of Aylesbury, the position would be exactly in reverse. Additionally any changes would be applied to existing pupils even though last year it was made quite clear when choosing schools that transport to all three schools of more than 3 miles was free. This has caused a big stir especially in the south of the County, where parents have enlisted the help of their MP, Dominic Grieve, the Attorney General, and may be calling for judicial review.

The Scrutiny Committee of which I am a member, has heard from parents affected, and criticised the way the consultation was inadequately publicised, difficult to access, and will be questioning the cabinet member concerned at a special meeting on 12th April

Local Initiatives

The County Council, as part of its economy drive has proposed that 14 rural libraries become community owned and managed. After several exploratory meetings following on from a presentation from the Library service in December, the Friends of Ivinghoe Library have re-formed, and the Ivinghoe Town Hall trustees have agreed to carry work forward. The new post office and shop in the building is really welcome.

The first meeting of the local Freight Quality Partnership pilot took place in February and again in April, and has set up a working group. The Partnership has members from most Parish Councils in the Great Brickhill, Wing and Ivinghoe Area, AVDC and Bucks County Council, the Police, the freight industry associations, and the Council for the protection of Rural England. The working group is currently collecting information, setting up a website, and making contact with adjacent counties, with a long term view of providing the tools to better manage freight journeys for the benefit of local residents and the freight operators.

County Council Budget Cuts

I usually steer clear of trying to explain complex financial issues, but the whole country is talking about 'Cuts' and here is no exception.

After the 2010 election and before the announcement of the spending review, Bucks County Council took the opportunity to see if it could remove £90M from its budget over 3 years.

When the cuts came the Government did slash public spending in some areas, while spending more in others. Local Government appeared to have taken a very big hit, particularly this year, with what is described as 'front loaded' cuts, meaning more has had to come out of the budget this year than in the next two.

Bucks County Council had a far better settlement than expected. It is partly cushioned by the fact that 80% of its budget is already funded by Council Tax, so was not affected, and only 20% is funded by the Revenue Support Grant. The revenue support grant was cut by less than 1% overall, and by not increasing council tax the County was paid around £5m extra by the government. The County also received about £36m capital grant which was totally unexpected, very welcome, and much needed.

The reason the County has had still to make about £20M cuts this year is that inflation has to be taken into account, so rising costs have not been met, and specific funding grants for specific services and projects have been taken away, or merged in to the overall grant.

There will be an effect on front line services, disproportionately in social care, learning disability and mental health. But the most obvious one locally is the change to the rural library service, where 14 local libraries, including Ivinghoe, where 50% of the funding is being withdrawn. They are proposed to become Community Libraries, so that the service can be delivered in a different way.

I and others think that the proposed spending of £30M capital and £9M pa revenue on a waste to energy plant at Calvert is unnecessary, and I described it as 'Buckinghamshire's Trident' to the delight of the Bucks Herald headline writers. By which I meant that the money was needed more elsewhere.

Aylesbury Vale District Council has also received a significant reduction in grant. However it has decided to take the shortfall out of reserves in the immediate future, and bring forward a revised budget after the elections.

Published & Promoted by Mrs EM Bell, Reform House, 6 Castle Street, Aylesbury, Bucks HP20 2RE.

Campaigning to improve the way Aylesbury Vale is run

2011-04-20T12:56:00.000-07:00

Aylesbury Vale District Council is not the Coalition at Westminster.

Since the year 2000 the Conservatives have run the local council–they also run Bucks county council–while we, the Liberal Democrats, provide the opposition.

So if you don't like the way the council is run, the people to blame are the Conservative councillors who are in charge.

All the Liberal Democrat opposition (there were no Labour councillors in the outgoing council, and just one independent member) can do is provide creative and constructive opposition as best they can.

This is much harder than it used to be, thanks to changes made by the last Labour government.

They got rid of the committee system, which at least gave opposition councillors the chance to debate and possibly change plans and policies at the committee stage, through force of argument.

Instead Labour brought in the Cabinet system. This works just like the Cabinet in our national government. Only these Cabinet members are actually stronger because when they go before the meeting of the full council, there is no debate (as in Westminster) and decisions are rubberstamped.

So when people tell us “look what you are doing with the Conservatives in the coalition", our answer is that that situation is not mirrored here. For the past 10 years we have worked hard in opposition to tell the Conservatives where we think they're going wrong, and what should be done to put it right.

How can blaming us for the national situation improve matters here?

All it can do is further entrench the Conservatives as the party in power.
We believe they have let you down, through bad decision-making and poor policies. We think you deserve better.

Published & Promoted by Mrs EM Bell, Reform House, 6 Castle Street, Aylesbury, Bucks HP20 2RE.

Avril's blog

2009-05-25T04:08:00.000-07:00

Avril has been blogging since 2005:

click on http://avrildavies.blogspot.com/

Printed by Avril Davies. Promoted by Geoff Twiss on behalf of Avril Davies (Liberal Democrat), both at 6 Castle Street, Aylesbury, HP20 2RE. May 2009.