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Ten Point Plan - Current Lib Dem Policies |
OVERARCHING AIM:
A WELL-MANAGED AND EFFICIENT AUTHORITY WITH COMPASSION AT THE HEART OF ALL ITS POLICIES
1. Town & Parish Council Charter
2. Improve Planning Enforcement
3. Restrict Greenfield Development
4. Defend Village Facilities
5. Increase Waste Recycling
6. Improve Services for the Elderly & Vulnerable
7. Raising Attainment in Education
8. Improve Highway Amenities
9. Reducing Anti-Social Behaviour
10. Value for Money
For our Ten Point Plan in more detail see below:
1. Town & Parish Council Charter.
Many councils complain that the East Riding Council does not properly listen to or consult with the Town and Parish Councils in the East Riding. This is in part only a perception but Liberal Democrats firmly believe that communication between the East Riding Town and Parish and Councils can be improved.
Liberal Democrats will:
Introduce a Town and Parish Council Charter. The Charter will be a ‘Statement of Partnership’ between the East Riding of Yorkshire Council and every Town and Parish Council in the East Riding. The areas that the Charter will cover are Planning, Consultation, Information and Delegation.
2. Improve Planning Enforcement.
Liberal Democrat councillors receive many complaints about the apparent lack of action by the Council against people who are either not complying with planning conditions or carrying out works or businesses without planning permission.
Liberal Democrats will:
Increase the number of staff in the Planning Enforcement Section to ensure swift action where infringement is alleged to have occurred, paid for by restructuring in the planning department and further development of the ICT systems.
Ensure that Parish and Town Councils are kept fully informed on any enforcement matter.
3. Restrict Greenfield Development
Liberal Democrats support the right of every citizen to a decent home. However, we believe that the countryside should not be destroyed by the continuing presumption in favour of greenfield development.
We recognise that the East Riding Council inherited many greenfield sites in the outgoing borough councils’ Local Plans. Many of these sites were allocated without regard to scale or adequate infrastructure.
We further recognise that in the majority of cases these allocations cannot be easily revoked although this should not prevent each allocation being reviewed.
National Lib Dem policy states that there should be a greenfield development tax which pays for cleaning up brownfield sites to make them attractive for housing.
Liberal Democrats will:
Ensure that at least 50% of new housing in the Hull & East Riding area is built on brownfield land.
Only support greenfield development when it can be fully integrated into the local community and look like a natural part of the town or village.
Ensure that vernacular style, quality and feeling of space is considered when any land is allocated for development.
Where development is to take place, ensure that the scale of that development is appropriate. As a guide, no community should be faced with growth in excess of 10% over the life of the JSP (i.e. 2016).
All development should contribute fully to any necessary (or desirable) improvement to local facilities, such as schools, recreation and leisure facilities.
Ensure that the national minimum target for social housing is maintained in all housing developments.
4. Defend Village facilities
Successive Governments have failed to recognise the importance of the village shop, school, pub or garage to rural communities. The Liberal Democrats have consistently supported all these village facilities.
Liberal Democrats on the East Riding Council were successful in extending the Village Shop Rate Relief Scheme to include all types of village retail facilities. The Government scheme was mainly aimed at post offices.
Liberal Democrats were also successful in extending the rate relief scheme to new rural businesses. The original scheme limited rate relief to businesses that had year-end accounts available.
Liberal Democrats will:
Continue with the present rate relief scheme and encourage all eligible rural facilities to apply for rate relief.
Encourage rural enterprises to apply for funding towards the cost of the provision of new services through the Vital Villages Community Service Scheme.
Work with Government agencies such as the Countryside Agency to develop funding opportunities to assist rural businesses in modernising their existing facilities.
5. Introduce Kerbside Recycling.
Few people want a landfill site near their homes. Even less welcome is a waste incinerator that may be emitting invisible poisonous gases into the atmosphere.
The amount of rubbish we throw away each year is growing at an alarming rate. All the government can do is put up the Landfill Tax every year and threaten to put a 10p tax on plastic carrier bags.
Liberal Democrats recognise that swift action is needed now to reduce the waste mountain that is so crippling for the Council Tax payer. This may increase costs in the short term. But it will reduce them in the longer term as continuing landfill tax increases raise the cost of conventional disposal.
Liberal Democrats further recognise that the existing waste disposal contract cannot be simply ripped up. Careful handling of the renegotiation process will therefore be necessary if incineration is not to remain as a preferred disposal option.
Liberal Democrats will:
Introduce kerbside collection of recyclable waste across the East Riding over the next 4 years.
Encourage every household to compost their own garden waste.
Examine alternative waste disposal methods for the residual waste with WRG.
6. Improve Services for the Elderly & Vulnerable.
The government’s under-funding of social care is a disgrace. It has led to tremendous pressure being placed on the council’s budget for care of the elderly.
Liberal Democrats continue to campaign for the recommendations of the Royal Commission on Long Term Care to be implemented.
Locally we have pressed the government to recognise that all care providers are experiencing acute problems in recruiting and retaining social care staff.
Liberal Democrats will:
Continue to campaign for government funding of social services to reflect the increased standards rightly demanded for modern social care.
Seek to improve the recruitment, retention and training of all social care staff by providing adequate funding to match modern standards.
Work with the voluntary and private sector so that all areas of the East Riding have local access to appropriate care.
7.Increase Attainment in Education.
Liberal Democrats have long stressed the importance of a well-educated and trained population. Unfortunately, some young people are still under-achieving and joining the world of work without the necessary skills. Raising attainment must be a priority.
Liberal Democrats will:
Retain and where possible add to the network of varied pre-school provision.
Ensure that schools have the tools to educate our children in a caring but stretching environment especially at secondary school level.
Continue to build on the excellent achievements at pre-school and primary school levels in the East Riding.
Put special emphasis on supporting secondary schools in their bids for specialist status.
Work with the Learning and skills Council to increase the number of pupils continuing their education and improve achievement at 18.
8. Improve Highway Amenities.
Liberal Democrats believe that the highway network has improved since the East Riding Council came into being in 1995/6. However, there is concern that this improvement has been to the detriment of adequate spending on footway, verges and streetlights.
Liberal Democrats will:
With advice from the Disability Access Forum, carry out a safety audit of all footpaths to ensure that any cross path or linear slopes are within acceptable tolerances for the elderly and disabled.
Maintain footpaths in good order, of adequate width and not blocked by street furniture to ensure safe passage for all footpath users.
Where there is an identified need for additional streetlights and the majority of residents affected supports this, work with the Parish and Town Councils to meet that need.
Work with Parish and Town Councils, and residents to improve the safety, appearance and tidiness of our housing estates. One possible area for improvement is the provision of off street parking to prevent damage to grass verges.
Work with Parish and Town Councils to identify the most effective and acceptable method of improving road safety in our communities.
9. Reduce Anti-Social Behaviour.
Liberal Democrats believe that every resident should feel safe in their home environment, free from the fear of crime, intimidation and neighbour nuisance that is caused by a tiny minority of our communities.
Liberal Democrats will:
Work with the police to increase their presence and improve their image in our communities.
Encourage the setting up of effective local neighbourhood watch groups.
Vigorously pursue Anti-Social Behaviour Orders against those who cause continuing neighbour nuisance.
Work in the communities to identify and reduce areas of conflict between youths and their elders.
Raise awareness among parents of their responsibility regarding the behaviour of their children.
10. Value for Money.
Every year East Riding residents are presented with Council Tax increases several times greater than the rate of inflation, yet each year councillors cut several million pounds from the budget in an effort to restrict Council Tax increases to an acceptable level. This is largely because the East Riding receives around £75 less per head in government funding than the national average.
Slowly the level of Council Tax in the East Riding is reducing in relation to the national average. However, Liberal Democrats believe there are still areas where savings can be made and services can be improved without increasing costs.
Liberal Democrats will:
Continue to identify areas where savings can be made without affecting the quality of front line services.
Continue to identify and improve service areas where public expectations regarding quality are not being met.
Shift the public view of the Council from having a self-congratulating attitude towards itself to one where the public themselves proclaim the Council as a good authority.
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