Liz Beardwell

Liberal Democrat Councillors will propose that there should be no increase in North Herts Council Tax at this evening’s Council budget meeting. The Conservative cabinet is proposing a 1.5% increase. 

Liberal Democrat leader Steve Jarvis said, “At a time when many people are seeing their incomes stay the same or even fall the Council should not be increasing the tax it charges local people unless there is no alternative. We have identified that, mainly by cutting spending on yellow lines and traffic wardens, a zero rise is possible.” 

“In those circumstances I hope that other members of the council will support our initiative.”

The performance of North Herts Council has been judged to ”meet only minimum requirements” in a nationwide independent assessment of councils – scoring two out of a possible four. The assessment was conducted by the Audit Commission as part of their “One Place” evaluation of local public services across the country. 

Leader of the opposition, Lib Dem Councillor Steve Jarvis said “Many people will recognise the Audit Commission’s assessment that ‘The Council has modest ambitions which do not set a clear vision beyond the short term.’ North Herts is nice place to live but The Council doesn’t do much to contribute to this.  “This probably explains why people in North Herts are less happy with their district council’s services than people in England as a whole.” 

The One Place evaluation includes assessments of the County Council, all the District Councils in Hertfordshire, the police authority and the health authorities. You can see details at http://oneplace.direct.gov.uk/infobyarea/region/area/Pages/areaoverview.aspx?region=50&area=359

North Herts Council has refused to sign up to the 10:10 Campaign which seeks to cut carbon emissions by 10% in 2010. Labour and Conservative Councillors refused to back a Liberal Democrat proposal that the Council should sign up to the campaign at a Council meeting on Thursday. 

Liberal Democrat leader Steve Jarvis said, “The Council says that it is committed to cutting carbon emission, but apparently its not prepared to sign up to a public target to do so because they say they might not be able to meet it. Many people will think that it would be better for the council to try and perhaps not quite meet the target rather than not even trying. “Other Councils, of all political persuasions, have signed up, many businesses and individuals have signed up and both the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives have said that they will ensure the government signs up if they are in a position to do so after the general election.  “Why is something that so many other organisations can do just too hard for North Herts Council?” 

10:10 is a project to persuade individuals, companies, organisations and the government to achieve a 10% cut in the UK’s carbon emissions in 2010.

North Herts Council has finally abandoned its plan to spend nearly £11 million pounds on new council offices.

The cabinet eventually recognised that the plan, which the Liberal Democrats have opposed ever since the start, was the wrong way to proceeed.

Commenting Lib Dem leader Steve Jarvis said, “I’m glad that the cabinet has finally seen sense and abandoned this ridiculous scheme. What a pity that they wasted so much time and money before doing so.”

For the last few years North Herts Council has set itself the target of increasing the Council Tax by less than 2% above the rate of inflation. This is too high and every year the Liberal Democrats propose a lower rise.

Now inflation is negative you might have expected smaller increases, but the Council has decided to change its target. Now it is 2% above inflation, unless inflation is negative, in which case it is 2%. So the lower inflation is the more you will be asked to pay in real terms.

Not a great way to help people when times are hard.

Lib Dem leader Steve Jarvis proposed sticking with the old target, but the Conservatives AND Labour said this would be terribly risky and voted it down.

For some reason almost every Conservative Councillor voted against a motion calling for the County Council to look at better waste disposal solutions than incineration at the council meeting on Thursday.

Some just repeated that it is better than land fill, which is true, but there are many solutions that are better still. Anaerobic digestion would be cheaper and environmentally preferable for example but, for some reason the Conservatives don’t think that it should even be considered.

North Herts Council’s cabinet has agreed to spend an extra £43,000 on lawyers, but decided that it could not guarantee that the popular Play Ranger children’s play schemes will not be axed, when it met on Tuesday. 

Liberal Democrat Leader of the Opposition Steve Jarvis said, “The Council used to provide legal services for North Herts Homes, who paid the Council for this, but North Herts Homes have decided that they don’t need this service any more. Rather than cut the amount spent on lawyers, the council has decided that they will increase the council’s own spending to make up the difference. The same meeting of the cabinet that agreed to spend more on lawyers said that they could not guarantee that the popular children’s Play Ranger scheme, which has been a great success with parents and children this year, will continue in 2010.”“Once again the council has its priorities wrong. It’s more concerned about looking after the council than providing services for local people.”

The final decision on the Play Ranger scheme will have to wait until the council sets its budget next February.

North Herts Conservative Councillors have blocked a Liberal Democrat proposal to make value for money one of the council’s top priorities. The proposal would have replaced the council’s existing priorities, making delivering better value an additional priority.

Liberal Democrat opposition leader Steve Jarvis said, “Coming the week after the council discovered that this year’s council tax rise was double what it needed to be and an Audit Commission report that highlighted the council’s poor performance on value for money, the decision by the Conservatives that this should not be one of the council’s top priorities is stunning. People in North Herts are paying far more than those in surrounding areas, yet the Conservatives don’t seem to care.”

“When we challenge them on this they say that they are being careful with the council’s money. The problem is that they are using our money to do it. Other councils can do better than this. Why can’t North Herts?”

Papers for this week’s North Herts Council cabinet meeting reveal that, after pushing through a 3.9% increase in Council Tax in February, the council has now discovered that the increase could have been much lower. The council spent nearly £200,000 less than expected last year – enough to reduce the council tax rise by 2%. 

Liberal Democrat leader of the opposition on the council, Steve Jarvis said, “North Herts has one of the highest levels of council tax in the area and a track record of big increases.  Now it is clear that this year’s rise could actually been much lower, with no impact on local services. The Conservatives who run the council say that they are being prudent, but it’s easy to be prudent when somebody else picks up the bill. It’s time they recognised that they are giving local people a bad deal and brought their performance into line with other councils.” 

Liberal Democrats proposed further savings in spending on new computers and software at the time of the budget. Coupled with the savings that have now been discovered these could have resulted in a tax rise of less than 1.5%. Neighbouring St.Albans council, which is run by the Liberal Democrats, did not increase its council tax at all this year.

At a meeting of the council on Thursday the Conservatives running North Herts Council dismissed a bad report from the Audit Commission claiming that the Audit Commission got it wrong. They rejected a Liberal Democrat proposal to recognise that the Council was falling behind other districts and needed to do better.

Steve Jarvis, Liberal Democrat leader of the opposition on the council, said, “The Audit Commission report clearly identified that North Herts council’s performance and value for money is worse than most other district councils. They reached this conclusion after studying the council’s performance and comparing it will other councils where they have conducted similar exercises . The Audit Commission is an independent body that has no reason to conclude that North Herts Council is worse than other councils unless that’s what the evidence shows. Rather than accept that there is a need to do things differently and that the Audit Commission is providing helpful information the leader of the council told us that the Audit Commission is wrong and that everything is fine.

“Many people will think that this sort of complacency is one of the reasons why North Herts Council performs more poorly than it could.”

Comments made by the Audit Commission in their annual audit letter to the council include

• Performance has largely stood still whilst other councils have improved
• Value for money is improving but sill falls short of levels achieved at most other authorities
• Over the last three years the council has also achieved a below average rate of improvement. This indicates that the council’s performance has not advanced at the rate of most district councils.