29 September 2009
Council's accounting errors
whichever party wins, the financial situation in which we find ourselves
will be very difficult. This will be particularly true in local government.
Councils are likely to receive less from central government and the public
will be understandably opposed to further increases in council tax.
At a time when councils should be getting themselves into shape to deal with
tough times ahead, it is particularly distressing the Lib Dem run Vale
District Council is making matters worse for itself. It emerged over the
summer that accounting errors have left the council in a dire financial
position.
People may recall that last year's budget was a very tight affair anyway,
with many services struggling to survive, yet it now appears that the
council's reserves were overstated by more than £700,000. This means that
without remedial action the reserves going into next year will be less than
the price of the average terrace house in the district.
This is on top of a further accounting error of £260,000 caused by double
counting money from central government.
This is not quite a crisis, but it is certainly not good news. I am happy to
work with anyone to improve the council's finances, but it will not be easy
to balance the books in difficult economic times. The Lib Dems at the Vale
have not just overspent on public money, but they have also overspent their
credibility.
28 September 2009
Playing the blame game
Herald (http://tinyurl.com/yd6bmvc) in which we both seem to be in agreement
about the future of Abingdon. (This in response to my letter the previous
week http://tinyurl.com/y9gmykr). Richard then adds a reasonably barbed
comment about the traffic in Abingdon - a not very well disguised political
attack. For the record I believe that the County Council should and does
give the traffic problems of Abingdon a high priority. The problems that
Abingdon experiences have been created by all parties at all layers of local
government, and Richard Webber is behind the times if he thinks that playing
the blame game will give him any credit. I agree - solving Abingdon's
traffic problems are at the heart of revitalising the town. All parties and
councils need to work together to achieve this.
17 September 2009
Passing the buck
Oxfordshire County Council asking when free parking in Abingdon Town Centre
will start. This was indeed one of the aspirations in the Conservatives'
Vision for Abingdon documents circulated during the County Council campaign.
Conservatives at the Vale have long argued for reductions and eventually
free parking in Abingdon as well as Faringdon and Wantage.
Sadly Abingdon Town Council has acted out of the most blatant political
motives. They know that Oxfordshire County Council has direct responsibility
only for on-street parking. The Vale of White Horse District Council is
responsible for all of the car parks. I stand by the Conservative's pledge
to campaign for free car parking, it would help all of our market towns and
be a benefit to local residents. What would be more constructive would be
for all council's Lib Dem & Tory to agree that free parking would be a good
thing, and to work together to achieve it. I am sad to say that the Lib Dems
sudden interest in this subject may be related to the fact that a
by-election has just been called in the town.
16 September 2009
More police for Faringdon
to provide more cover for Faringdon. Our excellent local Chief Inspector,
Andy Boyd, is quoted as saying "The town has got a relatively low rate of
crime, but what we have to recognise is the reassurance that police
visibility offers to the community". There will be two extra policemen will
patrol the town and there will be an emergency response team available 24
hours a day.
Incidentally the Vale's Scrutiny Committee, chaired by yours truly, has
invited Chief Inspector Boyd to a future committee meeting to talk in detail
about policing in the Vale of White Horse.
14 September 2009
Faringdon Heritage Day
especially as the weather had turned rather colder than we had enjoyed
earlier in the week. The Church, Folly Tower, Corn Exchange, Masonic Hall
and Old Town Hall were all open to visitors, exhibiting a variety of
activities. I am sure it provided a much needed boost to local trade looking
at the number of people in shops such as the Nut Tree and Budgens. A good
day all round.
10 September 2009
Cautious welcome to Abbey Shopping Centre
Street Precinct, (now to be known as the Abbey Shopping Centre), should be
welcomed, but cautiously. Whilst the precinct is in dire need of investment,
and has done for some time, there is still no clear plan for the whole town.
Abingdon, along with all of the other towns in the Vale needs an
aspirational vision for at least the next decade.
So far the district council has failed to develop such a strategy. Taking
Abingdon as the example, there are many things that the district council can
do to help the vitality of the town. The shopping centre, the Old Gaol, the
proposals for large housing developments, and of course the roads (both in
the town centre, and further out). All of these issues and many others
should be pulled together into one clear vision.
We must credit the public with the intelligence of realising that not
everything can be done at once, and the Council and potential investors are
all struggling to find the necessary cash at the moment. We need to show
however that there is a clear vision for the future, something to strive for
and a plan of how to achieve it over the long term. What cannot be tolerated
is plans for projects such as the Abbey Shopping Centre risking being turned
into short term fixes which do not get to the core of Abingdon's problems.
08 September 2009
Cutting the cost
The intention of the Labour government who introduced this allowance was clear from the start, to help their own MPs hold onto their seats. In reality the cost of communicating with the public has come down. New media make it easier, quicker and (most importantly in this case) cheaper. The are also plenty of community newsletters that would welcome contributions from their MPs.
Of course politicians at all levels should promote themselves, it is part of a healthy democracy and furthers public discourse, but politicians should raise their own funds for this, not look to the tax payer to fund it.
02 September 2009
Swindon postal drivers on strike
of strike action taken by the Communication Workers Union, workers at the
Swindon mail centre are going on strike today in a dispute over pay. Swindon
has recently taken over the work of the Oxford mail centre, so post to most
of Oxfordshire could be affected. Postal strikes tend to engender little
sympathy with the public at the best of times, but in the current climate
when so many people are looking for any work at all there will be even more
disquiet. Much like the disputes of the 70's the Unions find themselves able
to hold a struggling Labour government to ransom. We also have the threat of
strikes threatening the fire services across the country, and this is after
the Government have sold off the Green Goddess fire engines used to cover
when civilian services are suspended. Not a happy state of affairs.
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