Last week Ealing Council agreed to freeze its level of Council Tax which happened in part because of money given by the Coalition government.
For the second year running the Liberal Democrat Group put forward an amendment to Labour’s proposals. A summary of the main changes was as follows:
* Cancel the proposed car park in Southall that would cost over £5 million
* Reduce by 10% the money that Councillors receive
* Reduce the salaries of the highest paid council officers
* Reinstating the Short Breaks Carers Restbite service
* Giving a discount to Council Tax for Special Constables volunteers (who are not paid for their community activities)
* Reversing the cuts Labour proposed affecting Sheltered Accommodation
* Ensuring no one has to pay for the Garden Waste collections (the Garden Tax)
* Halving the budget used to set up Controlled Parking Zones
* Saving future monies (the interest on loans) by not borrowing more money
Our budget was financially approved by Council officers and it was fully costed and realistic.
When it came to the vote sadly Labour chose not to accept the amendment despite it helping a lot of vulnerable people such as the elderly or carers.
Liberal Democrats believe that when a Council makes cuts it needs to avoid adding to the problems that that many vulnerable residents are suffering whether it be due to health or age related.
The Labour budget will do little to help many vulnerable people.
In contrast the Liberal Democrats have looked hard through the thousands of pages of financial documents about the Council and its operations to cut out items of spend that are not needed in the short term.
We then have focused on more crucial spending, to either help the Council become more efficient or provide services that residents really need or want. For example Liberal Democrats want to see more people recycling more types of household items. This is why we ensured that no one would pay to have their garden waste collected. Labour are to charge you £40 for this! The stats in Ealing show that when you charge for recycling people are likely to be involved in recycling household goods.
I cannot finish without talking about the unnecessary car park in Southall. It is such a waste of £5 million. By cancelling this we would have been able to reverse Labour’s cuts as well as providing a reduction in Council Tax to those residents who are Special Police Constables. Their voluntary work needs to be rewarded.
Sadly Labour’s budget was not fit for Ealing. The Liberal Democrat Budget would have been.
Thank you,
Councillor Gary Malcolm,
Leader, Ealing Liberal Democrat Group
