Mione Goldspink's Article for the Bishop's Stortford Flyer, April 2015

April 2015

Local Matters with Mione Goldspink

I am appalled by the Budget which the Conservatives are proposing at County Council - they are proposing a Council Tax increase of 1.9% and at the same time are proposing a reduction in services - cuts to buses and Libraries. The Liberal Democrat group has demonstrated that neither the tax hike nor the reduction in services is necessary. The Lib Dems have produced an Alternative, completely balanced Budget which would restore the bus cuts, and even expand support for non-commercially viable but socially important buses. This Lib Dem Budget would also fund £770k for some discretional reversal of Part Night street lighting, and would put more money into additional Highways maintenance; it would also expand its Apprenticeship scheme, and reverse the mobile Library cuts. The Lib Dem Budget for Hertfordshire Country Council would do all this without any increase at all in Council Tax (details of this Budget are available on request).

So why are the Tories behaving like this? Times are still tough financially for a great many people in the area- so why increase the Council Tax when it is not necessary? What is even more bizarre, or unkind, about the Tory Budget is that there is Central Government funding available to help those Councils which seek to keep the Tax low in order to help local people. But, the Hertfordshire Tories have chosen not to apply for this funding. Do the Tories at County Council not care about the people of Hertfordshire and Bishop's Stortford?

What about the Tories on the District Council? They are still proposing to use Compulsory Purchase Powers in order to acquire the Waitrose car park and Coopers Yard in order to assist Henderson Global Investment Co with its huge redevelopment scheme. Local Lib Dems say that this is a gross misuse of these powers, and oppose this action. The Tories wish to remove the status of the Green Belt for some land south of Whittington Way, so that building more houses might be permitted there. The Lib Dems oppose these changes most vigorously - Bishop's Stortford has enough free market houses already. Lib Dems want to see more social housing being built on other sites already available in the Town. The Tories have failed to upgrade the Town's leisure facilities and failed to provide enough Sports Pitches. They could have done much more in providing "seed-corn funding" for an up-to-date swimming pool and more Sports Pitches.

Turning now to National politics, which affect us all at local level eventually, the Coalition Government, led by Conservatives and supported by the Liberal Democrats has done some good things in the last 4.75 years. The National Deficit has been cut by half, reducing borrowing by £3000 for every household in Britain. The Tory Policy on tax reduced the top rate from 50% to 45% and the Lib Dem policy raised the tax threshold for everyone to £10,000. Schools have benefitted from the Lib Dem policy on Pupil Premiums. The State Pension has been protected and increased. NHS funding has been protected, and Lib Dems want more funding for the NHS and have costed £8 billion extra in the life of the next Parliament. Lib Dems have also promised to give equal treatment to mental health services.

On May 7th there will be a General Election, and also Local Elections for Town and District Councils.

I do hope that every one will vote.

Mione Goldspink. Chairman Bishop's Stortford Liberal Democrats.