Unfair Increase

Cllr Kate Rolfe has slammed the unfair hike in parking charges for country parks especially the “Greenway in Stratford, the item was called in by the Lib Dems Cllr Kate Role said at a special meeting held to discuss this 3rd March “On page 1 of the report it states ‘some modest increases’  Seriously do you think 50% plus in a modest increase” Cllr Jenny Fradgley also slammed this hike saying “that local members should have been consulted and any increase should be phased just putting them up by 50% because nothing has been done for 5 years is not acceptable”

The decision to increase the parking fees had original been taken by a Conservative delegated Portfolio Holder decision. The then Conservative controlled Scrutiny Committee just nodded through the increase without any real challenge or detailed questioning taking place.

Link to the Committee Papers Warwickshire County Council

Council Tax is Unfair

Liberal Democrats are proposing an amendment to the Tory budget at Shire Hall. They have reduced the unfair council tax that residents will have to pay. It still means that by 2027 that over £65 million pounds will come out of the organisation. The Government is failing to support local authorities and has only given 12 month settlement.

Cllr Jerry Roodhouse Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group on Warwickshire County Council said

Cllr Jerry Roodhouse

“The Liberal Democrats are presenting a balanced budget that reduces the burden on the taxpayer, increasing costs to individuals as highlighted by the Resolution Foundation will see families hit with at least £1,200 hit. Council Tax is unfair and should be scrapped and local government given the investment needed not 12-month handouts from the Government, clearly inflation, national insurance hikes and increasing costs wipe out the extra resources that are needed. Liberal Democrats have put together a set of proposals that invests more into fixing our broken pavements and introduce a Highway action fund for 20mph speed limits, adult social care and children services including tackling long covid . We are calling on the Tory administration to join with us and ensure that we see a Fairer, more Caring and Greener Warwickshire”

Warwickshire Liberal Democrats are investing more funds into Adult Social Care including the commissioning, Children & Families, customer support, specific projects include the following,

  • Investing £3 million capital monies into improving the worsening state of Warwickshire pavements targeted at delivering improvements to pavements and footways in Warwickshire.
  • Investing £0.400 million over the five years to deliver the Council’s Outdoor Education Strategy (https://democracy.warwickshire.gov.uk). The strategy is a key component of a “Child Friendly Warwickshire”; supporting young people in their development. We see this as part of the day to day business of the Council, especially after the administration closed Marle Hall.
  • Increase investment over the next five years to £0.500m in support for those with Dementia and Alzheimer’s and their carers. We recognise that Dementia and Alzheimer’s will be increasing as the demographics towards a larger older population. The investment will support the development and implementation of dementia-friendly communities alongside the developing ‘Living well with Dementia’ strategy providing carers support for adults and young carers.
  • Invest £0.250 million a year in early intervention and prevention; supporting families and children especially in the early years. If levelling up is to work it need this investment back into early years.
  • Invest £0.100 million to accelerate the work in communities around long covid as identified by the Director of Public Health in the Annual report 2020/21.
  • The creation of a Highways Action Fund to support the implementation of 20mph speed limits.
  • Increase Community Councillor grants from £6,000 to £8,000 in 2022/23 to help boost local communities after covid, with at least £2,000 being awarded towards supporting young people and youth activities.

Liberal Democrat Amendment link Revenue Lib Dem 8/02/22 Capital proposals Lib Dem 8/02/22

Police Numbers Down

Johnson breaking police pledge as officer numbers fall
 The Conservative Government is off track on its manifesto pledge to recruit 20,000 more police officers by March 2023, with new official figures showing the number of officers actually fell by 413 in December. A total of 11,048 extra officers have been recruited under the Government’s uplift in the 29 months since it started in September 2019 – a rate of 381 more officers per month. To meet the target of 20,000 by March 2023, that rate would have to increase to 597 per month over the next 15 months. Four police forces now have fewer officers than they did a year ago, according to the Home Office figures: Thames Valley (down 29), Gloucestershire (down 22), Warwickshire (down 12) and City of London (down 8). 
Responding to the figures, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs Spokesperson Alistair Carmichael MP said: “Since Boris Johnson is creating more work for the police, the least he could do is deliver more officers to do it. “The Conservatives’ pledge to boost police officer numbers looks set to become yet another of their broken promises. They are letting down victims of crime and communities across the country. “With four in five burglaries going unsolved, it’s clear we need more community police officers to make sure every crime is investigated properly.”

Leading The way

For the next generation we need a fairer, caring, greener Warwickshire the campaign continues.

Liberal Democrats at the County Council 14th December led the way on various items that were up for debate. The first item was a motion concerning drainage issues and working with Seven Trent, presented by Cllr Jerry Roodhouse,

He stated that “It is clear that we are seeing increasing weather patterns which includes heavy rainfall, our drainage systems are not working and with the planned growth of housing will lead to more problems” the Conservatives agreed but wanted a slight change of wording which was agreed and the full council supported it

More heat was generated with debate on trees which the Conservatives presented, Cllrs Jenny Fradgley and Kate Rolfe asked for the inclusion of the Soil Association, Forestry Commission along with the Woodland Trust be inserted and that all elected members are encouraged to support biodervisty and tree planting. They also said “that most of this work was underway including the preparation of a business case for a tree nursery along with a set of other activity that the cross party working group had agreed on”

Surprisingly the Conservatives would not accept this and rejected the calls. Cllr Jerry Roodhouse said “were they just playing politics?” which of course they denied video link to the debates and motions WCC Council Trees

The Liberal Democrat team will continue to campaign and challenge the Conservative administration at question time we asked about, ECO Schools and what action was being taken to do a survey that was agreed 15th December 2020 answer no action yet. Further questions about how fragile the care market is and nutritional meals for care residents we are very concerned about this. Cllr Bill Gifford asked about how we as a Council can support GPs ?

Reverse ambulance station closures to stop deadly delays



 The Liberal Democrats have called on the government to provide funding to reverse ambulance station closures, as the latest figures reveal 8,000 patients were stuck for more than an hour in ambulances outside A&E in the last week alone. Daisy Cooper, the party’s Health and Social Care Spokesperson, has today also written to the chair of the Care and Quality Commission, urging him to launch an investigation into the causes and impacts of deadly ambulance delays, including station closures. These calls form part of an emergency five-point plan to tackle the growing crisis of ambulance delays that is leaving seriously ill patients waiting hours to be treated. In addition to reversing ambulance station closures and launching an investigation, the plan includes bringing in the army to help drive ambulances, passing a new law to increase transparency over waiting times, and launching a new campaign to recruit more paramedics and other ambulance staff. New official figures published today reveal that ambulance response times to emergency 999 calls are exceeding government pledges in every part of England. In November, the average response time for Category 2 calls (emergency calls involving a serious condition that may require rapid assessment and/or urgent transport, such as a stroke or chest pain) was 46 minutes and 37 seconds – more than double the 18-minute target. Meanwhile, 19,366 patients spent more than 30 minutes waiting to be handed over from an ambulance to A&E last week – 8,211 of them were waiting for more than an hour. Last month, the Liberal Democrats secured confirmation from the Government that every ambulance service in England is now at REAP Level 4 – the highest alert level, indicating “extreme pressure”. Both the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives and the College of Paramedics have warned that delays are causing patients harm and putting them at risk. Daisy Cooper MP, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Health and Social Care, said: “Thousands of people are watching loved ones in agony and distress, waiting hours for an ambulance or stuck in the back of one outside a hospital. Some have even watched them die. This is heartbreaking and it can not go on. “The Conservatives have run local NHS services into the ground, breaking waiting time promises for years and years. “Boris Johnson must stop sticking his head in the sand. He must get a grip on this crisis and reverse ambulance station closures that have left communities facing record waiting times. “Our plan would relieve some of the immediate pressure and help fix the ambulance crisis for good so that people know that they can get to hospital in an ambulance and receive the care they deserve, when they need to.” 
Notes
 The Liberal Democrats are calling on the Government to take five urgent actions to tackle this crisis: Community Ambulance Fund: Make emergency funding available to ambulance trusts to reverse closures of community ambulance stations and cancel planned closures. Army drivers: Call up members of the Armed Forces to drive ambulances and ease staff shortages this winter. Staffing: Launch a campaign to retain, recruit and train paramedics and other ambulance staff. New waiting times law: Pass Daisy Cooper’s Ambulance Waiting Times Bill to require accessible, localised reports of ambulance response times. Inquiry: Establish a Care Quality Commission investigation  into the causes and impacts of ambulance service delays. NHS statistics on delays in handovers from ambulances to A&Es are available here. NHS statistics on ambulance response times for November are available here. The government’s pledges on ambulance waiting times are:respond to Category 1 calls in 7 minutes on average, and respond to 90% of Category 1 calls in 15 minutesrespond to Category 2 calls in 18 minutes on average, and respond to 90% of Category 2 calls in 40 minutesrespond to 90% of Category 3 calls in 120 minutesrespond to 90% of Category 4 calls in 180 minutes Daisy Cooper’s written parliamentary question confirming that all ambulance trusts are at REAP Level 4 is available here. Full text of Daisy Cooper’s letter to the chair of the Care Quality Commission, Peter Wyman CBE DL: Dear Peter, I am writing to urge you to launch an emergency Care Quality Commission inspection of ambulance services across England, following multiple reports of people tragically dying – and thousands more suffering severe harm – due to long 999 response times and long waits to be transferred from ambulances into A&E. Last month, the Government confirmed in answer to my parliamentary question that every ambulance service in England is now at REAP Level 4 – the highest alert level, indicating “extreme pressure”. New figures published by the NHS today show that ambulance response times are exceeding government pledges in every part of the country. In November, the average response time for Category 1 calls (requiring an immediate response to a life-threatening condition) was 9 minutes and 10 seconds, while for Category 2 (emergency calls involving a serious condition that may require rapid assessment and/or urgent transport, such as a stroke or chest pain) it was 46 minutes and 37 seconds. Last month, the College of Paramedics warned that:“The ambulance service is simply not providing the levels of service they should – patients are waiting too long and that is putting them at risk.”Meanwhile, thousands of people are being put at risk of serious harm because of delays transferring them to A&E. In the last week alone, 19,366 patients spent more than 30 minutes waiting to be handed over from an ambulance to A&E. 8,211 of them were waiting for more than an hour. Last month, a review by the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives found that as many as 160,000 patients a year are put at risk of harm by these delays, with around 12,000 potentially experiencing severe harm. Its report stated starkly that:“When very sick patients arrive at hospital and then have to wait an excessive time for handover to ED [Emergency Department] clinicians, to receive assessment and definitive care, it is entirely predictable and almost inevitable that some level of harm will arise. This may take the form of a deteriorating medical or physical condition, or distress and anxiety, potentially affecting the outcome for patients and definitely creating a poor patient experience.”It is clear that these ambulance delays amount to a severe crisis in emergency healthcare – one that threatens to get even worse over the winter months. Paramedics and other ambulance staff are working extremely hard, often for more than 12 hours straight and in very difficult circumstances. They need more support. However, ambulance station closures, staff shortages and hospital backlogs mean that patients are not getting the emergency service they need. People across the country are seeing their loved ones wait far too long in agony and distress to receive the urgent care and treatment that they need. Most tragically of all, people are even losing loved ones because of these unacceptable delays. This has to stop. I therefore urge the CQC to hold an emergency inspection into the causes and impacts of ambulance service delays, including station closures. It should bring forward urgent proposals for government action to tackle this crisis, and to ensure that people see an ambulance arrive promptly in emergencies and are transferred to A&E quickly and smoothly. I look forward to your response. Yours sincerely, Daisy Cooper MPLiberal Democrat Spokesperson for Health and Social Care

Lib Dems back call for climate action now!

Warwickshire Liberal Democrats call for action

Local Lib Dems have backed a letter sent to the COP26 climate change summit signed by hundreds of local councillors across the country calling on more power for local government to tackle climate change.


Councillor Jerry Roodhouse said:

“What the country has faced during the COVID-19 pandemic will pale in comparison to the economic and social impacts of climate breakdown if we do not take action immediately. The latest UK Climate Risk Assessment concluded that the UK is “woefully underprepared” for the impacts of climate change that will hit the country.

“The UK’s net zero targets can only be achieved if Government and local authorities work seamlessly together. More than half of the emissions cuts needed rely on people and businesses taking up low-carbon solutions – solutions around buildings, energy and transport – decisions that are made at a local and individual level.

“With 9 out of 10 councils having declared a climate emergency, full support from the Prime Minister and his government is needed to make sure local ambitions become a reality.”

Liberal Democrat Local Government Spokesperson Councillor Pippa Heylings, speaking at the COP26 summit said: ““The UK cannot meet net zero without local councils. Councils have influence over a third of the UK’s carbon emissions. We need to be able to work together with central government on this. Over 350 Liberal Democrat Councillors have signed this letter calling on the Prime Minister to take action.”

Notes to Editors:

  1. Photo shows Cllr Heylings speaking at the Local Government Association’s meeting during the COP26 climate change conference and with Cllr Joe Harris (Leader, LGA Liberal Democrat Group and Cllr Bridget Smith, Deputy Leader), also at COP26
  2. Text of letter reads:

Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP,

Prime Minister,

10 Downing Street,

LONDON

SW1A 2AA

Dear Prime Minister,

Support local action on Climate Change!


Action on tackling the climate emergency has never been more urgent and we need joined-up government at all levels to achieve our ambitious net zero targets. People all around the country know this and that is why they urged their local Councils to take climate change seriously and act now.

9 in 10 Councils in the country have now declared a climate emergency but they need your help to put words into action at speed. COP 26, the global summit on climate change in Glasgow this November, is the opportunity for you to show the people of the UK and of the world, the climate leadership needed to stop climate breakdown. We call on you, Prime Minister, to announce that you are granting Councils the powers and resources they need to meet net zero targets and be resilient to climate impacts.

The science tells us that what the country has endured during the COVID-19 pandemic will pale in comparison to the economic and social impacts of climate breakdown if we do not take action immediately. The latest IPCC report told us that we have even less time left than we thought and the independent UK Climate Risk Assessment concluded that the UK is “woefully underprepared” for the impacts of climate change that will hit the country; that the gap between climate risks and preparedness has grown over last 5 years.

The UK’s net zero targets can only be achieved if Government and local authorities work seamlessly together. More than half of the emissions cuts needed rely on people and businesses taking up low-carbon solutions – solutions around buildings, energy and transport – decisions that are made at a local and individual level.

The National Audit Commission’s July report also recognises the importance of local government to net zero but concludes that “there are serious weaknesses in central government’s approach to working with local authorities on decarbonisation, stemming from a lack of clarity over local authorities’ overall roles, piecemeal funding, and diffuse accountabilities.

Internationally, the Local Governments and Municipal Authorities (LGMA) have called for COP26 to be recognised as the ‘Multilevel Action COP’ in acknowledgment of the fact that net zero can only be achieved by national and local governments working together at all levels. 

We call on you, Prime Minister, to answer the call of people up and down the breadth of our country and of all those councils that have declared a climate emergency; in fact, of local government and municipal authorities across the world.

We call on you to set a global example by devolving the powers and resources needed to those councils that have declared a climate emergency. This commitment to empowering local government should be reflected in the updated National Determined Contributions (NDCs) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) through a shared fiscal and policy framework between central and local government to meet net zero targets and climate adaptation priorities. 

Finally, we call on you to provide the global climate leadership needed to make this transformation possible for all countries by including a dedicated chapter for local government in the official Agreement reached at COP 26, recognising the importance of subnational actors in co-designing and delivering climate action and seeking to ensure that local government is politically and financially empowered to meet that ambition.

Yours Sincerely,

Cllr Pippa Heylings,

LGA Liberal Democrat Group Spokesperson, Climate Change

And 353 other Liberal Democrats

Concerns raised about Rugby MP second salary

CITY A.M. have reported that Mark Pawsey the local Conservative MP for Rugby and Bulkington makes £30,000-a-year as chairman of a packaging lobby group but has spoken on multiple occasions in Parliament in favour of watering down environmental laws to favour plastic producers.  

The paper says that Mark Pawsey has spoken several times in Parliament outlining his concerns about the effect of environmental legislation on plastic producers. These include a debate in 2020 on environmental regulation banning plastic straws and earlier this year on the Government’s Environment Bill.   

Leading environmental campaigning organisation Greenpeace UK have questioned whether Mr Pawsey is acting in his constituent’s interests saying, “It’s deeply concerning that Mark Pawsey is taking a second salary from the plastic packaging industry, while also lobbying in parliament to water down legislation that would help tackle the plastic pollution crisis.”   

In 2018, Rugby Liberal Democrats pushed through a motion to ensure that Rugby Borough Council is plastic free and doing more to reduce single use plastic waste within the authority, adopting the Waste and Resources Action Programme and engaging more with local environmental groups, businesses, and residents to cut their plastic waste.  

Commenting, Cllr Tim Douglas, who put forward the plastic free motion, said:  

“Plastic waste is damaging to our environment so it very concerning that our local MP has been embroiled in accusations of lobbying to water down environmental standards. It is ironic we are learning of this the week COP26 concludes, and also the fact that Mark Pawsey attended the Climate Change Conference. As we all try to tackle climate change emergency, Rugby’s MP should be doing all he can to shape laws that improve our environment both locally and nationally. Sadly, it would appear that Mark Pawsey is out of touch and prepared to put outside interests first instead of making things better for local residents.” 

“Rugby deserves an MP that is working full time on behalf of his constituents, especially given the challenging past 18 months.” 

 Tory MP moonlighting as packaging lobby chair tried to soften environmental laws on plastic  http://www.cityam.com

https://www.southrugbynews.co.uk/p/rugby-mp-heads-to-cop26

Rugby Lib Dems plastic free motion    

https://rugbylibdems.org.uk/en/article/2018/1256786/rugby-lib-dems-call-on-council-to-do-more-to-reduce-plastic-waste

Living Streets

We support Living Streets and they are doing some really good stuff. This past year and a half our street space has come under more scrutiny than ever before. This is due largely to the pandemic and our changing habits. And then there’s the small matter of an unfolding climate emergency.

Meanwhile at Living Streets we are listening. This is what we’ve heard.