Ahead of an Extraordinary Meeting of Warwickshire County Council this Thursday to decide whether or not the authority should seek to enter into the proposed West Midlands Combined Authority, the Liberal Democrat group on the council has been canvassing views from across the districts and boroughs and from colleagues in Coventry. Lib Dem members from around Warwickshire gathered at Shire Hall on Friday to discuss the proposals.

Lib Dems believe that the “take it or leave it” offer from the seven metropolitan West Midlands councils, to join a Combined Authority as a non-voting member, is unacceptable in its current form. They continue to believe that a Coventry & Warwickshire combined authority would provide the best solution to provide a strong economic base for growth for the county.

Cllr Jerry Roodhouse, Lib Dem Group Leader, said:

“It is very unclear what Warwickshire would gain from joining a Combined Authority of metropolitan councils stretching from Coventry to the Black Country. This county already performs better than all but one of the other councils across a wide range of economic indicators – e.g. skills, unemployment levels and gross value added per head.

“We’re being asked to pay into creating a new layer of regional bureaucracy and cost to local taxpayers, but with no vote on how pooled budgets might be prioritised and spent. We’re concerned that our full Local Transport budget would be lost, with a big question mark about services such as Fire & Rescue and Police. Might it mean a single Police & Crime Commissioner for the whole of an enlarged West Midlands region, or might we face rule by a metropolitan mayor?”

Lib Dems also want to see much more information on financial and economic benefits and dis-benefits of such a “super council” made available, and proper consultation with the citizens of Warwickshire, before any such momentous decisions are made. They are highly critical of Conservative and Labour leaders of all the councils concerned for conducting negotiations largely in secret, and failing to spell out to their local residents the nature and impacts of the proposals under discussion.

Note:

The papers for the Extraordinary Meeting are at:-

https://democratic.warwickshire.gov.uk/cmis5/CalendarofMeetings/tabid/128/ctl/ViewMeetingPublic/mid/645/Meeting/3562/Committee/457/Default.aspx

Liberal Democrat councillors have been given lead roles in the delivery of two major new initiatives agreed by Warwickshire County Council at the end of a marathon twelve hour budget setting meeting on Thursday evening.

Cllr Jerry Roodhouse (Lib Dem, Rugby Eastlands & Hillmorton) will chair a new Children’s Wellbeing Board, with the Council committing funding of £3.8 million over three years to developing a much needed 0-5 Strategy for Children, focussing on the health and wellbeing of children. The objective is to give each and every child the best start in life, with the key measure being “school readiness” at age 5, where Warwickshire currently lags behind both regional and national averages, particularly for children from deprived backgrounds.

Cllr John Whitehouse (Lib Dem, Kenilworth Abbey) will lead a cross-party member taskforce to improve traffic, road and cycling safety in the vicinity of Warwickshire’s schools, with committed funding of over £3 million to deliver both minor improvements and road safety engineering solutions such as advisory speed limits and school safety zones. The objective is to work with individual schools and local councillors to define and deliver the most appropriate set of safety improvements in each case, not a ‘one size fits all’ approach.

Other major investments approved by the Council include £4 million to accelerate the roll-out of energy-efficient LED street lighting across the county, and £4.17 million towards extending the coverage of superfast broadband to 98% of Warwickshire households by the end of 2018.

Previous plans to cut funding to the voluntary and community sector have been stopped. However, the need for the sector to change and adapt to new challenges has been recognised, and a £500,000 Transformation Fund will be set up to help existing front-line community-based providers to move to new and sustainable ways of delivering services.

Cllr Roodhouse, who leads the nine-strong Liberal Democrat group on the County Council, said:

“For the second year running Liberal Democrats have set the pace in the budget setting process, and had a major influence on the budget agreed by the Council, even though we are the third largest group. The difference this year is that John Whitehouse and I have been given direct responsibilities for making things happen in two major initiatives which are very dear to our hearts. We relish this new challenge.”

Lib Dems propose to invest £3.8 million to help secure the best possible start in life for Warwickshire’s children.

Warwickshire County Council is due to meet on Thursday 5^th February to decide its budget and set the level of council tax for 2015/2016. No one political party has control in the County.

The centrepiece of the Liberal Democrats budget proposals is a major investment of £3.8 million over three years in a new 0-5 year olds health and well-being fund under the direction of the Warwickshire Health & Well-Being Board. This is to address clear evidence from national data that the county is performing well below regional and national averages in terms of key “school readiness” indicators for all children, and particularly for those from deprived backgrounds. By getting the right Early Years support in place, we can give every child the chance of the best possible start in life, unlocking opportunities and helping to reduce crime and improve mental health for all.

Other headlines in the Lib Dem budget proposals are:-

• Significant new funding, worth £2.65 million over three years, for road safety improvements in the vicinities of schools, including a moratorium on the removal of any further school crossing patrol supervisors, and schemes such as advisory part-time 20 mph speed limits.
• New investment of £4.0 million to accelerate the programme of street light replacement with energy efficient LED lighting, offering the opportunity to reduce energy costs and maximise the flexibility on the part-night lighting policy in keeping with community needs.
• Sustaining, developing and helping the Voluntary and Community Sector to adapt to changing ways of working.
• Giving greater access to our customers by using the latest technology.
• Growing the Warwickshire tourist offer, and developing the skills base in this vital sector of the local economy.

Cllr Jerry Roodhouse, Lib Dem Group Leader, said:

“We have produced a budget that builds on our priorities and seeks to invest for the future. Our proposals are realistic and fit within a tight financial framework. We hope that the other political groups will sit down and discuss the proposals we have put forward.”

Just six per cent of all rape allegations reported to Warwickshire Police result in conviction or caution. This places Warwickshire well below the national average of 18 per cent.

Lib Dem councillor Nicola Davies (Leamington North), a member of the Warwickshire Police and Crime Panel, said:

“I was comparing the figures with neighbouring authorities and these stuck out like a sore thumb.

“They are shocking. The job of the police and crime panel is to look at the priorities of the police and crime commissioner.

“This needs to be a priority and needs to be on the PCC’s radar.”

In response Ron Ball, Warwickshire Police and Crime Commissioner, will present a detailed report to the next meeting of the Panel on 21^st November. Importantly the Report will explore factors behind the figures and outline how officers are trained to deal with rape incidents and what support is provided to victims as they progress towards prosecution.

Sam Dimmer, Crime Correspondent at the Coventry Telegraph, has reported on the issue and spoken with a range of organisations working with victims of rape and sexual assault who share similar concerns:

The Lib Dem Group was successful at today’s meeting of Warwickshire County Council in amending a motion on Bus Fares originally put forward by Green councillors. The amendment will refer the subject to the Communities Overview & Scrutiny Committee for detailed review. While sympathetic to some of the objectives of the Green motion, Liberal Democrat members believed there were wider issues to address, which were best dealt with in committee rather than asking Full Council to make a snap judgement.

Curiously, the whole of the Conservative Group abstained on the amended motion, despite a number of Tory members making it clear in the debate that they thought nothing could be done about bus fares, and that it was all down to way a “free market” operates. However, the amended motion was passed with the unanimous support of all other members.

We look forward to a thorough Scrutiny review of this important subject later in the year.

The Lib Dem motion at today’s Annual Meeting of Warwickshire County Council, to reduce the size of the Cabinet and make it balanced politically, gained the support of the Green and Independent Groups but was defeated by the Conservatives. The Labour Group abstained.

Voting figures were:  FOR 14, AGAINST 25, ABSTAIN 19.

Voters should be quite clear that it is Labour that is allowing the Conservatives to continue to run Warwickshire as a minority administration. Their reasons for doing so remain unclear, because none of their members spoke in the debate on the motion. Perhaps the fact that Labour members now chair the Council together with all its major committees might have something to do with it?