Horbury & Ossett Conservative Association

WAKEFIELD CONSERVATIVE GROUP

ALTERNATIVE BUDGET SPEECH TO COUNCIL

1^ST MARCH 2010

DELIVERED BY:-

COUNCILLOR MARK CROWTHER

Leader of Wakefield Conservative Group

Financial Responsibility

Protecting Jobs and Local Services

Delivering Value for Money

Investing in the People’s Priorities

Madam Mayor, I rise to move that the Revenue Budget and Capital Programme 2010/2011, as submitted, be amended as set out in Appendix 1 of the attached report

Madam Mayor, before I discuss the provisions of our Budget, I would like to take the opportunity of putting to bed a few disingenuous statements that have been made recently by the Leader of the Party opposite, a Leader incidentally who at the weekend was even rejected by his peers in his own Party.

Firstly, Cllr Box has sought to challenge me, and the Conservative Group, to reveal our Budget Plans in advance of this meeting today, by saying that careful consideration of every aspect of our Budget proposals are absolutely essential as they are the most important decisions that we, as elected members are required to take.

Let me remind Cllr Box that it is the legal duty of the Controlling Group to recommend the Cabinet approved Budget to Budget Council for its consideration and to publish it for public consultation in advance, and that no such legal or constitutional provision exists to place the same onus upon an Opposition Group or member.

I would also point out to him that like most other Council’s, including ones where his party are in opposition (of which there are many), budget amendments from Opposition Groups and Members are moved at the Budget Setting Meeting for discussion and debate. However, what Cllr Box failed to mention, quite conveniently on his part, (which members who have served on this Council for longer than me can readily testify), is that the same Cllr Box would, up until a few short years ago only make known his own Controlling Group Cabinet Budget and Council Tax figure just prior to rising to his feet at the despatch box opposite.  At the Budget Council Meeting, the “ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL” Budget papers would be swiftly passed around the chamber for elected members to have their very first look at his spending plans for the year ahead. Even though these proposals are in Cllr Box’s own words (according to last Thursday’s Pontefract and Castleford Express) “Absolutely Essential as they are the most important decisions that we make as elected members” perhaps Peter, you think we all have very short memories on this matter. I suspect it’s the same “Two Faced Hypocrisy” that we’ve come to expect from you as Leader of this Council.

Madam Mayor, I would firstly like to place on record my thanks on behalf of the Shadow Cabinet and the Conservative Group to the Officers of the Council for assisting us in the preparation of our Alternative Budget.  I would like to pay particular thanks to Joanne Roney, Judith Badger and Graham Saxton as well as all those other officers who made time in their busy schedules to assist us in those preparations over the past few months.

Madam Mayor, The Conservative Group Budget seeks to provide for the Effective Delivery of First Class, High Quality, Local Public Services at Lower Cost to the Residents and Communities of the Wakefield District whilst recognising the need to concentrate our resources on our key local priorities for the year ahead.

It has been signed off by Judith Badger, the Council’s Director of Finance and Section 151 Officer as both robust and sustainable whilst protecting the Council’s reserves and delivers a Council Tax for Wakefield residents of just 1.95%

Our Budget has been constructed upon four core Conservative principles:-

1. Financial Responsibility –

• By ensuring that the Budget is both Robust and Sustainable in the Long Term

2. Protecting Vulnerable Children and the Elderly, Frontline Public Services and Jobs

3. Devolving Power to Local Communities

• Setting up Citizen Assemblies in each locality across the District to give real power back to Local Communities by devolving responsibility back down to where it rightfully belongs at neighbourhood level away from the decades long iron grip of Labour Town Hall Officials. Local people deserve to be treated equally and with respect and deserve the opportunity to work in partnership with local councillors and the local community to discuss the bread and butter issues that affect their day to day lives.  Speeding traffic, dog fouling, anti social behaviour, graffiti, vandalism and all of those quality of life issues that resonate across all of our communities.  These Assemblies WILL NOT simply be toothless talking shop Labour Party Forums – But real Decision Making Assemblies with dedicated Officer Support and Delegated Funding to actually make change happen at a local level. We believe that people respond better and get more involved in their local areas when they are given direct control over their own lives and are trusted with the power to make a visible difference in their own communities.

4. Giving the Taxpayer of the Wakefield District – Value for Money

• Cutting the Luxurious Perks of the Leader of the Council – From his Burgeoning Office Staff to his Private Chaffeur Driven Audi A8 which are all – of course – charged to the Council Tax!
• We have listened extensively to local residents on the subject of waste, bureaucracy and duplication and their complaints about the cost of the Citizen Newspaper.  We have also heard loud and clear from those that see it as nothing more than a Propaganda Newsletter for the party opposite paid for by all Council taxpayers. Our Budget will scrap the Citizen Newspaper in its entirety and use the money more wisely.

This Year’s Budget reflects the continuing harsh economic climate that has befallen us and that every Authority faces as they prepare their spending plans for the next Municipal Year.

The Labour Government’s unsustainable levels of Borrowing against our over optimistic economic growth forecasts give us all cause for worry and that this year the UK Government’s Debt as a percentage of its overall economic output will almost hit a staggering 70% – (Source BBC News Website)

And only a few weeks ago City Experts were warning that Britain’s Budget Deficit could exceed that of Greece after a massive jump in public borrowing in January.

It has put Britain on target to borrow 12.8% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) compared with the Greek Deficit of 12.7% (Source, London Evening Standard, 18.02.10)

Madam Mayor, we face an unwelcome truth as we look ahead to future Local Government Grant Settlements, and regardless of political persuasion, may well be significantly reduced from what we really need to continue investing in our local priorities as well as keeping the District moving forward through our plans for creating more long term and sustainable jobs, securing vital inward investment across our District and supporting new local small business start ups.

13 Years of Labour Government has brought us to this parlous situation and talking of the number 13, it certainly is unlucky for our District and for the rest of the Country.  Alas our problems don’t just rest with our tired, discredited 13 year old Labour Government whose trademark incompetence with all monetary matters is clear for all to see, but hand in hand with that Government, goes the 36 year old Labour Council right here in Wakefield.

36 years of Bust and little Boom – whose equally tired and discredited local administration is a mirror image of it’s big brother in Westminster, in being thoroughly dire in its financial and monetary decision making – we look ahead to a 3 year, £30m pound black hole,  and A Bulging Over-Committed and Unfunded Capital Programme at the point of Explosion! – At least we can say one thing for the party opposite, they are certainly two peas in the same pod on that score!!

A Conservative Council will have an “Open Book” policy on the Council’s Finances and immediately upon taking office will instruct Council Officers to make ready and fully available all financial information to the public and press that is legally eligible to be published, so that the true state of our local public finances are known. People will see for themselves exactly how well or how badly this Labour Council has been managing our money for the past 36 years so that they can decide for themselves with all the facts at their disposal whether fiscal prudence and budget stability are the hallmarks of a Labour Council.  I think the answer from the public on that matter will be a resounding “NO”.

A Conservative Council would also act quickly to set about addressing the state of our local public finances by ordering a Comprehensive Review of the Council’s Capital Programme and all non- urgent Capital Spending Commitments to address our Budget Deficit while at all times protecting our Key Frontline Local Public Services

This Review would be a priority due to this Labour Council’s flagrant profligacy and putting costly partisan pet projects above the long term financial interests of the Council. Like their big brother in Westminster, we too must do our bit to pay down our debt, curb our borrowing and start practicing what we preach in terms of getting our own house in order. We must look at new and innovative ways to attract inward investment to make it easier for local people to start up a business and to stand by our local small and medium sized enterprises that should be the lifeblood and engine of any local economy. They need our help NOW and a Conservative Council will stand shoulder to shoulder with them through our plan to set up Business Partnerships across the District with our Economic Growth Fund.  We will get our local SME’s on board to discuss how the Council and local business can work together, in partnership, to advance a new Council/Business Working model so that both can work on an equal basis to assess how they can better assist each other.

And………

We will work closely with a Conservative Government to introduce AUTOMATIC Small Business Rate Relief to help cut out the unnecessary annual form filling and paperwork

We will work closely with a Conservative Government to freeze Council Tax in Wakefield for the two years starting in 2011-12 to help provide further help to struggling local people and local families who are still hurting in this ongoing recession.

We will strive to encourage the Wakefield Pound, the Pontefract Pound, The Knottingley Pound, the Castleford Pound, the Normanton Pound, the Hemsworth pound and the Featherstone Pound to boost our local economies by encouraging local residents to BUY LOCAL

We will work closely with all local businesses by launching a

BUY LOCAL Campaign to help us get the message across about how valuable our local pound is to our local economy. Particularly in the current economic climate it is as important as ever to keep our own local money working hard for us all locally to help stave off as many business closures and job losses as we can – we each have our social responsibility to our community and to our local neighbourhood, so please use your local butcher, use your local post office despite their plans to close them all, and use your local greengrocer and lets get the Council on board to hammer home that message to residents that their pounds REALLY CAN MAKE THE DIFFERENCE

Local Residents have clearly not been impressed with the Council’s handling of the recent poor weather. This is through no fault of Council Officers who must be praised for their tireless dedication and unflinching resolve during the icy conditions that left many roads, pavements and highways untreated. The Council’s Political Leadership needs to lead on matters of this kind and that is why in our Budget Proposals we are investing additional monies in our Highways Budget. However  an important point to make is that unlike the party opposite, our spending plans are not simply a Political One-off Gimmick for 2010-2011 with no additional committed monies for 2011/2012 and 2012/2013. Perhaps, Madam Mayor, The Leader of the Council knows something that we don’t know about our future local weather conditions, particularly over the next three years. Perhaps, power has finally gone to his head and he can now claim to control the weather too. But, I don’t think so and nor  I suspect do the public either.  They will not forgive a Labour Party that fails to learn its lessons on these matters and fails to put the necessary contingency plans in place, with the required investment to be much better prepared to take the swift and sustained action that local residents expect from their Council.

A Conservative Council will seek to properly address and to re-invest in our roads, pavements and highways to begin to undo some of the neglect of the last three and a half decades of Labour Control in Wakefield

On behalf of the Conservative Group, I am over the moon that our clear direction to invest in our Highways Infrastructure has been taken on board and mimicked by the group opposite.  We took the lead, we set the agenda and you followed!  It really is heartening to see Cllr Box and Cllr Jeffery decide once again that our policies are the right policies and that they have now decided to include some additional highways monies in their Budget, that would not have been the case had we not raised the alarm on their flawed programme of decades of underinvestment and neglect.  Once again, a clear indication that the Conservatives, are leading the way, on behalf of the residents of the District.

On the issue of Planning, we oppose the Labour Budget’s proposals to reduce staffing costs in the Council’s Planning Department and feel that this should instead be reinvested in the area of Planning Enforcement, which all Planning Committee members and I believe all Councillors of all political persuasions would agree.  It is certainly backed by all members on this side of the chamber. The Conservatives will invest more into planning enforcement to begin the fight-back against those who blatantly flout our Planning rules. The Conservatives will ensure that those who disregard or turn a blind eye to our planning laws will have those laws enforced through a beefed up Planning Enforcement Team.

On the Environment, we will put a Quality of Life benchmark on every major decision that a Conservative Administration makes to ensure that our local environment, local parks and green spaces are protected and enhanced and we will use existing powers to more effectively clamp down on the scourge of dog-fouling by prosecuting irresponsible dog owners

Madam Mayor, whilst we are on the subject of the environment, I notice, buried in the Cabinet Budget tabled by the Party opposite, we see another new sneaky Stealth Tax, approved and signed up to by each and every one of the thirty two Labour Councillors across this District and present here today. Needless to say, you will all vote it through – for those present here today that are currently unaware of this Labour proposal, contained in their budget, I’m talking about what we’ll refer to as

Wakefield Labour’s – Bulky Item Waste Collection Tax

This grossly unfair Stealth Tax will significantly increase fly-tipping across our District like it has done in other areas that have introduced a similar scheme and then after a suitable period quickly abolished it again for that very same reason. This policy is nothing better than a Fly-Tippers Charter that will only ruin our precious local environment and spoil our neighbourhoods, particularly for those with private back alleys that are hotspots for dumping by local tenants and residents.

Research from other Authorities shows high levels of demand for bulky waste collection services in areas of social deprivation and areas with high turnover of population. These two areas provide authorities with increased predominantly high fly-tips.  In Wakefield 23500 collections have been made for Bulky Waste in the last 12 months – just imagine how much potential fly tipping that represents when residents discover they will now have to pay for the privilege.  And they scare monger about the Conservatives and paying for services!!

The other difficulty with the scheme is the low percentage of fly-tippers being caught and prosecuted due to the legal need for clear evidence to link a known individual with an identifiable vehicle. This is rarely possible so the Council is once again left with the bill. I think it’s important not just for us as elected members but for the public at large to be made fully aware of the names of some of the 32 Labour Councillors, all of whom will be whipped by Cllr Box into backing the introduction of his nasty tax.

Here are some of the Labour Councillors that have fully signed themselves up to the policy and who will be campaigning rigorously to defend it on the doorsteps from now until the close of polls on May 6th and whose hands can’t wait to get up in the air to loyally support Peter and Clive’s brand new tax on all householders.

Labour Councillors like Keith Rhodes or will that be Tracy Hardwick from  Wakefield North, Jacqui Williams from Stanley and Outwood, Elaine Blezard from  Normanton, Pat Doyle from Knottingley, Graham Isherwood from Crofton Ryhill and Walton, Sarah Balfour or should that be Alan Garbutt from Ackworth, North Elmsall and Upton, Clive Tennant from Pontefract North, Cabinet Member Olivia Rowley Wakefield East  and all remaining Labour Councillors who have committed themselves to voting for the Cabinet Budget this afternoon.  YOU will authorise this new levy on those hard pressed householders that only wish to have Bulky Waste items removed as normal by the Council free of charge – up to three items in a year – who will no longer have this service should the Labour Budget go through this afternoon and who will be forced by all YOU Labour Councillors opposite to cough up more of their own hard earned money to pay for what has always been a free service for one off collections. Not only will they be paying more Council Tax under the Labour Budget as opposed to our proposals but they’ll now be levied with additional user fees slap bang on top!! – Thanks Labour and Thanks Clive!!

Our Budget Proposals DO NOT include this Stealth Tax!! And our Spending plans guarantee the retention of the existing system as it is at present, in other words – one free collection per year to collect and dispose of up to three bulky items per household.

Furthermore, after the District Elections on May 6^th, we pledge to scrap this nasty Labour Tax on Householders who only want to do their bit for the environment – Oh! and don’t worry Peter/Clive – We, on this side of the chamber will all be out and about explaining to people in every part of the district and in every ward and on every doorstep the finer details of your policy.

In Conclusion Madam Mayor, I wish to briefly recap on the policies and spending plans that form the basis of the Conservative Group’s Budget to Council today and I am speaking particularly to the Liberal Democrats and Independents who for the very first time have a real choice of spending plans to choose from when they cast their votes. Also, to any labour member who may feel uneasy about their Group’s proposals or even oppose their party’s plans for a bulky item collection tax – I say to them, it’s understandable that you may oppose them as we on this side of the chamber oppose them too – so think carefully before you vote as you have a choice and your residents will be grateful for your independence if you join us in the vote today – indeed you may even wish to go further and follow your colleague’s brave initiative in Tower Hamlets and defect to the Conservatives.

This Budget is not only the Conservative Group Budget it is in many ways the People’s Budget as it protects our:-

Frontline local public services – Guaranteed

It will promote our Local Economy by Championing the Local Pound encouraging people to BUY LOCAL and encouraging Small and Medium Sized Business through the Creation of Business Partnerships – Guaranteed

It invests additional monies into our Highways and Roads, unlike Labours Pre-Election Con-Trick where they are budgeting for this year only trying to pull the wool over people’s eyes before May hoping that people won’t notice -  Our Plans are to put additional investment into our roads and Highways for each of the next three years – that’s 2010 -2013 – Guaranteed

Our Budget Scraps Labour’s Bulky item Collection Tax – Guaranteed

Our Budget Devolves Power back down to local communities where decisions should be taken instead of here by Labour’s Town Hall Officials – Real Power exercised by Local People backed up with real financial clout through Devolved Budgets will transform the way we do business in the future and make our democracy stronger, fairer and more responsive to the needs of the communities we all seek to champion on a day to day basis – Guaranteed

This upcoming election Madam Mayor will not just simply be about the battle of votes, but about the battle of ideas and this Conservative Budget before you all today represents that we have already won that battle regardless of the outcome of the whipped vote this afternoon. The tawdry option that has been put forward by the party opposite shows NO Leadership, NO Direction, NO Vision, with NO New Ideas.

We are now the party with the real and practical policies that will improve the lives of our residents and the old scare stories about the Conservatives can be clearly discarded as we have nothing to hide and our policies are resonating with the public out there.

The yardstick of democracy is coming to the Town Hall on May 6th, – it is coming to sweep away 36 Years of Labour waste, profligacy and incompetence in the handling and management of our money

We are at a crossroads today, like any crossroads there is more than just one path to take. Today’s Budget debate offers all of us the opportunity to break free of the “OLD TOWN HALL POLITICS” that has for decades paid our district and our residents the greatest disservice by being all things to all men, being disingenuous with the truth and for playing politics with peoples lives for the sole pursuit of political survival and that’s from the party opposite whose overriding policy is simply “LABOUR FIRST”

I ask members of all political persuasions and none to come stand with us today and help build that “CULTURE OF CHANGE” that Wakefield Council so desperately needs. That new way of working.  Remember this is not Labour’s Town Hall – It’s the people’s Town Hall and it’s now time for them – through us – to claim it back!!!

Madam Mayor, I request a Recorded Vote on both this Amendment and the subsequent Motion

I commend this Conservative Budget to the Council