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Change to News from the Conservative Team across the St. Albans District Delivered by your local Conservative team - at no cost to the taxpayer
Cllr. Teresa Heritage Gets Planning Back On Track
Cllr. Brian Ellis Delivering Affordable Housing
Conservatives are Listening Since the Conservative Team took over the administration of St. Albans Council in May 2011, it has been listening to what you, the residents, are saying and taking decisive action. We have been in the Market on Saturdays and knocking on your doors, but you don’t have to wait to receive one of our surveys to tell us what you think. You can email us at heretohelp@stalbansconservatives.com Other contact details are displayed on the back page.
Bob Clarkson, St. Albans MP Anne Main and Cllr. Daniel Chichester-Miles in St.Albans Market
Paul Davies
Westminster Batchwood Council Tax Freeze Lodge Cllr. Julian Daly, Leader of the Council with responsibility for Resources, says “From our conversations with you we know that the rate of Council Tax is high on your list of concerns so we are pleased to say that this Council is planning to deliver a zero % Council tax rise for 2012/13 Julian Daly while continuing to protect front line services. It will be necessary to make £600,000 in savings to achieve this.”
As soon as we took over the administration, Cllr. Mike Wakely, the Cabinet Member for Sport, conducted a root and branch review of the leisure centre plans. He made the decision to increase the size of the swimming pool by two lanes so that it will be Mike Wakely big enough to meet the identified need and it will be delivered within the existing budget.
We also decided on a more sensible access road off Holywell Hill. Our predecessors’ plans took delivery trucks into Verulamium Park, through the car park and round the back of the Abbey Theatre, despite the risk to pedestrians.
Following the devastating fire we are working with the insurers and using this opportunity to fulfil our ambitious plans to deliver even better golf, bowls and tennis facilities. The Lawn Tennis Association is being very supportive and we have already been able to upgrade facilities at Rothamsted Park and to keep the tennis programmes going by taking them out to the District where they are reaching new groups of youngsters.
Cutting Waste Cllr. Julian Daly says: “As soon as the Conservative Group took control of the Council it became clear that spending on consultants needed to be reined in from the level reached under the Liberal Democrats in the years ended March 2010 (£1,678,000) and March 2011 (£980,000). We expect the expenditure on consultants in our first year in office to be in the region of £558,000. Of this, £326,000 (approximately 60%), is the fee for the team constructing the Westminster Lodge Leisure Centre where we think the use of properly qualified experts is appropriate.”
Promoted by G E Mitchell on behalf of St. Albans Conservative Team all of Riverside House, 1 Place Farm, Wheathampstead, Herts AL4 8SB and Printed by CCHQ Coleshill, The Manor, Coleshill Manor Campus, Birmingham Road, Coleshill, West Midlands B46 1DL
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Improving Our Services to You The Conservative administration has implemented a number of new initiatives. l Council customer service staff are being trained to cover all the
services offered.
l Certain key staff are undergoing an excellence programme
to encourage high standards in customer care leading to a recognised qualification.
l Computers used by customer service staff are being upgraded
Localism in Practice It has been agreed to transfer the ownership and management of assets to Harpenden Town Council including Batford Springs Nature Reserve, Porters Hill Park, Park Hall, Lydekker Park and car park as well as Westfield Recreation Ground.
Cllr. Beric Read, Portfolio Holder for Community Engagement and Localism says, “The District Council has been encouraging the Town and Parish Councils to take on the ownership, as well as management of local assets as part of a strategy to let communities have greater control over public assets in their area and remove a layer of bureaucracy”.
to improve performance and speed up response time.
l Unnecessary messages have been removed from the telephone
system to reduce customer waiting time.
l A more joined-up approach to getting advice, information and
guidance through the piloting of a space-sharing scheme with the Citizens Advice Bureau, Council for Voluntary Services and Oaklands College to give residents a one-stop shop.
Less Anti-Social Behaviour, More Housing Brian at London Colney garage site
The first phase of a project to release unused or low occupancy garage sites for some 30 units of affordable housing, and approximately 50 new car parking spaces, is to start in London Colney.
Consultation is taking place with local residents who will have a further chance to express their views through the usual planning process; the mixture of homes is designed to fulfil the identified needs of the area. Cllr Brian Ellis, Portfolio Holder for Housing, commented: “It’s good news that these sites have been identified so quickly. We will be moving forward with other proposed sites as quickly as possible but making sure we consult with local people. Developing new homes on unused or low occupancy garage sites, which often harbour anti-social behaviour, is an important part of our plans to make more affordable homes available for people in the local area.”
Cllr Mike Wakely at Porters Park, one of the assets being handed back to the local community
Improving Sheltered Accommodation The LibDems dragged their feet on the project to upgrade sheltered housing causing a long period of anxiety for the residents. Cllr. Brian Ellis (pictured with Parish Cllr. Lyn Bolton) is determined to get on with the job so that residents can stop worrying and enjoy the new facilities. Brian and Lyn and Caroline Sharp House
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Planning Service Made Fit For Purpose We inherited a planning department struggling to deliver its core service to the public. Over the last six months of the Liberal Democrat rule only 5060% of planning applications were determined in time, a state of affairs of which they were totally unaware as they were not monitoring the service. “On taking control of the Council, we made sorting out this problem a
priority” says Cllr. Teresa Heritage. “Thanks to the hard work of the officers, the investment we made in increasing staffing levels and upgrading the IT software, the Planning Department is now back on track with approximately 90% of applications being determined within the required time. We will now be turning our attention to improving the customer experience, with a review of the website to make the process more transparent, further staff training to enable them to deal with more
Sunday Bus Restored Responding to your needs, Cllr. Maxine Crawley pictured with Cllr. Roger Gray, has arranged for Redbourn’s Sunday bus service to be reinstated. The 620 will run from St. Albans, through Sandridge, Wheathampstead and Harpenden to Redbourn and back.
New District Health Initiative A new Health & Wellbeing Partnership has been formed to bring together leading NHS volunteer and patient groups. The Partnership, which is one of the first in the County, is being driven by Cllr. Dean Russell who is pictured with Peter Lilley MP. It will ensure that issues and experiences are shared giving residents a stronger voice and making localism in health a reality.
Recycling Cllr.Daniel Chichester-Miles says: “We are working with our contractors to push our recycling rate up to 60% and I ask you to put as much food waste as possible into the green bins; content of black bins is not recycled and costs the public money as it goes to landfill”.
complex matters, better monitoring and contingency plans so that we do not fall so far behind again.”
“While our focus in the past has been on the provision of recycling services to local residents, we are also interested in learning how we can better support local businesses with their recycling to encourage more efficient use of material resources.”
Supporting the Local Economy Cllr. Beric Read says “after listening to the views of retailers, we have not only introduced free one-hour parking at the top end of St. Peter’s Street, actively promoted late night shopping in the run up to Christmas but we also called off the threatened pedestrianisation. I am also looking at improving the signage for the shops and points of interest in the City Centre and the creation of a St. Albans Tourist website to pull together all the information that is currently scattered around the internet. Please send me your views and ideas by email to cllr.b.read@stalbans.gov.uk. ” “In Harpenden we are trying a variety of on-street parking limits - 30 minutes outside banks and chemists, and a mixture of one and, further out, two hour zones to help generate trade for local businesses by giving customers more flexibility.” Panos Ifon with Cllrs. Daniel Chichester-Miles, Nat Young and Dursan Altun in Verulamium Park where there are plans for a cycleway.
Live Theatre Returns At County Hall to The Maltings
The Conservative administration has been planning ahead to ensure that they reduce spending by around £200m a year by 2014/15 while providing vital services to every single resident of Hertfordshire.
Since the LibDems business plan for a cinema in The Maltings did not stand up to scrutiny and research showed that young people in particular prefer a multiscreen cinema, it was decided to stop the project. In its place we are supporting the independent Odyssey Cinema in London Road. While various working groups are looking at the options for The Maltings, the Council asked local theatre group, OVO, to run the theatre’s programming. This brought back live theatre to the City Centre and is proving very successful. Full details of the programme can be found at www.maltingsartstheatre.co.uk or from the Tourist Information Centre at the Town Hall.
Winter Salting Plans Herts Highways has been delivering free salt supplies to Councils across the County and this year they have included Parish and Town Councils as with their excellent local knowledge, they will know exactly where best to use it to help their communities during severe weather. With the salt goes guidance - it is for public pavements and roads and not for personal use. More advice on the routes being gritted and the locations of salt bins can be found on www.hertsdirect.org/salting
It has been redesigning its organisation, reducing staff levels, teaming up with other organisations and sharing budgets in some areas. Together with its partners, County is now using the latest technology to provide more services online; it is helping elderly people to avoid distressing and often life-changing falls and working with its partners to provide intensive and lasting support to families facing multiple problems, giving the children of those families a chance of a better life – expensive in the short term, but with a massive payback in terms of the cost to social services in the longer-term.
Street Lighting As a contribution to these savings, the County Council plans to convert its street lights to part-night operation which should save some £1.3m a year. Another bonus is that the less energy we use, the less we pay the Treasury in carbon tax which in turn benefits the council tax payer locally. Lamps will usually be switched off from midnight to six in the morning. There will be exceptions for urban areas where there is a significant night time economy or particular road hazards. If you have concerns, please discuss them with your County Councillor - their details can be found on www.hertsdirect.org/your-council/councillors/ccllrs/
How to Contact us
Write: St. Albans Conservatives, 104 High Street, London Colney, St Albans, Herts AL2 1QL Tel:
01727 825100
Email: heretohelp@stalbansconservatives.com
KEEPING IN TOUCH
At Westminster we have been:
The Conservative Cabinet Team - from the left - Cllrs. Beric Read (Community Engagement and Localism), Julian Daly (Leader of the Council and Resources), Teresa Heritage (Planning and Conservation), Mike Wakely (Sports, Leisure and Heritage), Brian Ellis (Housing) and Daniel Chichester-Miles (Environment).
Promoted by G E Mitchell on behalf of St. Albans Conservative Team all of Riverside House, 1 Place Farm, Wheathampstead, Herts AL4 8SB and Printed by CCHQ Coleshill, The Manor, Coleshill Manor Campus, Birmingham Road, Coleshill, West Midlands B46 1DL
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l Standing-up for Britain in Europe the Prime Minister was clear before the EU summit in December that he will protect the national interest. He said we could only agree a new treaty if certain modest, reasonable and relevant safeguards were obtained. We couldn’t get those safeguards so he said No. l Cutting Billions in Whitehall Waste We cut £3.75 billion of central government waste in 2010/2011, £550 million more than expected, including reducing spending on consultancy; on temporary staff; on marketing and advertising; on IT projects; on renting property; on major projects; and by renegotiating contracts with key suppliers. l Capping Housing Benefit We have taken steps to end Labour’s something for nothing culture by capping Housing Benefit from April this year. This stops the abuse under Labour where one family alone could get over £100,000 in Housing Benefit to live in areas that the hardworking families paying these bills could not afford themselves.