County Lib Dem Budget

8.00.00am GMT Tue 7th Feb 2006

Liberal Democrats will be proposing amendments at the Council meeting on 14th February to reduce the worst cuts in the Conservative budget, concentrating on those areas that are most important to Oxfordshire residents.

The recent MORI survey of Oxfordshire people showed that care for older people, facilities for young people and maintenance of roads and pavements were very important services, but ones on which they felt that the County Council was failing. And the council tax survey said that people wanted the Council to spend more on these services.

But the Conservatives are actually proposing a budget for older people that will mean real terms cuts of £1.6m. They are spending no more extra on roads and pavements. Even their much vaunted "extra money" for the youth service will actually still mean reductions in the service available.

Cllr Dermot Roaf, Leader of the Opposition, said, "The settlement from central Government was not welcome news, except for schools. Oxfordshire Tories are unique in claiming that it does not require cuts. All other County Councils are honestly stating that there will need to be cuts, and indeed there are real terms cuts in Oxfordshire as well. This is not a no-cuts budget.

"The only reason why the settlement for Oxfordshire is not an immediate disaster is because the Government has given us extra "damping grants" to mitigate the worst effects. But these will reduce over the next few years and then the situation might be very serious indeed. It is a dreadful mistake to reduce the Council Tax increases over the next few years - we will need every penny we can raise to save services for when these grants stop. And, of course, the Government's proposed cuts in the Supporting People grants and the NHS cuts in Oxfordshire will inevitably place an increased burden on the County's services for older people in the meantime."

The Liberal Democrat budget makes some improvements to reduce the worst cuts, and it puts the extra raised from the Council Tax increase/additional savings found proposed into those services highlighted by residents in the MORI survey. For instance, the Liberal Democrats are proposing to increase the amount for older people's care by £1m, on top of the inadequate one-year-only "Emergency Fund" proposed by the Tories. And the Lib Dem amendment suggests extra money for the youth service, and for special educational needs/social inclusion measures in schools. From some extra money that might become available if not needed in the pension fund, the Liberal Democrats are proposing extra spending on road, pavement and cycleway maintenance. There are small increases to avoid taking a mobile library out of service and having to close the Records Office for a extra day, for footpath maintenance and for bus service subsidies to avoid having to cut services in future years. This is paid for by some extra savings, none of which have an effect on front-line services, and by increasing the Council Tax to 4.94%.

"The difference between the Council Tax we are proposing and that in the Tory cuts budget is £6 per year on a Band D house," said Cllr Roaf. "That's 11½ pence a week. Such a small amount - but it will mean that there are considerably fewer cuts in those services which people have told us are the most important to them."

For more information please contact:

Cllr Dermot Roaf 01865 815285 (County Hall) or 559467 (home)

Cllr Alan Armitage 01865 516115 or 07799 892385

Related Link:

The amendments and an explanation of them can be downloaded here.